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Ist round MBB interview

Hi, I have passed the online assessment for one of the MBBs and was told that my interview will be in January but have not set a date yet. I'm wondering if there is a particular trend of when will the interviews start in January. Will they start in the first week of Jan itself or the second week onwards? I'm trying to estimate around when will the interview take place and work my interviews with other firms around it. I wouldn't want to counter the date proposed by HR as I have rescheduled once which led to my interview being postponed to January. 

Thanks in advance!

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Clara
Coach
on Nov 19, 2021
McKinsey | Awarded professor at Master in Management @ IE | MBA at MIT |+180 students coached | Integrated FIT Guide aut

Hello!

Congratulations, you have made the first step!!

In terms of scheduling, you cannot know now. For sure won´t be the first week of January, but after that, it can be any day. 

However, you can totally be proactive with this topic with HR and tell them that in days x-y you can´t, or that your preference is in week x due to x, y, z reasons. 

The sooner you let them know, the easier it is that they can accommodate your requests. 

Hope it helps!

Cheers, 

Clara

on Nov 19, 2021
#1 Coach for Sessions (4.500+) | 1.500+ 5-Star Reviews | Proven Success: ➡ interviewoffers.com | Ex BCG | 10Y+ Coaching

Hi there,

Q: I'm wondering if there is a particular trend of when will the interviews start in January. Will they start in the first week of Jan itself or the second week onwards?

In general, it is more likely that the process will restart on the 2nd week. However, this is office-dependent as it is linked to the Christmas holidays length in your country.

On the other hand, I would not see a major issue if you ask HR to postpone again - you have not agreed before on the new date and you may well have some days in January when you are not available.

Best,

Francesco

Ian
Coach
on Nov 18, 2021
Top US BCG / MBB Coach - 5,000 sessions |Tech, Platinion, Big 4 | 9/9 personal interviews passed | 95% candidate success

Hi there,

In terms of scheduling, unfortunately you can't predict this. It's unlikely to be the first week (more likely to be the second), but you do just need to be prepared to be very flexible with your schedule.

My advice would be to just ask MBB around when you could expect the interviews, for personal planning purposes.

Andi
Coach
on Nov 19, 2021
BCG 1st & Final Round interviewer | Personalized prep with >95% success rate | 7yrs coaching | Experienced Hires

Different offices treat this differently. If it's in a region where x-mas holidays last until Epiphany, then likely won't be in first week of Jan, as the firm may have a hard time lining up interviewers. For all other offices may as well be week 1.

That said, MBB firms constantly interview almost every week, so there is a quite high degree of flexibility to make it also work for the candidate. You can absolutely be pro-active about it and state your preferences (even if you rescheduled before) - won't do any harm, as long as you have sound reasoning. 

Agrim
Coach
on Nov 19, 2021
Top Awarded Coach | BCG Dubai Project Leader | Master Casing in only 3 Hours | 10y in Consulting | Free Intro Call

Typically 1st week in Jan will not happen since most people take the week off and things don't move that much.

Apart from that - its near impossible for us here to speculate the exact date. I'm sure sitting today, even the HR/recruiter would not know.

Most likely, when it will be time for the HR to schedule your interviews, they will give you a couple of options to pick from. This should happen either mid-Dec or early Jan. You can pick your date choices at that time. If you are keen on scheduling things in a certain way then you might want to proactively reach out to HR and talk to them

Pedro
Coach
on Nov 20, 2021
Bain | EY-Parthenon | Senior Coach | Principal | Recruiting Team Leader

This is likely to follow school calendar, i.e., if students are back to school in the first week, then so will clients, and consultants will follow (and do interviews). Even if on the first week, most likely to be closer to the end of the week.

If the first week is still holday season, then you should expect the interview to happen on the second week or later.

edited on Nov 30, 2021
Former BCG | Case author for efellows book | Experience in 6 consultancies (Stern Stewart, Capgemini, KPMG, VW Con., Hor