How effective is a referral for getting an interview at MBB?

Hi there

Referrals help. That's certain. And it's amazing that you have friends at AP level who could provide them. 

And yes, you could still get snubbed because the market is significantly worse than a few years ago. 

What I'd recommend you do is control for the 'controllables':

•  broaden your application strategy - check out this Expert Guide: Build A Winning Application Strategy
• build an amazing CV & CL (sounds like you're onto it)
• get referrals for as many of the firms as possible - if you don't have friends in the other firms this might help - Expert Guide: How To Get Referrals Via LinkedIn?

Best,
Cristian

It's very effective.

Whether it is officially true or not, you should network.

I know this for a fact.

At Stern, I ran a data analytics project to determine what factors affected successful recruiting (interview invites). The #1 controllable factor to improve your chances was networking.

But remember…a referral is one component of the application. You want to get all of them as right as possible.

Want to learn how to maximize your chances of getting an interview?

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Hi there,

A referral is just a door opener such that the recruiting team will look through your application more thoroughly. Depending on the seniority, tenure and advocacy of the person referring you, you have a better chance of getting a first round interview. The more senior the person referring you is, the better. The longer the tenure of that person with the firm is, the better.

The reason is that such voices carry more weight than referrals coming from super junior or brand new people. They typically know the HR folks better and have been involved in recruiting activities for a while so it is usually assumed that they have a good grasp of what types of candidates with which sets of qualifications the firm needs.

Ideally, you get a referral from someone from the same office (or same country) you are applying to. However, a referral from someone within the same firm but different country organization is still better than no referral.

A direct rejection after the CV screening stage can still happen - even with a referral. In that case the HR team usually provides some feedback to the person having given the referral. So you should follow up with them to better understand the rationale in case that happens. 

And as always, factors such as economic conditions and headcount/budget planning of the individual firm also matter significantly in these decisions - but they are not within your control.

Best

A simple referral (where your friend inputs your name into an automatic system) is okay. It is better than no referral but not a game changer either. What you want is the following

• Ideal - a partner or partner level person rooting for your hire (personal email to HR asking to interview you)
• Someone else at the firm reaching out to partners on your behalf to advocate for your hire
• Recruiters getting personal emails to screen you as a candidate (shows you have pull as a candidate)

Best,
Udayan

Hi there,

Q: I managed to get two referrals from undergrad friends, both currently at the AP-level, for BCG and Bain. Does this significantly improve my chances of getting an interview?

A referral increases the chance of getting an interview, so having a referral will help. However it doesn’t guarantee you will get an invitation.

Good luck!

Francesco

Referrals don't guarantee an interview, but they can be helpful in getting one. Of course, the profile / application still has to be strong - my guess is that you should have a chance given your background (and also that since you previously submitted a 7 page CV you were positioning yourself as focused on an academic career and as such understandable they didn't move you forward… that isn't true anymore since you are tailoring your application)