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BCG is racing to hire forward deployed engineers – and the application window closes September 17.

This year's pay range for campus hires is $110,000 to $190,000, up from $110,000 to $160,000 last year. Same job, new title, $30,000 more at the top of the range.

Big Tech has cut entry-level hiring by more than half since 2019, opening a window for BCG to hire AI talent it usually couldn't afford. That window won't stay open forever.

But BCG isn't the only firm racing through it. McKinsey and Deloitte are already building similar teams.

Applications for both the AI engineer and AI scientist roles close September 17. If BCG's on your list, get moving.

Resources:

• BCG's actual postings, for the requirements: Forward Deployed AI Engineer and Forward Deployed AI Scientist – both close September 17
• The pay-band math and what it signals about BCG's business: read it on our site
• Every consulting firm's application deadlines
• BCG still filters on soft skills and executive presence as much as Python – Black Belt builds the interview skills the posting doesn't test

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Deloitte, PwC, IBM, and 4,500 other companies use Adobe Experience Cloud products.

And they can't find enough people who know how to implement them.

Nick Hilton, Tyler Tu, and Brian Au from Adobe's Customer Experience Certifications team named the Adobe jobs they're struggling to fill: MarTech analysts, implementation consultants, solution architects. 

None of them require a technical degree – what they require is proof you can use the tools.

That's what Adobe is putting in front of graduate students this fall in the Case Competition World Cup Graduate Track.

The 50 teams selected get a sandbox Customer Journey Analytics environment and a real business problem to solve inside it, not documentation to read about. Plus a free Adobe certification voucher.

Free to enter. Applications close September 13.

Resources:

• Grad students, apply to the Case Competition World Cup – Graduate Track presented by Adobe by Sunday, September 13
• Start free with Adobe CX courses and certifications
• Students: Get 50% off your certification exam applied automatically at checkout (use your university email)

Connect With Management Consulted

• Create a free MC account or download the MC app (Apple, Android) to start your prep today
• Schedule a free 15min consultation with the MC Team
• Watch the video version of the podcast on YouTube
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Langston got callbacks from McKinsey and BCG. His first instinct: 10 hours a day of studying for three weeks straight, a fast route to burnout.

He'd applied to MBB once before and gotten nothing. But this time, two interviews landed in his inbox.

Katie walked him off the cramming ledge and built a plan around the time he actually had. Three weeks is enough – if you spend it right.

Resources:

• If your interview is in 3 weeks (or 3 days), Black Belt builds your plan around the time you have left – the September cohort closes September 9

Connect With Management Consulted

• Create a free MC account or download the MC app (Apple, Android) to start your prep today
• Schedule a free 15min consultation with the MC Team
• Watch the video version of the podcast on YouTube
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• Join an upcoming live event – case interviews demos, expert panels, and more

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Paul Edwards has led more than 1,000 private equity deals. AI took the grunt work, and now Stax consultants are getting promoted faster.

He leads the PE practice at Grant Thornton Stax. Inside the firm, that's 3 to 4 more projects a year for every consultant.

But the one thing AI still can't do, he says, is teach curiosity. You either bring it or you don't.

That's the exact bar Stax is judging this fall in the Case Competition World Cup Undergraduate Track – free to enter, teams of 4 to 5. 

So if curiosity is what gets you hired, this is where you prove it. Applications close September 13.

Resources:

• Apply to the Case Competition World Cup – Undergraduate Track, sponsored by Grant Thornton Stax. Applications close September 13.
• Careers at Grant Thornton Stax.

Connect With Management Consulted

• Create a free MC account or download the MC app (Apple, Android) to start your prep today
• Schedule a free 15min consultation with the MC Team
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Most consulting interviews let you drive the case. McKinsey doesn't.

McKinsey is one of the only firms that runs interviewer-led cases – the interviewer leads the case, not you.

So candidates who prep the way BCG or Bain expects walk in ready for the wrong format.

And the case is only half your score – the PEI (Personal Experience Interview) is the other half.

Ex-McKinsey coach Mark Di Giorgio breaks down why the interviewer-led format catches strong candidates off guard, how to build your PEI story bank, plus the 3-week prep plan when you don't have a lot of time left.

Resources:

• Join a Black Belt cohort to get paired with a McKinsey coach who's run McKinsey's actual interviewer-led cases from the inside

Connect With Management Consulted

• Create a free MC account or download the MC app (Apple, Android) to start your prep today
• Schedule a free 15min consultation with the MC Team
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Most candidates prep for the McKinsey PEI like a regular behavioral interview.

McKinsey built it to do more than that. One story, and up to 25 follow-up questions testing whether what you said the first time still holds.

That's why memorized answers fall apart under the PEI. Scripted stories crack under repeated follow-ups. The ones that hold up are built to survive being asked the same thing five different ways. 

In this episode, Namaan breaks down the four traits McKinsey scores in the PEI and how to build stories that survive the follow-ups.

Resources:

• Prep your PEI stories one-on-one with a former McKinsey interviewer through Black Belt
• Learn more about McKinsey's interview process

Connect With Management Consulted

• Create a free MC account or download the MC app (Apple, Android) to start your prep today
• Schedule a free 15min consultation with the MC Team
• Watch the video version of the podcast on YouTube
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• Join an upcoming live event – case interviews demos, expert panels, and more

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Every firm on our new 2027 Top Enterprise AI Consulting Firms ranking wants to hire the same person right now. And none of them can find them. 

Namaan calls it the unicorn hire: technical enough to deploy AI, business-minded enough to define the problem, and clear enough to explain it to a non-technical client.

That's the same skill behind telling deployment from transformation, the mistake costing firms deals right now.

The people who can spot that difference are the ones every firm wants, and there aren't enough of them to go around. We cover:

• The 3 traits that make you the hire firms are struggling to find
• Namaan's 4-part test for telling real transformation from deployment
• Why most AI pilots stall before production, and what changes when a firm gets it right

Resources:

• Our full breakdown is in the 2027 Top Enterprise AI Consulting Firms ranking – see who made the cut and why
• Want your firm's perspective in our next ranking, panel, or research piece? Tell our research team
• If you're trying to become the hire firms can't find, Black Belt is where you build the technical-plus-business skill set they're looking for

Connect With Management Consulted

• Create a free MC account or download the MC app (Apple, Android) to start your prep today
• Schedule a free 15min consultation with the MC Team
• Watch the video version of the podcast on YouTube
• Follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram, and TikTok
• Join an upcoming live event – case interviews demos, expert panels, and more

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Last year, 500 students on 100 teams competed in the Case Competition World Cup. Before they saw the case, coach Divya – 8 years at McKinsey – taught them the first move that separates winning teams from the rest.

It's the day 1 answer: a hypothesis you lock in before you have the data, even though it feels premature. But skip it, and teams start boiling the ocean – expanding the question until there's no path left to a real recommendation.

This fall, the competition returns with two tracks – undergraduate, presented by Grant Thornton Stax, and graduate, presented by Adobe – co-hosted with Case Questions and Marc Cosentino, author of Case in Point. 

Any current student can apply – completely free. Application deadline: September 13, 2026.

Resources:

• Undergrad students: apply for the Case Competition World Cup – Undergraduate Track, presented by Grant Thornton Stax
• Grad students: apply for the Case Competition World Cup – Graduate Track, presented by Adobe
• Looking for more case competitions? We keep a running list of competitions across the US and internationally

Connect With Management Consulted

• Create a free MC account or download the MC app (Apple, Android) to start your prep today
• Schedule a free 15min consultation with the MC Team
• Watch the video version of the podcast on YouTube
• Follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram, and TikTok
• Join an upcoming live event – case interviews demos, expert panels, and more

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A private equity firm bought a paint company. Turned out their sales reps were handing out 50% discounts to any contractor who asked nicely.

That's the kind of blind spot 3 PE leaders talk through in this episode – what actually happens once a private equity deal gets underway.

Carl Evander (OC&C), Sean McDevitt (Arthur D. Little), and Dave Clement (Simon-Kucher) break down how a deal actually gets picked, checked out, and sold for a profit.

You'll learn:

• Why the numbers on older deals are forcing PE firms to sell now, ready or not
• What "real diligence" looks like once you've actually bought the company
• The 1 skill partners say will matter more than AI in 3 years

Full speaker bios and firm profiles here.

Resources:

• See this year's Top Private Equity Consulting Firms ranking
• If breaking into a PE-focused practice is the target, Black Belt pairs you with an advisor who's coached candidates into firms like OC&C and Simon-Kucher
• Explore top firms hiring in Private Equity Consulting on the Management Consulted Job Board

Connect With Management Consulted

• Create a free MC account or download the MC app (Apple, Android) to start your prep today
• Schedule a free 15min consultation with the MC Team
• Watch the video version of the podcast on YouTube
• Follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram, and TikTok
• Join an upcoming live event – case interviews demos, expert panels, and more

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If your case framework doesn't pass the toothbrush test, it's too generic for McKinsey, Bain, and BCG.

Ex-Bain coach Abi Chen walks through the toothbrush test, the 3 mistakes that cost most candidates their offer, and the 4-step process to build strong frameworks.

Finally, she walks through two full framework examples – an M&A case and a pharma product launch.

Resources:

• If your frameworks keep failing the toothbrush test, Black Belt is how you fix the process
• Want to build a framework like this on a real client problem? Apply for the Case Competition World Cup

Connect With Management Consulted

• Create a free MC account or download the MC app (Apple, Android) to start your prep today
• Schedule a free 15min consultation with the MC Team
• Watch the video version of the podcast on YouTube
• Follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram, and TikTok
• Join an upcoming live event – case interviews demos, expert panels, and more