The case you get as an experienced hire is, in most offices, the same case the MBA class got last week, scored on the same sheet. BCG's recruiting FAQ for advanced-degree candidates states that the interview process and evaluation criteria are the same for all generalist consultant candidates across North America, and Bain says it gives all candidates the same questions for each role to reduce bias. What changes when you walk in with eight years of work is not the case. It is a second question the interviewer is answering while you talk: at which level would we be losing money on this person?
That is the whole thesis. Your experience is scored as a risk before it is scored as an asset, because the usual way a lateral fails the case is by solving it the way they solved things at work, and the usual way a lateral fails the fit interview is by pitching a level the interviewer cannot defend to the office.
By the end you will know what the sheet actually rewards, how to use what you know without earning the note "asserted, did not test," and how to make the level decision easy instead of fighting it in the room.
What the sheet has a line for, and what it does not
I have scored a few hundred cases on some version of the same sheet: structure, analysis, business judgment, synthesis, communication, and a separate page for fit. The labels vary by firm and I do not claim to know any firm's current form. But I have never seen a sheet with a line that reads "knows the industry." Experience earns points only where it changes something the sheet already measures.
| What laterals assume is scored | Where it actually lands | Usual effect |
|---|---|---|
| Knowing the answer early | Nowhere. Unearned, it costs points under structure and analysis | Negative |
| Industry vocabulary | Communication, once the interviewer has to translate | Negative |
| Confidence and airtime | Communication. A four-minute opening reads as not listening | Negative |
| Opening the right branch first | Business judgment | Positive, and large |
| Client-facing manner | The fit page: would I put this person in front of my client | Positive |
Two notes I write more on laterals' sheets than on anyone else's: "asserted, did not test," and "structure was a list of things he has seen go wrong." That list is a memory, not a structure, and the interviewer cannot score a memory.
Why firms level you down, in one lopsided calculation
McKinsey's careers site says experienced professionals typically join as consultants, associates, or engagement managers, depending on experience, with generalists usually landing as an associate or an engagement manager. BCG tells PhDs, MDs, and JDs with established careers that all of them start at the entry-level consultant position. Neither publishes a formula, so here is the logic as I have watched it play out.
Level a hire one step too high and, if he cannot run a workstream, you find out six weeks into an engagement, in front of the client, and you replace a manager mid-project. Level him one step too low and the cost is a promotion twelve months early and a mildly irritated new joiner. Faced with that asymmetry, a partner with headcount picks the lower level unless the evidence is overwhelming. That is my estimate, not policy, and it is how a firm should behave with clients' money.
Pay makes the same point from the other side. In the HBS class of 2025, consulting hires reported a median base of $190,000, with the 25th percentile at $190,000 and the 75th at $192,000: a $2,000 spread across half the class. Firms pay the level, not the person; your years only decide which band you are put in.
My read, not policy, by what you actually did:
| What you actually did | What a firm can usually defend | What to bring into the room |
|---|---|---|
| Individual expert, no reports (engineer, physician, lawyer) | Post-MBA entry level; sometimes an expert track | Evidence you can generalize beyond your field |
| Managed a team inside your own function | Entry level, often with an early first review | One story of moving people who did not report to you |
| Ran cross-functional work with a budget, outside stakeholders, executive exposure | A manager-level conversation is possible, never automatic | Budget, headcount, and outcome, in numbers |
| Consultant at a peer firm | Level for level, occasionally minus one | The same case prep as everyone else |
Your job in the interview is not to win the level. It is to make the down-level unnecessary.
The operator's answer and the advisor's answer
An invented case, two candidates, both former directors of operations at a trucking company. Halvorsen Freight is a regional less-than-truckload carrier. Its operating margin has fallen from 9% to 5% over two years, and the CEO wants to know why and what to do.
The operator opens: "In LTL the margin killers are linehaul and driver cost. I would look at network density and renegotiate purchased transportation." He asks for cost data, sees linehaul up 6% per shipment, says "there it is," and recommends network re-optimization and rate renegotiation. He never asks about revenue.
The advisor opens: "Margin is profit over revenue, so I want both sides. Revenue: shipment count, revenue per shipment, and whether that is price or weight mix. Cost: linehaul, pickup and delivery, terminals, overhead. From experience I would expect linehaul to have moved, so I would check that first. But four points on flat volume smells like price, so I also want revenue per shipment." She asks for both.
| Item | Two years ago | Now |
|---|---|---|
| Shipments | 4.0M | 4.0M |
| Revenue per shipment | $100 | $96 |
| Revenue | $400M | $384M |
| Operating margin | 9% | 5% |
| Operating profit | $36M | $19.2M |
| Linehaul cost | $150M | $159M |
| All other cost | $214M | $205.8M |
The arithmetic anyone can reproduce: profit fell $16.8M. Hold total cost at the old $364M and put revenue at $384M, and profit would be $20M, so price explains $16M of the drop. Total cost moved only $0.8M, because a terminal consolidation saved $8.2M while linehaul rose $9M. The operator found a real $9M problem the client had already mostly paid for, and missed the $16M one.
The advisor's next question wins the case: is the $4 per shipment price or mix? Three dollars is discounts to win two national accounts; one is lighter shipments. Her recommendation is to reprice or exit those two accounts. The answer sat in the pricing office, not the dispatch office.
| Line | Operator | Advisor | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| Structure | 2 | 4 | One side of the P&L versus both, with a priority |
| Analysis | 3 | 4 | Both did the cost math; one sized revenue |
| Business judgment | 3 | 5 | Same instinct; one let the data overrule it |
| Synthesis | 2 | 4 | Aimed at $0.8M versus aimed at $16M |
| Communication | 3 | 4 | Monologue versus hypothesis and request |
| Total | 13 | 21 | On my sheets a first round is usually won around 18 |
The two candidates had identical experience. One spent it and one invested it.
Ned's rule. Use what you know to choose which branch to open first, never to skip opening the tree. If you already know the answer, say it as a hypothesis, then earn it with the client's numbers.
The three fit questions that actually set your level
The fit interview for a lateral is short on "why consulting" and long on three questions. McKinsey's personal experience interview takes one story and probes it for a large share of the session. Deloitte calls its method Behavioural Event Interviewing. BCG's skills interview explores your experience, skills, and motivation for joining BCG. Same instinct everywhere: one story, five layers down.
Why leave, and why now. Nobody in the room is shocked that you are leaving. The BLS put median tenure with a current employer at 3.9 years in January 2024, and 2.7 years for workers aged 25 to 34. What the interviewer is sorting is push from pull. "My boss" and "no growth" are pushes, and pushes follow people. "I want this kind of problem at this cadence, and here is what I tried in my current job before concluding I could not get it there" is a pull, and it can be checked.
Tell me about a decision that was yours. Laterals default to "we delivered the program." The interviewer wants the Tuesday afternoon: the option you rejected, the person who disagreed, the number that changed. Pick stories at the altitude of the level you are asking for. A candidate asking for manager with stories about tasks she completed alone has told the interviewer the level herself.
Where do you see yourself coming in? Both easy answers fail. Arguing hard for manager on thin evidence reads as a future staffing problem; "wherever you think best" reads as not knowing what the levels do. The answer that works names a level, names the evidence, says you would rather be leveled right than leveled up, and asks what the first ninety days of staffing look like at that level. That last question is the one a consultant would ask, and partners notice.
The process is lumpy, and the lumps are information
Campus recruiting is a machine with a calendar. Lateral recruiting is a requisition with a partner attached. The published shapes are similar: BCG lists application, skills interview, case interview, and team interview; Bain runs an online assessment and then case interviews; Deloitte describes a talent-team screen, hiring-team interviews, a case study for selected roles, and a final with a partner, or two to three rounds mixing behavioral, technical, and case-based interviews in the US. The invitation you actually receive overrides all of that.
Three things follow. The online test is not waived by seniority: if the invitation lists Solve, an online case, or a numerical test, it is a gate. Expect four to ten weeks from recruiter call to decision, my estimate from processes I have sat on, with two- or three-week silences that usually mean partner travel, a headcount approval, or an internal candidate, not a verdict on you. And you will not get a peer group. The campus candidate has a club and fifteen mock partners. You have weeknights.
Four weeks, six hours a week, no club
The plan I give laterals with a job, a family, and an interview date, built around the two leaks above.
| Week | Hours | What |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 6 | Two cases far from your industry; three stories at the level you are asking for |
| 2 | 6 | Three cases, one inside your industry, scored side by side; a structure drill on the line that dropped |
| 3 | 6 | One human mock with someone who interrupts; two more cases; the online assessment if invited |
| 4 | 4 | Closes and pushback only; rewrite the level answer; sleep |
Week two is the diagnostic. Most laterals I have watched lose about a point of five on structure when the case is in their own industry, and win it back on judgment only if they voice the hypothesis instead of the answer. If your structure score drops at home, that is the leak.
Practice this today: the two-case test
Today, sit one case outside your industry. Tomorrow, sit one inside it. Compare the structure and synthesis scores, not the totals.
The live voice case with Ned runs about eighteen minutes and returns a seven-score debrief. The case library has 64 original cases across industries. If you have never done a case, the five-minute first rep is three typed turns with instant scores and works without an account.
Then take the story you would tell for "a decision that was yours" into the behavioral practice room, which asks four follow-ups. If the fourth one stumps you, the story is at the wrong altitude.
Everything is open for seven days, no card; then $120 for a recruiting season or $49 a month. CoachNed is independent and is not affiliated with McKinsey, BCG, Bain, Deloitte, or any other firm named here.
Frequently asked questions
Do experienced hires get an easier case interview?
No. BCG says its process and evaluation criteria are the same for all generalist consultant candidates in North America, and Bain says it asks the same questions of everyone applying to a role. The structure bar is identical; the judgment bar is higher, because the interviewer expects more of someone who has run things.
What level do experienced hires join McKinsey, BCG, or Bain at?
McKinsey says experienced generalists typically join as associates or engagement managers; BCG starts even advanced-degree candidates with established careers at entry-level consultant. Most industry laterals with three to eight years of experience should plan on the post-MBA entry level.
Do experienced hires still have to take the McKinsey Solve or BCG online case?
The invitation decides, and seniority does not waive it. If yours lists an assessment, treat it as a gate and practice it separately.
Sources
- Opportunities for Experienced Professionals, McKinsey — entry levels for experienced hires. Checked 2026-09-24.
- BCG ADC Recruiting Guide FAQs (PDF) — same process and criteria for all generalist candidates; advanced-degree hires start at entry level. Checked 2026-09-24.
- Consulting Interview Process, BCG Careers — skills, case, and team interview steps. Checked 2026-09-24.
- Interviewing, Bain & Company — same questions per role; assessment and case interviews. Checked 2026-09-24.
- Our Recruitment Process, Deloitte Australia — experienced-hire steps; Behavioural Event Interviewing. Checked 2026-09-24.
- Recruiting Tips, Deloitte US — two to three rounds of interviews. Checked 2026-09-24.
- Employment Data, Consulting, Class of 2025, Harvard Business School — consulting base salary percentiles. Checked 2026-09-24.
- Employee Tenure in 2024, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics — median tenure by age. Checked 2026-09-24.