Leveraging interviews to get other interviews - for experienced hires

Question

Hi - I recently received an interview from BCG scheduled for next month. I have a pending application with Bain, and am wondering if it could be beneficial to mention to (1) the Bain recruiter and (2) a contact at Bain, that I just received a BCG interview.

I know it can help from undergrad/MBA - wondering if as an experienced hire from a T2 consulting firm in this situation it would be a good idea.

I think if I can give this contact at Bain some confidence in my profile I could possibly ask her to give my application a push with the recruiter. Would like some advice for this scenario as well.

Answer 1

Hi Jason,

I agree with the other coaches:

Mentioning you have an interview with BCG won’t bring any benefit
Mentioning you have an offer from BCG will help to speed up the process
The #1 thing that can help you to get an invitation is a referral from your Bain contact

Hope this helps,
Francesco

Answer 2

Hi,

There is absolutely no value in it. Hundreds of candidates get invited to the interviews.

If you have another MBB offer - in this case, you can ask to expedite the process

Why didn't you ask this person at Bain to refer you? It would be much easier to push now through this person. You can still ask him to check what's going on with your resume and to get some feedback from the recruiter

Best

Answer 3

Hi Jason,

Please don't do this. There is no way to make this come across the right way. It will only make you look bad (or have no impact).

That said, if you get offers at both, you can absolutely mention them to each other as ways to get leverage in compensation negotiations (normally sign-on bonus), but please don't share this information prior to that (unless they directly ask)

Answer 4

If your contact at Bain referred you internally, of course you can mention to them - but in that case you would probably be invited just based on the referral. If it's a distant connection that did not referr you, I doubt they'll even tell HR about it.

And it might come across a bit akward if you call the HR person to just casually mention that you received an invite from BCG

Bottom line: I don't think this will change the decision at Bain.

Answer 5

Hi Jason,

This wont add any value. Be patient and follow the process.

It might help when you are in advanced interview stages with Firm A and want to use that leverage to nudge Firm B to hurry up their process.

Answer 6

Hi Jason,

I honestly don't think it'll make a difference. The idea with a referral is worth thinking through though.

Cheers,

GB

Answer 7

Hi,

You can use the scheduled interview to speed up the process or to make leverage when you'll get the offer.

Good luck!

Antonello

Answer 8

Hello!

I disagree totally with other responses.

For sure it adds value to let the other MBBs know that you are in the pipeline for the rival. This is going to speed up the process.

Indeed, this is something that they usually ask you as you start the process "are you interviewing with anyone else?"

They want to ensure that talent is not stolen from the pipeline just for a matter of speed and agility.

Hope it helps!

Best,

Clara

Answer 9

Hi,

I am not sure it will help much specially when you are still in early stage. Mentioning you got an offer (even verbally) will definitely help.

Can your contact in Bain give you a referral?

Best,
Iman