Frustrating referral experience

Question

Dear PrepLounge community,

I had a positive call with a BCG principal, and he volunteered to refer me. He told me I’ll hear back from HR, which I did not for 2 months. I enquired again with him, his response was: “Unfortunately, we are currently quite restrictive about hiring, and cannot currently consider your application. The very selective criteria are currently even more selective."

I found the process quite frustrating, even puzzling. I even wonder if my application was considered, I had no news from HR, no confirmation email, nothing. Is this a polite way of telling me my profile doesn’t cut it? Or is it really only because of the "crisis"? Should I apply again? Or make peace and move on?

Your thoughts are much appreciated.

(PS: Feeling out on a limb here by not going anonymous :-))

Answer 1

Hi Katharina,

Sorry to hear about this experience.

You can't control people's behaviours and outside situations. Just let it go and keep doing your best. Right things will happen.

Keep other options going in parallel. Rejection/disappointement is part of this process and pretty much everyone faces it.

Answer 2

Hi,

Unfortunately, nobody knows here what happened on the backend. It's true that companies are hiring much less these days. But it's also possible that he just forgot to submit. Usually, if you are officially referred - you get a notification

You can do 2 things:

Try to find another contact in the company and check with HR
Submit your application formally through the website

Best

Answer 3

Hi Katharina,

This is indeed quite frustrating. Unfortunately, you cannot know for sure what the underlying root cause has been for this situation.

I do think it would be worthwhile to check with recruiting what the status of your application is:

Has it been correctly submitted or not?
Has it already been reviewed or not?
When could you apply (again)?

Asking for clarity will never hurt you, and is an easy way to know for sure whether you still have a change or not.

Once you have this 100% clarity, you can move forward. :)

Best,

Pascal

Answer 4

Hi Katharina,

Sorry to hear about what happened. We all know that firms have slowed down on recruitment in the past months given the uncerstainty of the period, but I am surprise to hear that a Principal couldn't refer you and earn you an interview. That is quite strange!

In this situation, I would "hope" that this person didn't submit your CV to HR, so that you can still get your chance to interview there in a few months (maybe by going through another referral, from a Managing Director & Partner maybe!). If your profile wasn't uploaded on the system, then the 18 months ban shouldn't apply to you, so maybe you can try applying again in January - March when, hopefully, firms will have more visibility on the projects they would sell.

I think that the best thing for you is to ask for feedback (if possible) and move on. There are tons of opportunities that you can seize, so just turn the page and focus on other things. Having said that, do not stop networking with people from your target firms, this should lead you to secure interviews at some time.

Happy to further talk about this if needed.

Mehdi

Answer 5

Hi Katharina,

I'm sorry to hear this! It's definitely frustrating to get so close only to have the opportunity fall short.

The honest answer is that there are two scenarios (neither of which we can determine 100% to be what happened): Either your resume/application didn't cut it (on his end or HR's end) OR he had a change of heart/mind (either because of his own business etc or company restriction) and he never submitted your application. I do *think* it's more likely the former (feel free to send me your resume and I cna give you a view as to how competitive it is).

I think you make peace and move FORWARD, not on :)

You should view this just like you might view someone who made it to the final round of McKinsey. I.e. "Wow! So close! Impressive!"

The fact that you had a great call and he offered to refer you means you come across well and are capable.

Keep networking aggressively across a range of companies and build up the resume...based on getting so close with a Partner, I think it's only a matter of time before you land an interview!

Answer 6

Hello Katharina!

Sorry to hear about that, and I can imagine the frustration.

To be very honest, is very difficult to say from outside.

I could imagine the scenario in which they don´t like the CV, but then it does not make sense that the BCG principal said otherwise before -i.e., if he saw that you were not a fit, he would not have invested the time either-.

Hence, i would indeed try again. Is a fact that COVID has alterated normal recruiting.

Cheers!

:)

Answer 7

Dear Katharina,

I am sorry to hear that. However, please don`t stay upset and keep going to your aim. We can`t know why they rejected you. It can be a problem not in you, So continue your application processes and improve your skills to get a great offer!

Good luck!

Do you need any further help?

GB