How to obtain a strong referral without any payment/FFF in Bain

Question

Hi Community, I need your help!
I am going to apply as an AC at Bain in September.
The question is easy but maybe a little bit provocative. In fact, on this platform, I found several answers to this question focused on friends/family/fools or paying someone for a “consultancy” hoping to have a referral.
I am asking how you would build your referral research and obtain process, starting from zero. How to convince a partner to have a 10/15 minute call? How do you recognize someone inclined to help others?
Sorry for the provocative question, but I just want a different point of view.
PS. The country for which I am going to apply there is not a strong referral system (no bonus for employees or specific platform).
Thank you :)

Answer 1

Hi! This is how I would structure my research (make sure you put maximum effort on each step before going to the next one):

1 Direct friends/ network: reach out to all the people you directly know working at the company.

2 Indirect friends/ network: ask your friends to put you in contact with someone working at the firm. You should focus on people within your network working for other consulting firms or that have studied in business schools, as they would have a greater probability of knowing someone well at your target firm.

3 LinkedIn: if there are no possible direct and indirect connections (this could happen if you target small boutiques) you should try to reach out to people working at the company through LinkedIn. The key here is trying to focus on profiles that have something in common with you (same nationality, same business school, etc.) since that will increase their willingness to help you.

In summary, the key to success in networking is being very meticulous in applying your reach out plan and leveraging as much as possibile warm introductions and common experiences to quickly build relationships with people you are targeting.

I hope this helps!

Answer 2

Hi there,

Never heard of paying for a referral…

The process is super simple. No need to overcomplicate it.

Reach out to relevant stakeholders
Talk to them and impress them somehow
Get a referral

How?

Identify direct contacts or 3rd party contacts you could be introduced to via your network
If there are none available, go for cold outreach via LinkedIn (out of 10, a few usually reply)
Send a short but impactful message about your motivation and ask if they have time for a short chat. The goal here is to show that you can provide value!
Set up the call and impress them with your ambition, experience, and background. Again, maybe you can even provide some value in these calls

It's a bit of a numbers game so maybe you need to reach out to a few people at once, but easily manageable.

All the best,

Florian