In this series of podcasts, let's revisit a Case Interview & Management Consulting classic where we look at each of the typical McKinsey/BCG FIT/PEI questions and provide a typical answer. Note, that while replicating this approach and standard will help you, we caution you that the main test of fit is in handling the cross-examination of your answer. Most candidates tend to be unprepared for that and we urge you to be very aware this will happen and to practice this interrogation style. You...
May 12, 2025•22 min
In this series of podcasts, let's revisit a Case Interview & Management Consulting classic where we look at each of the typical McKinsey/BCG FIT/PEI questions and provide a typical answer. Note, that while replicating this approach and standard will help you, we caution you that the main test of fit is in handling the cross-examination of your answer. Most candidates tend to be unprepared for that and we urge you to be very aware this will happen and to practice this interrogation style. You...
May 07, 2025•10 min
For this episode, let's revisit a Case Interview & Management Consulting classic where we discussed why communication is the most critical skill that a consultant must possess and how to effectively communicate in a logical and structured way. Here are some free gifts for you: Overall Approach Used in Well-Managed Strategy Studies free download: www.firmsconsulting.com/OverallApproach McKinsey & BCG winning resume free download: www.firmsconsulting.com/resumepdf Enjoying this episode? Ge...
May 05, 2025•18 min
For this episode, let's revisit a Case Interview & Management Consulting classic where we covered a topic about different offices and locations to work if you are an English speaker and its upside and downside you may consider. Here are some free gifts for you: Overall Approach Used in Well-Managed Strategy Studies free download: www.firmsconsulting.com/OverallApproach McKinsey & BCG winning resume free download: www.firmsconsulting.com/resumepdf Enjoying this episode? Get access to samp...
Apr 30, 2025•15 min
For this episode, let's revisit a Case Interview & Management Consulting classic where we spoke about a candidate that we took that did not go well and the important lessons we learned from it. Here are some free gifts for you: Overall Approach Used in Well-Managed Strategy Studies free download: www.firmsconsulting.com/OverallApproach McKinsey & BCG winning resume free download: www.firmsconsulting.com/resumepdf Enjoying this episode? Get access to sample advanced training episodes here...
Apr 28, 2025•21 min
For this episode, let's revisit a Case Interview & Management Consulting classic where we discuss what brainstorming is in consulting and what it is not. You will learn what you should actually do when asked to brainstorm. Here are some free gifts for you: Overall Approach Used in Well-Managed Strategy Studies free download: www.firmsconsulting.com/OverallApproach McKinsey & BCG winning resume free download: www.firmsconsulting.com/resumepdf Enjoying this episode? Get access to sample ad...
Apr 23, 2025•10 min
For this episode, let's revisit a Case Interview & Management Consulting classic where we spoke about the reality of exit opportunities in management consulting. Here are some free gifts for you: Overall Approach Used in Well-Managed Strategy Studies free download: www.firmsconsulting.com/OverallApproach McKinsey & BCG winning resume free download: www.firmsconsulting.com/resumepdf Enjoying this episode? Get access to sample advanced training episodes here: www.firmsconsulting.com/promo...
Apr 21, 2025•16 min
What is your understanding of the consulting culture or philosophy? What do you think defines and separates the top consulting firms from the others? For this episode, let's revisit a Case Interview & Management Consulting classic where we spoke about the real culture of consulting firms apart from what people think it is and what distinguishes great consulting firms from others. Here are some free gifts for you: Overall Approach Used in Well-Managed Strategy Studies free download: www.firms...
Apr 16, 2025•25 min
For this episode, let's revisit a Case Interview & Management Consulting classic where we discuss the situation of those people who may not have had the best undergraduate school, are not landing interviews, or do not impress their interviewer too well and how to fix this kind of problem. Here are some free gifts for you: Overall Approach Used in Well-Managed Strategy Studies free download: www.firmsconsulting.com/OverallApproach McKinsey & BCG winning resume free download: www.firmscons...
Apr 14, 2025•14 min
For this episode, let's revisit a Case Interview & Management Consulting classic where we discuss the importance of confidence in management consulting and how the lack of confidence will impact your performance in crucial situations. Here are some free gifts for you: Overall Approach Used in Well-Managed Strategy Studies free download: www.firmsconsulting.com/OverallApproach McKinsey & BCG winning resume free download: www.firmsconsulting.com/resumepdf Enjoying this episode? Get access ...
Apr 09, 2025•12 min
For this episode, let's revisit a Case Interview & Management Consulting classic where we discuss the responsibilities of a management consultant, how they should act and how they manage certain kinds of situations. We also cover the type of jobs that management consultants do and the skills they need. Here are some free gifts for you: Overall Approach Used in Well-Managed Strategy Studies free download: www.firmsconsulting.com/OverallApproach McKinsey & BCG winning resume free download:...
Apr 07, 2025•18 min
What does it mean when someone tells you that you need to be good at math? For this episode, let's revisit a Case Interview & Management Consulting classic where we discuss the common mistakes when doing math, how to structure your math problems, and what you should do to improve your math skills. Here are some free gifts for you: Overall Approach Used in Well-Managed Strategy Studies free download: www.firmsconsulting.com/OverallApproach McKinsey & BCG winning resume free download: www....
Apr 02, 2025•13 min
How do you decide on which firm you want to join? For this episode, let's revisit a Case Interview & Management Consulting classic where we discuss the decision-making criteria for choosing a firm, the three levels of consultant, and the impact of learning from a senior partner in your career. Here are some free gifts for you: Overall Approach Used in Well-Managed Strategy Studies free download: www.firmsconsulting.com/OverallApproach McKinsey & BCG winning resume free download: www.firm...
Mar 31, 2025•14 min
For this episode, let's revisit a Case Interview & Management Consulting classic where we spoke about the different interview approaches used by big consulting firms. We also discuss brainstorming, estimation case, and full case, and how cases are conducted—which we know will be very helpful to you and your career. Here are some free gifts for you: Overall Approach Used in Well-Managed Strategy Studies free download: www.firmsconsulting.com/OverallApproach McKinsey & BCG winning resume f...
Mar 26, 2025•15 min
For this episode, let's revisit a Case Interview & Management Consulting classic where we talk about the different kinds of cases you may face in an interview and the techniques you can use to solve them. We also discuss the meaning of market sizing and deregulation cases, and the importance of segmentation. Here are some free gifts for you: Overall Approach Used in Well-Managed Strategy Studies free download: www.firmsconsulting.com/OverallApproach McKinsey & BCG winning resume free dow...
Mar 24, 2025•13 min
For this episode, let's revisit a Case Interview & Management Consulting classic where we look at the profile of an older MBA candidate who has extensive oil and gas expertise. We offer some counter-intuitive advice to this candidate for their career and planning. While we use an oil and gas profile, this advice is relevant to any experienced hire and we caution candidates to think very carefully about the quality of their backgrounds when applying this advice to their own needs. The quality...
Mar 19, 2025•11 min
This is a mistake common to most case interview candidates. They start with the McKinsey approach. This is a very, very bad idea. McKinsey cases are those were the interviewer leads the case. If you are only trained to do cases in this format, you will never learn how to lead a case. This is no small matter. The prompts and guides provided by a McKinsey interviewer play a significant role in helping you through the case and you will struggle without them. It is best to first learn to do cases wh...
Mar 17, 2025•15 min
We use the terms junior consultants to loosely refer to anyone at the engagement manager level and below: senior associates, associates, consultants and analysts. Our history of working with so many clients indicates that the best results occur when networking directly with partners. There is no dispute on this point given the difference in our client base between those who networked with partners and those who did not. In this podcast we explain why it is better to network with partners and the...
Mar 12, 2025•11 min
Taking resume feedback is one of the most fundamental steps as you begin your application process and case interview preparation. If done badly, no matter how well you practice for cases, you will not get the interview. Feedback refers to two parts. First, is the philosophy around how you collect the feedback. Second, is the physical steps you take as you are collecting the feedback. Both are equally important. Here are some free gifts for you: Overall Approach Used in Well-Managed Strategy Stud...
Mar 10, 2025•15 min
This podcast examines the typical tell-tale signs candidates show when placed under stress in a case interview and offers suggestions on how to manage these situations. The key to managing this problem is not to reduce the stress, which may be impossible to do, but to change the way you show your stress. We also provide anecdotes on how our own clients manage, or struggle to manage, stress in their practice cases and interviews. Here are some free gifts for you: Overall Approach Used in Well-Man...
Mar 05, 2025•16 min
Solving a case while talking an interviewer through your thinking (written or otherwise) is, for the interviewer, a little like trying to understand a presentation without seeing the slides. Or at the very least seeing untidy slides – that is, assuming your working sheets are messy. Here we talk through the anatomy of a case dialogue pointing out key mistakes candidates make and a very simple technique they can use when communicating in case interviews. Here are some free gifts for you: Overall ...
Mar 03, 2025•12 min
This podcast is about the impact of confidence on cases and the importance of avoiding the content trap. We use simple ratios to explain why you need to be confident and how the content-trap sinks many candidates. The content trap occurs when a candidate tends to have poor knowledge of the first principles of cases and rather relies on completing as many cases as possible in the hopes of memorizing all possible frameworks. This is a losing strategy since they are not learning how to solve cases....
Feb 26, 2025•11 min
At least 90% of aspiring management consultants assume that all McKinsey et al cases MUST be solved with frameworks. That is a dangerous myth. At least 60% of all McKinsey full cases (we are not referring to brainstorming, estimates, etc) cannot be solved with structures and you will fail if you used structures to solve them. In this podcast, we use the experiences of a client, Felix, to explain how to identify this second group of cases and what you can do to solve them. We particularly look at...
Feb 24, 2025•12 min
For this episode, let's revisit a Case Interview & Management Consulting classic where we talk about important case interview elements to consider. Analyzing customers, competitors and the market: 3 areas which must always be considered in cases, even when it is not clear why. In essence, all businesses exist to serve customers. A business cannot exist without customers and to understand demand you must understand customers. The ability to meet demand is impacted by competitors/substitutes a...
Feb 19, 2025•10 min
For this episode, let's revisit a Case Interview & Management Consulting classic where we talk about brainstorming with definitions. Brainstorming is very difficult and a crucial skill to have when solving cases, especially with McKinsey where the interviewer will constantly ask you to probe and brainstorm different areas of the case. This podcast examines the initial parts of the brainstorming structure. Since brainstorming happens in such a rapid-fire format and appears unstructured, the s...
Feb 17, 2025•5 min
For this episode, let's revisit a Case Interview & Management Consulting classic where we talk about the importance of you, the candidate, never ever giving the interviewer the benefit of the doubt, why this is vital, how to do this in a case and the improvement it will immediately deliver. The main value of adopting this mindset is that you tend to explain everything to the interviewer because you assume he is not aware of all the answers. If you enter an interview, assuming the interview i...
Feb 12, 2025•9 min
Reading graphs is a perennial problem for many candidates. Yet, the problem is not the interpretation of the graphical data itself. Rather, it is knowing what to do with that data once you have interpreted it. This podcast introduces a simple 4-step process we introduced for a Yale doctoral client, Felix, and a technique called the One-Sentence-Test which we again developed for the same client. The improvement in her answers warrants sharing this technique. You can see Felix's Improvement in Sea...
Feb 10, 2025•13 min
Far too many candidates demonstrate poor knowledge of consulting by insisting that they want to work for McKinsey strategy and not operations or BTO. This is a flawed strategy which will only hurt their chances in the short, medium and long-term. This podcast explains why and how to compensate for this misunderstanding. Here are some free gifts for you: Overall Approach Used in Well-Managed Strategy Studies free download: www.firmsconsulting.com/OverallApproach McKinsey & BCG winning resume ...
Feb 05, 2025•11 min
You have been brainwashed by every single forum and case book to assume that McKinsey wants a framework and set of hypotheses, that you have stopped listening as carefully to the interviewer and simply providing hypotheses even when the interview is not asking for them! Here are some free gifts for you: Overall Approach Used in Well-Managed Strategy Studies free download: www.firmsconsulting.com/OverallApproach McKinsey & BCG winning resume free download: www.firmsconsulting.com/resumepdf En...
Feb 03, 2025•10 min
For this episode, let's revisit a Case Interview & Management Consulting classic where we discuss consulting firm's training. Too often clients ask the wrong questions when it comes to assessing training at consulting firms: do smaller offices have poorer training, should I attend training as soon as I join, does BCG have better training than Bain etc. When considering training you need to both consider formal and informal training. As we show, formal training is very useful, but not at all ...
Jan 29, 2025•13 min
