"Barely passed round 1 BCG" according to interviewer during feedback call. What does this mean for the decision round?

Question

Hi all,

First, love the community here. You've all been tremendously helpful. I just got off the call with my first round interviewer who said that he vouched for me for decision round even though my first round performance wasn't up to their expectations. Specifically, he felt my FIT responses were unstructured, and that I needed to provide more technical knowledge (This is for their tech strategy department)

My question is:

1. How will this affect my decision round decision? Am I at a disadvantage now?

2. Can I repeat some of the stories I used in the first round? I feel like my feedback was very much centered around my stories and while I can come up with 1-2 more, the ones I had in the first round were the most relevant.

3. What can I do to turn the tides and get the offer. After that call, it almost feels like I'm just moving forward to get rejected.

Would appreciate any feedback you may have.

Answer 1

Hi there,

You can check how the recruiting process works from an internal MBB perspective here: https://www.preplounge.com/en/articles/mbb-hiring-hacks-behind-the-curtain-secrets

Best,

Alberto

—

Check out my latest case based on a real MBB interview: Sierra Springs

Answer 2

First off, congratulations.

Second, you passed - that's all that matters for now. Sure, they may have some lingering questions, but you passed. If they knew you were going to fail, they wouldn't move you to the next round and waste partners' time

Third, make sure to work the FIT and these specific types of questions in particular. Your 2nd round interviewers are now much more likely to drill that area in more details. Guess what though? 2nd round is partners and senior principals, and one thing they like to do is talk & do fit - so they were going to ask these types of question anyway.

Fourth, you haven't asked, but make sure to keep doing some cases. The last thing you want i get a little rusty and fail a case because you got worried about FIT.

Congrats again, and good luck for the next step.

Answer 3

First of all: Congratulations on passing the first round, that's a big achievement already!

Now let me address an elephant in the room, please.

One thing that I am missing in your question is a bit of self-reflection. Have you honestly asked yourself: What if they are right? What if the fit just isn't there?

After all, your interviewers have seen a lot more people come into the company, thrive there or be miserable there, and leave the company eventually. Thus they have A LOT more data than you do to base their fit judgment on. They may still be wrong, but it's more likely that their judgement of FIT is better than yours.

So please do yourself the favor: Look in the proverbial mirror and try to come up with an honest answer to these questions:

Are YOU really convinced (based on what data, btw) that you are actually a great fit and that they are just not seeing it, maybe because you didn't find the right way to show it? If so, please proceed and work hard on showing it better in the next round.
Do you just want to convince THEM that you are a good fit in order to get this job, even if you're not so sure (because you really don't have the data to base this assumption on). If so, think long and hard if you want to go down this route.

This is not to say that you may not be a great consultant. But maybe BCG just isn't the firm for you. And that's totally OK. Better find out now than to enter a job where you may be miserable. Life's too short for that.

So basically don't be that guy who goes off the cliff because he's chasing an elusive price (that BCG job) but forgets to look at the road ahead...

BCG road runner

PS: That's a bit a problem with a community like this one. Everybody is so focused on passing that interview, getting that job offer, that few pause to think whether this is actually the right thing for them.

Answer 4

Hi,

1) It will have an impact only if they will be hesitating with the decision after the second round. By default, they don't have the access to the previous round data.

2) You can definitely repeat, but since they got a negative feedback I would change / polish them

3) Do your best to improve the fit part. Feel free to reach me for dedicated help with fit. Again, your first round results do not matter at this point and you have a chance to improve

Best

Answer 5

Hi A,

Congrats on making it through to the second round!

As long as you are in it doesn't matter what you did wrong previously except it might help you to improve your weak points.

Practice the fit part and do your best in the second round. I would recommend, at least, to work on your stories so you can use them again, their better version.

Practice, practice, practice! Lack of confidence might be distressing for you so try to get rid of it by improving your communicative skills and getting clear with the topic.
Best, André