Ask for feedback after MBB rejection?

Question

Hi,

I am wondering what everyone's experience is with calling HR for feedback after a rejection. I recently applied for MBB and got rejected after a couple of conversations with HR. My CV is farily similar to the one of friends (target school, brand names, etc.) and I would like to understand more about the rationale behind the rejection and then when it would be possible to re-apply/what they found missing in my application. I've received invites from both other MBB's.

What are your thoughts and has anyone called HR about this? How was this received?

Thanks!

Answer 1

(1) If the rejection is at resume stage, to be honest in my perspective from an ex-recruiter experience, it is quite diffficult to get feedback from HR. HR doesn't do the resume screening (at least for BCG SEA), they pass the resumes collected to the Senior Consultant / Project Manager who are in the recruiting team (as their ECA duty to the firm) to do the screening. Each week these screeners can get > 200 resumes for each of them to go through. It is going to be challenging if they have to provide feedback for the resumes rejected. It could also take time if it goes via HR then HR to reroute the request. HR might not encourage it either (despite the official answers) - what if all the resume rejections come back for feedback? there is no capacity for that at all.

The best way is to ask someone in consulting to take a look at the resume and provide feedback.

(2) If the rejection happens after interview, for sure reach out to ask feedback. For each interview, the interviewer needs to fill a form of evaluation pretty thoroughly, and it can be easily retreaved of what are the strength and improvement areas. Usually the intervierwer would call to tell you the results and share the feedback.

Answer 2

Hi,

Definitely call them or write them an e-mail, it would definitely help to understand what happened. Since you didn't receive any rejection from other MBBs could be something in the fit part that you did with them that they didn't like and would be extremely helpful for you to know exactly what went wrong!

Answer 3

Hey,

in my personal situation, they did not often provide feedback due to the volume of applications. Nevertheless, if you are a member of their programmes (Firsthand,etc.), you can try to call them and they will you give a more detailed explanation.

Best,

Niklas

Answer 4

Hi,

Several thoughts:

You can definitely call the HR - no penalty for that
You can ask your friend who works there to check
Very often the resume game is a gambling and even two similar resumes can have different results

Feel free to send me your resume to get the feedback

Best

Answer 5

Hello there,

There's no loss in trying to email them and see if they are willing to give feedbacks.
GIven the time, the team usually is very willing to help.

However, should you receive no reply back, it would be great to understand that they might be under a time crunch.

This might depends on the region, but typically, it is quite challenging to request for a time from HR team to provide feedbacks due to their very tight time.

My friends working on HR team have to sort through thousands of CVs and get on call with some preliminary shortlist, leaving them with very little time to deal with ad-hoc calls outside of scheduled ones, especially during the high season for recruitment.

What would be useful also is to approach consultants and have them review your CV as well as provide referral if possible. Referral often makes a difference for one to be able to pass the CV screening phase.

Hope it helps.

Kind regards,
Nathan

Answer 6

Hi there,

It is totally fine to email HR and ask personal feedback.

In your question you have already answered why CV was rejected as it is looks like others CVs. I suggest you make it more personal, individual, add things which will make your application different from everyone else's.

Do you need any further help?

All the best,

GB

Answer 7

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