S24E2: How Consulting Firms Really Score Case Interviews

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1. 

   S24 · E7 · 11 Aug 2026 · 34 min

   S24E7: MBA Case Prep in 2–4 Weeks: An Ex-Bain Interviewer's Plan

   Send us Fan Mail Most 2nd-year MBA candidates have 2 to 4 weeks to get case interview-ready this cycle, not the usual 6 to 8. More cases won't close that gap for McKinsey, Bain, and BCG. Former Bain interviewer and LBS MBA Mitali Jalan compressed her prep into under 4 weeks and landed her offer. This session is her plan for doing it on a short runway. The fix isn't more volume. It's knowing what to drill, and when. Listen for: Mitali's 4-step sequence for compressing 6 to 8 weeks of prep into...

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   S24 · E6 · 7 Aug 2026 · 10 min

   S24E6: McKinsey Solve Game 2026: What It Is and How to Prepare

   Send us Fan Mail McKinsey screens candidates with a video game – McKinsey Solve – before they ever see a case interview. Most candidates either try to copy other people's answers or panic because they don't know what it's measuring. So here's the breakdown: what Solve is, what McKinsey is testing for inside it, and how to approach it. The answer isn't Solve-specific prep. It's the same problem-solving fundamentals that carry you through the entire McKinsey recruiting process. We cover: What t...

3. 

   S24 · E5 · 6 Aug 2026 · 47 min

   S24E5: McKinsey Case Interview Example: Electric Truck Market Entry

   Send us Fan Mail George Cary spent five years as a McKinsey EM. In this live case, he coaches candidate Harvey through a real McKinsey market entry study: should a diesel truck manufacturer build and sell electric trucks. Harvey builds a framework, runs the full cost-of-ownership math, and lands a final recommendation. George pauses after every section to break down good vs. great in real time. You'll learn: Why McKinsey calls it "problem solving," not casing – and the vocabulary that signals...

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   S24 · E4 · 5 Aug 2026 · 18 min

   S24E4: She Bombed MBB Her First Try – Then Landed 2 Offers the Next Time

   Send us Fan Mail Sharon had everything going for her. Top-tier MBA. MBB interview invites across the board. She'd done 50–60 cases – but didn't make it past a single first round. What held her back wasn't her profile. It was her approach. So she came back the next year when the stakes were even higher. This time, she did it differently – and landed McKinsey and Bain. Katie breaks down what shifted and what re-recruiters (and first-timers who want to avoid the same trap) can take from Sh...

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   S24 · E3 · 31 Jul 2026 · 9 min

   S24E3: 3 Questions That Kill Your Case Interview Opening

   Send us Fan Mail "Any other objectives?" sounds polite. But in a case interview opening, it costs you points. Namaan breaks down the 3 questions that kill candidates in the first 2 minutes of a case. The case opening is the first section that gets scored. And it's nearly identical every single time. So if there's one part of the case you can walk in ready for, it's this one. Get the opening right, and the rest of the case gets easier. Resources: If you struggle with case openings, Black Belt ...

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   S24 · E1 · 24 Jul 2026 · 6 min

   S24E1: The Hottest Consulting Sectors to Target in 2026

   Send us Fan Mail McKinsey is making 12% more hires this year than last. But the jobs aren't going to the same profile of candidate. Energy and utilities is projected to grow 11% in 2026 – one of the least sexy practices in consulting, and one of the hottest right now. Healthcare, private equity, and consumer/retail are all shifting too. If you're aiming at the wrong sector or the wrong skill set, you're competing for the smallest slice of the market. Namaan breaks down where the hiring is con...

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   S23 · E30 · 22 Jul 2026 · 29 min

   S23E30: Top 10 Retail Consulting Firms and the 4 Lanes Reshaping the Market

   Send us Fan Mail Consumer and retail consulting used to be one market. Now it's 4. Each lane pulls a different lever – growth, margin, or talent. Firms that used to compete on "we do consumer and retail" are getting picked apart by specialists who can prove which lever they actually move. In this episode of The Briefing, Japheth sits down with Namaan to break down the 4 lanes reshaping a $70B market, why AI stopped being enough on its own, and why private equity's longer hold periods are turn...

8. 

   S23 · E29 · 17 Jul 2026 · 24 min

   S23E29: How to Build Business Acumen for Consulting

   Send us Fan Mail Building business judgment is learnable – most candidates just go about it the wrong way. Tauseef Charanya spent 10 years at BCG, conducted over 300 case interviews, and coached hundreds of candidates through the process. In this episode, he explains what business acumen actually looks like in a case interview, why work experience alone doesn't build it, and the 4 layers you need to hit to get an offer. Resources: If you're ready to work on your business acumen with an ...

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   S23 · E28 · 15 Jul 2026 · 13 min

   S23E28: How to Use AI in Case Prep (And How Not To)

   Send us Fan Mail Using AI for case prep? For most candidates, it's costing them the offer. McKinsey and Bain are already grading how you use AI in interviews this cycle. Most candidates ask AI for answers, skip the hypothesis, and accept whatever it hands back. That skips the exact skill firms are testing: how you think through a problem, not just the answer you get to. In this episode, Namaan breaks down the 3 AI case prep mistakes, and the right way to use it like a directed junior analyst ...

10. 

    S23 · E27 · 10 Jul 2026 · 49 min

    S23E27: Former BCG Consultant Runs a Live Higher Education Case Interview

    Send us Fan Mail This episode is presented by Bates White, one of the world's top economic consulting firms. If you're an undergraduate rising junior (Class of 2028), Bates White internship applications open in August. Learn more. Consulting firms are moving towards non-traditional cases. They want to see if you can think, not just if you've memorized a framework. This one is a BCG-style case built around two universities launching a joint degree from zero. Ex-BCG coach Yusuf Shai...