What to do while I wait?

Question

Hi everyone

I recently applied to my dream firm Bain for their June AD cycle, I am a PhD.

I got this email

Thank you for your interest in Bain & Company. We appreciate the time you have taken to apply.

Your application will be reviewed by the recruiting committee in the office(s) you have selected. We will contact you in approximately 60 days should it be appropriate to move forward in our hiring process.

Please visit our office pages for more information.

As a reminder, you can edit your contact details, Linkedin address, interest in affinity groups and attached documents from the profile section of our recruit portal. If you are applying from an undergraduate institution, please ensure you've provided a non-official version of your transcript.

While we review your application, please feel free to learn more about our interview prep here.

Thank you,

The Recruitment Team

Bain & Company

Two questions:

Is it normal for me to have to wait approximately 60 days for a response? I don't mind at all, just curious as some said they got Sova after a week or so

Can I / should I try to get a partner level referral in the meantime?

Thank you!

Answer 1

Hi there,

First, best of luck in your application process,

To answer your questions:

1. Yes it is completely normal. I sometimes waited for up to five months before hearing a reply for my application. This response time is expected during this period, as the industry is facing a bit of uncertainty

2. While ideally, you should have tried to get the partner referral at the initial application stage, you can still get it now and have them try to push your case internally

Now, while you are waiting for a response, I advise you do two things:

1. Start practicing for interviews: both fit and case preparation.
One/two cases per day has always been a reasonable number for me

2. (And you may not like it) Unless you ONLY want to work in consulting at Bain, I would apply to different consulting firms, whether Tier 1 or Tier 2, because, let's face it, you've done your part and applied, now whether they consider you for the position or not is outside your control, but what you can do is having a plan B in case things don't go as planned.

Hope this helps, and best of luck!

Fady

Answer 2

Hi there,

1) Is it normal for me to have to wait approximately 60 days for a response? I don't mind at all, just curious as some said they got Sova after a week or so

In general, 2 months is above average in length; however, they might have specific recruiting deadlines for advanced degree candidates.

2) Can I / should I try to get a partner level referral in the meantime?

If you can find a partner referral, I would definitely go for it as it will strengthen the application. Ideally, you should try to secure a referral before applying; however, until they screen your application, a referral could still be useful.

Good luck!

Francesco

Answer 3

Hi there,

1. This is quite normal currently

2. If you can, go for it + start your case and fit interview preparation right now. You should be 80% ready when the invites come!

All the best,

Florian

Answer 4

What to do? Well, it's time to start preparing for the interview.

I know, it is not great the perspective that you may be spending time preparing for nothing (but trust me, if you really want to do this type of work, you will learn a lot by solving cases!). But then again, the other risk is getting an interview and not getting an offer because you were not prepared.