I applied for the role of Associate Consultant at Bain and company. I applied on 8th of october 2025 and I reached out to a senior associate consultant, partner, Talent Acquisition and the HR for a referral and the role description says that the position is for final year ugs.

To my knowledge, referrals are useful before a candidate applies for the role. Once applied, you are already in the system for that role and there's not much action to be taken, which could explain why you are not being responded to.

If you are also considering other firms, I would recommend requesting a referral prior to applying, also, for more senior persons the likelihood of getting a referral from a cold-call is low as it is quite an administrative process to do referrals (speaking from experience of having done many during my tenure and holding the record for highest number of shortlisted referrals in that period).
 
For cold outreaches, my rule of thumb is to make sure the referrer has all the info they need to execute a referral without needing to have a back and forth e.g., Role, LinkedIn URL, CV, Preferred office (provide 3 ordered by priority). 

That "In Process" status is one of the most frustrating things about applying to these firms, especially when you've done everything right by securing multiple, high-level referrals. Let me break down the reality of what this status actually means at this stage.

For high-volume recruiting markets like India, the application portal status is often meaningless until the firm is ready to launch the first major screening wave. You applied early in October, which is great, but the recruiting pipeline operates on a fixed calendar geared towards university cycles, not individual application dates. "In Process" simply means the system hasn't started the human review yet. Your Partner and Senior AC referrals successfully accomplished their goal: they flagged your resume to ensure it gets seen by the right person, but they cannot compel the TA team to skip ahead of the official screening schedule.

Here is the strategic pivot: you have completely maximized your application efforts (early submission, excellent networking, BCN interest noted). Do not follow up again. Over-leveraging your contacts now risks burning the goodwill you've built. The firm is currently consolidating the pool—they often wait until the application window closes across all target universities before they start the mass review (the actual "ghosting" usually only happens much later if you get a generic rejection, not while you're still sitting in the main queue).

For now, treat this time as a mandatory quiet period. Your focus must entirely shift from networking to preparation. If you move forward, the window for interview invites can be very short. Use this buffer to hit your case prep hard, as that is the only factor you can still control.

All the best.

hey Arambh :)

It’s normal for the portal to stay “in process” for a while, especially for undergrad roles and BCN applications. Bain usually doesn’t ghost candidates intentionally, sometimes it just takes time for the team to review and coordinate internally. Keep following up politely, but no need to stress; being a final year undergrad at NIT Bhopal puts you in the right pool for the role.

best, Alessa :)

Hi Arambh,

I'm not sure that I fully understand the situation, but it does sound like you've followed-up sufficiently already and now you should wait for an answer.

I would recommend that you focus on developing other applications as well, not only focusing on the Bain one. It's best if you see this entire process as handling a portfolio rather than optimising for individual targets. 

You might find this guide useful:

• Expert Guide: Build A Winning Application Strategy

Best,
Cristian