By Florian Smeritschnig, former McKinsey Senior Consultant. Updated July 2026. Up or out in consulting is the principle that you either get promoted to the next level within a set window, usually two to three years, or you leave the firm. It sounds brutal, and the phrase scares almost every new joiner at McKinsey, BCG,…
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By Florian Smeritschnig, former McKinsey Senior Consultant · Updated June 2026 MECE stands for mutually exclusive, collectively exhaustive. It is a way of splitting a problem into buckets that do not overlap (mutually exclusive) and that leave nothing important out (collectively exhaustive). In a case interview, a MECE structure breaks the problem into clean, complete…
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Updated July 16, 2026 | By Florian Smeritschnig, former McKinsey Senior Consultant The top consulting firms in the Middle East in 2026 are McKinsey, BCG, and Bain, followed by Strategy&, which runs the region’s largest strategy practice with roughly 1,000 consultants, then Oliver Wyman, Kearney, and the consulting arms of Accenture, PwC, Deloitte, and EY.…
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One of the most common concerns I currently read across all consulting job boards and discuss with my clients is that everyone feels the slowdown in hiring with firms such as McKinsey, BCG, and Bain. On top of that, I see decreasing activity in article views, and coaching requests (not just myself but colleagues as…
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Updated July 2026 · By Florian Smeritschnig, Former McKinsey Senior Consultant To get into consulting at McKinsey, BCG, or Bain, you have to clear four gates in order: a screened resume and cover letter, online assessments like the McKinsey Solve game, and the case and fit interviews (usually two rounds). Fewer than 1% of applicants…
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Florian spent five years at McKinsey as a Senior Consultant and is a highly experienced consulting interviewer and problem-solving coach. Having conducted interviews with hundreds of candidates, he understands exactly what top-tier firms look for in successful applicants.
He founded StrategyCase.com to make top consulting careers more accessible by providing tailored, up-to-date insights into the recruiting process. Recognized as the most successful case and fit interview coach, Florian has helped his clients secure 700+ offers at MBB, Tier-2 firms, Big 4 consulting divisions, in-house consultancies, and boutique firms over the past four years.
He is the author of “The 1%: Conquer Your Consulting Case Interview,” “The 1%: Case Interview Workbook,” and “Consulting Career Secrets”, all available on Amazon.
