Received an offer - recommend to schedule meetings with partners?

Hi there!

First of all, super congrats for landing the offer!

I have worked in Bain Italy and never heard about someone doing this, also considering that Partners have quite full agendas and can only participate to key meetings. 

(1)

Are you sure you are going to be assigned to a project with one of these 2 partners? Normally, when you start to work in consulting, you are assigned to a random project and you are not expected to have any previous knowledge on the industry, you just learn on the job. 

(2) 

Do you already know that you are going to be assigned to projects in a specific industry? If not, what do you mean by preparing for the practice?

Again, a lot on the initial learning is done on the job. However, if you already know that you are going to work in a specific industry and you want to prepare a bit you could go through some industry reports and check key competitors. Anyway, according to my experience, this is normally not required. 

To conclude, I do not think you need to organize a meeting with the partners for the reasons you mentioned. However, you could for sure organize a meeting with HR to learn more about what they will expect from you and how you can better prepare. 

With you good luck and happy to answer to other doubts if you need help!

Best,

Francesca

Hello,

Congratulations on getting an offer!

There's no harm in trying to set up a call with the partners who interviewed you if you think it might be helpful. However, I think a couple of details would be useful for us to give guidance on this question and understand whether the calls would be helpful to you:

• What is the position you applied for?
• How large is the firm?
• How likely is it that you will be working with the partners who interviewed you (e.g., if you are talking about MBB and the offer is for a generalist position, those chances are quite low)? 
• How big is the practice?

If you are going for an entry-level position in a large firm, chances are your odds of working with those partners / on their projects are quite low, and there are plenty of other people who can give you advice. For instance, you could reach out to more junior-level people at your office.

If you are going for a very specialized position in a small practice, the partners will probably have more sway over your work there. In this case, it might be worthwhile getting in touch with them.

Hi there,

Congrats on the offer - well done!

Look, personally, I wouldn't. When I received my offer I just sent an email saying thank you and that I was excited to join the firm. It's a bit “too much” to reach out for a call. That said, if this is “you” and you want to, feel free to do what you want!

(1)  To understand better about the project they are doing, and the type of project/industry coverage that they expect me to work on. I feel that this kind of information is quite ambiguous during the interview.  

There are many many partners. The ones that interviewed you don't expect you to work on anything. The staffing manager will sort this out, based on a future pipeline that wil look different to the current one.

(2) To understand how to better prepare for the practice if I join the firm. (note: This is a new practice to me, so a lot of new things that I will need to learn from scratch). 

Well, first, read this

Then, read this

Finally, tap into your network! That's what they're there for!

Do you think a meeting with partners is needed to clarify the above 2 things? What is your suggestion on how to find out the “nuance” of the position and to find out how to better prepare for it? 

Dear,

thanks for the question.

Honestly speaking, I wouldn't be so “rushed”. In many cases, your initial staffing is based on the needs of the office, and it's not guaranteed that you'll be working with the partners who interviewed you.

After joining the company, you can consider arranging informal coffee chats with your interviewers to reconnect with them “as colleagues” and start building your network within the organization.

These coffee chats can serve as exploratory conversations to gain a better understanding of the partners' areas of expertise and whether those align with your interests in your consulting career.

Please feel free to reach out if you have any more questions or concerns, and I'm here to help!

Hi there!

This is by no means a standard in the industry. And I'd rather recommend against it. 

You're likely to come across as being too pushy and preseumptous if you suggest this sort of meeting before even having a clear offer. 

For now, I'd recommend that you just send a polite thank you note to the Partners who interviewed you and wait for the offer.

If you want to keep yourself busy, you can start reading more about the industry and how to be an effective consultant. Some suggested readings below:

• Free Guide: How to Become A Distinctive Consultant
• Free Guide: How to Manage for Lifestyle in Consulting

Best,
Cristian

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The general answer is don't:

• The first question you discuss with the person in charge of recruiting, but don't go back to the partners for this. 
• The second question you discuss (with that same recruiting manager) AFTER you accept the offer.

Exception would be 1) in a very small office (where you basically have those two partners, and not several of them). But even in that case… only if you did not have the chance to ask those questions during the interviews. If you did have that opportunity, going back to ask them those questions again will not cause a great impression. And  2) if you have another offer in your hand and there's a relevant selection criteria that you can state upfront (e.g. you want to work in XYZ industry).