Central vs office-specific recruiting

Question

Hi everyone,

When applying for multiple offices, do McKinsey and Bain review your application centrally (no input from individual offices) or do individual offices review your application in the order of your ranking?

I know BCG do the latter,, but I wasn't sure about McKinsey and Bain. I thought Bain was the latter too, but today I received a rejection from their Global recruitment email. When I called my first choice office to see if I could get some feedback, they seemed to suggest that they hadn't reviewed my application at all and it had been handled by a central team. Has that been everyone else's experience or have I misunderstood?

Answer 1

Hi there,

typically, your application will be handled by a central recruiting team - as the primary goal in terms of new hires is centrally allocated.

Of course, your office preferences play a role in handling applications - for example in light of overall office capacity. That is why you typically communicate your “preferences”.

In your case, feedback will not be provided by the office itself, but rather your assigned recruiting expert - you can find them on the Bain website depending on your school.

Answer 2

Hello,

My understanding for McKinsey is exactly what Emily posted - if you are at a target school there will be a team of recruiters for that target school that views all applications first; if you are not at a target school then it your application goes to your first-choice office first.

Answer 3

Short answer is that it is done by the office (either specific or in the region) barring some exceptions. If you think about it, every region will need to use their own filtering criteria (schools, majors, work experience) as context matters a lot.

Answer 4

Hi there,

Can you provide a bit more detail on your application? E.g. were you applying directly to the firm, or are you for example recruiting within an MBA cohort? Did you have a referral?

Also, why does this matter?

Answer 5

It somewhat depends on how you're recruiting. If you're recruiting while still doing your undergrad / masters and you're at a target school your application will be reviewed by the recruiting team for that school; then shared with the office. If you're applying off cycle or not from a target school then it'll be reviewed first off by your first choice office and, if they do not want to proceed, by your second choice and so on.

Good luck!

Answer 6

I think there is a central screening and then your profile will be shared with the local offices. The local office will express their interest and kickoff the interviewing process.