How does referral work?

Hi,

To clarify your questions are:

• Do coffee chats get logged or tracked at the office (e.g., for hiring/referral consideration)? No they're not
• Or do they still need to formally ask for a referral if they’re interested? Yes

 A referral is abit of admin shlep, the person needs to upload your cv and fill out your details which takes time, which is why people don't do these often. 

You need to really build up relationships over time in order for them to actually take the time to get to know you, see you worth, and refer you.

So do what you're doing - have coffee with those people and then:

• Follow up - I'd say once a month send messages how they're doing, how you're doing, anything interesting, maybe comment on the fact that you saw the MBB in the news as an example - you need to build a relationship

Alternatively, you have a couple of other options:

• Go back to your school alumni network and see who of your peers has gone to an MBB: Reach out to them, ask their journey, I'd say don't ask for a referral on the first chat - work into it, maybe the 2nd?
• Go look on Linkedin who previously worked at your current place of employment and see who of has transferred to a MBB:  Same process

Good luck and happy to chat about a plan forward - I know how hard it is to get that first invite. 

Hi!

It’s great that you’re actively networking and setting up coffee chats—that definitely helps build connections. Usually, your contacts won’t automatically track every coffee chat in a formal database, so it’s a good idea to be clear and polite if you want to ask for a referral.

If you’ve built a good rapport, you can mention that you’re very interested in applying and ask if they’d be comfortable referring you or guiding you through the next steps. Since you have a chat coming up with a principal, that could be a good moment to bring it up once you’ve established a connection.

Keep nurturing those relationships, and when the time feels right, an official referral ask usually works best when it’s personal and specific. Let me know if you want help drafting a message!

Alessa

Hi there,

It’s unlikely that someone will refer you after just one coffee chat, without you explicitly discussing it with them.

My suggestion would be to nurture a bit more of a relationship first (maybe a couple of meetings) and then ask for a referral.

An alternative would be to look for MBB employees from your school’s alumni network - they might be more willing to immediately refer you.

Best of luck.

At the Principal level, that person can have a lot of influence in selecting the candidate to interview, especially if they work in the office you are applying to. Therefore, if the conversation goes well, they may actively recommend you or mention your name when the hiring team reviews your resume.

You're doing a great job with your networking. Just keep in mind that MBB firms don’t usually track informal coffee chats in a central system. So unless someone explicitly refers you, the firm likely won’t know about the conversation.

If you had a good connection, felt positive engagement, or got helpful advice, it’s completely fine to ask for a rreferral. So it's up to you to gaugz the level of connection made during the chat. 

Hi there,

No, they don't keep track of that. 

And ideally you don't ask directly for a referral. 

See the coffee chat as primarily informative. Ask questions you are generally interested in - about the job, the recruiting process, the experience of the person you're talking to. 

If the conversation goes well, you might indirectly ask for a referral. I explain more about how to do it in the following articles that you might find useful:

• Expert Guide: How To Handle Networking Calls and Get Referrals
• Expert Guide: How To Get Referrals Via LinkedIn?

Best,
Cristian

Hi there,

A referral is just a door opener such that the recruiting team will look through your application more thoroughly. In order to get a referral, you need to at least develop some form of professional relationship with the person because they will not just refer someone they barely know. After all, they would be putting their name and reputation on the line. Coffee chats and alike are not being tracked by companies. And if you don't proactively bring up the topic of referrals, it's unlikely that the person you are chatting with will provide you one.

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. However, any referral is ultimately better than no referral. 

Ideally, you get a referral from someone from the same office (or same country) you are applying to. But again, a referral from someone within the same firm but different office or 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 recruiting 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. On the flipside, you can still get an interview invite when you just apply online without a referral - the probability might just be lower - unless your CV is “stellar” on a standalone basis.

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

Hi,

You need an official referral. Feel free to ask those people for one (there are good articles covering how to do it here) and there is no problem to have more than one per firm.

Best,

Mari

They don't necessarily keep track. And they have to be the ones volunteering a referral.