How long I should wait to apply for another office

Hi,

You can apply in 12 months or so. However, you can apply sooner if you can do this via a referral.

Best,

Deniz

Hello Zine,

To give you a realiable answer, I should know which companies didn't reply and which companies sent a rejection emails (after the interview or before starting the process?)

In general MBB are far more selective than Big 4. If you realise that your CV is not strong enough, you should apply for a tier-2 consulting company and build a stronger profile.

If you don't want to give up on the companies where you have already applied, you should go for offices less competitive. But also in this case it depends on when they stopped your process: if it was at CV screening you have some chances, otherwise I fear that you have to wait at least 1 year anyway.

Hope it helps,
Luca

You definitely first need to wait for the reply – if you have been waiting for too long now (>2 weeks), just contact the HR and ask them about the status.

If you get rejected you need to wait for at least a year to reapply, no matter the office and geography. During this time you need to gather additional experiences, which would be impressive enough to get you invited again, for example:

• prestigious internship or a job at a big corporate
• cool start-up experience
• some impressive social engagement
• getting a new degree
• anything else which is equally impressive

In my experience, even getting referral through your contacts doesn't speed it up – you would still need to wait for a year. However, one thing which can help if you are lucky is events – see what events are there in your region and try to apply for those. Events have a different recruiting funnel vs regular recruiting and it might be that you can slip through and get invited to the event and then, during the event, to the interview

Good luck!

Best,

Daniel

Hi Zine,
technically speaking, without a formal rejection, you could apply even now to other offices. If you would like to know instead your application status I recommend to call HR without worrying about bothering them: they are there to help.

Hope it helps,
Antonello

Hi Anonymous,

The standard ban period is about 1 year up to 2 years. It depends on a particular firm and the office you are applying to.

The best option would be contacting HR to figure that out.

Besides, when applying the next time, make sure that you significantly upgrade your profile and improve networking.

Do you need any further help?

GB

(editiert)

Big 4 are less strict but MBB typically will need 12 months before you can reapply.

MBB would like to see that you have done something to enhance your skills in the meantime. Recruiting is also globally coordinated so a rejection from one office is a rejection from the whole firm.

Big 4 operate as more national entities so a rejection fromone country doesnt mean you can't apply to other offices.

Hope this helps!

Hello Zine,

Have a look at this similar post > https://www.preplounge.com/en/consulting-forum/rejected-at-the-screening-level-whats-the-downtime-5424#first-answer

McKinsey HR recommends 12 months, I believe it won´t be different in BCG or Bain. The reason is that you need at least that time to actually add relevant new experience.

However, you could try some things, such as going to recruiting events that give you access to HR/visibility or trying to get a referral from someone from the office -which ensures that your CV gets reviewed by HR-.

Hope it helps!

Best,

Clara