How common is it to have final round interview unexpectedly on the same day as first round?

Good luck on your “interview day” next week!

Regarding your question, based on my personal experience, I would say it is not very common. In 4+ years I have never seen it happen at my previous company nor heard from other friends/colleagues in consulting (and other industries well). This not to say that it is bad whatsoever and actually getting back to candidates promptly usually is to be encouraged in my option, always considering to the extent that is possible that certain candidates may benefit from extra practice before each round. However, there is always usually at least a few days (sometimes weeks) gap between separate rounds as all the people within the company that are involved need at least some time to reflect on performance, come together and discuss next steps. This includes both discussing feedback sharing and for successful candidates scheduling / availability of interviewers for following round. The above can be time consuming, considering that normally in any organisation and particularly in consulting, people are busy and finding a time that works for everyone can be challenging already for discussing feedback (and even more so for coordinating subsequent rounds). Normally, in my experience, I have noticed very fast responses in highly dynamic / entrepreneurial organisations, which tend to have agile processes or in organisations that for any reason may require candidates to join quickly. However, this is not an absolute truth, as it may very well be that by design an organisation may want to choose to concentrate the interview rounds together (e.g. perhaps to accomodate partners that have particular / specific time availability for example). Regardless, in my experience, consulting companies tend to be quite transparent and clear upfront on what to expect at every stage of the interview process as this is already challenging on its own. Therefore, there shouldn't normally be, in my opinion, logistic / scheduling surprises, as everything should be promptly communicated upfront to the candidate.

So in short not very common in my experience and perhaps somewhat unusual but nothing to be particularly concerned about.

Hope it helps!

Hi there,

Q: How common is it to have final round interview unexpectedly on the same day as first round?

Not common if it is unexpected. 

They will normally tell you in advance that there could be that option if you pass the first round. That’s also to help you to organize the next steps in case you have to travel to that particular city for interviews.

Good luck!

Francesco

There are often days run where the first round happens in the morning and then some people are ‘called back’ for the second round in the afternoon. It's worth asking HR what the interview day will consist of and to understand if this will be the case - just so that you're mentally prepared!

Hi there,

Very uncommon. Usually, such super days or marathon days are communicated well in advance and not on the spot. :-)

You can always postpone if they offer you to interview literally on the same day. However, if you are already at it I would take the chance and get it over with.

Cheers,

Florian

It is very unlikely if it wasn't designed like right from the start (and when that is the case, they will let the candidates know beforehand). As such, if they didn't tell you anything, most likely it won't be that way. 

Remember that if for some reason that happens and you can't or don't want to go back in the afternoon, you can chose a later date.

agree with other coaches, not common, but please ensure you understand it is the 2nd round, not just more interviews within the 1st round. 

If you however go to the 2nd round, congrats!! You are ready, you passed the 1st one, so just go and rock!

Good luck

Lucie

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Hi there,

As always, I'm going to “preach” that you need to be prepared for everything and anything. Interviews are about flexibility/adaptability just like consulting is!

That said, this is an extremely rare occurrence.

It's quite unlikely it happens.