Can someone explain the inner workings of the decision process?

Hi there, 

The process differs slightly from office to office and firm to firm, but it's not really like the way you laid it out above. 

For instance, interns don't go through the CVs. Interns serve clients the same way full-time employees do. HR goes through CVs and filters out what is relevant and what is not. 

Also, HR has almost no say in extending an offer to a candidate once they've passed screening - that's only in the hands of the interviewers and finally the hiring Partner in that office. 

Best,
Cristian

1) So here are my assumptions, correct me where I am wrong.

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Hard to judge without more context: which type of firm (e.g. Big4 vs. T2 vs. MBB) are you talking about? Which geography? (there are global guidelines, but office-specific variations to it)

I will stay general below - feel free to DM to provide more detail and zoom-in with your specific firm

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2) Pre-interview I assume interns go through resumes and then the prioritized resumes are invited to the test. Poor scorers are automatically eliminated. The rest are discussed in an HR meeting for interview invitations.

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1) Interns in MBB/T2/Big3 have other more productive things to do than go through resumes - so would say no there :)

In general in most firm there is part of HR (different firms different name) tasked to that taking into consideration various factors to evaluate in a relative and absolute manner an application submission

2) Test are indeed “funnel cuts” but the valuation is broader and more holistic than a cut-off minimum score

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3) The first round interviewer provide a thumbs up or thumbs down to HR. If two thumbs up, candidate gets through automatically, if one thumbs up, interviewers get together with HR to discuss and they make the decision together.

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Bit more complicated than the above and the “weight” of decision is based on your interviewers from the Consulting Team vs. HR (mostly)

E.g. in BCG you have 3 interviewer first round and the decision is an holistic exchange between your interviewer based on a standardized “scoring” assessment + comments and nuances.   

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4) Second round, same thing happens. Partners sit down with HR to discuss and they make the decision together.

See above - more complicated than that and it varies from office to office. Suffice to say that is once again an holisitc decision based on hard-data (see scoring above) + senior leaders view

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These are only assumptions, please correct me where my assumptions are off.

Hi there,

Who cares?

Sorry to be so blunt, but I'm trying to “jolt” your thinking. Please stop worrying about pendatic stuff.

Here's my question for you: Does any answer we give change what you do?

No!

You need the best resume you can. You need a strong cover letter. You want to network optimally and aim for a referral. And you want your case/fit performance to be as good as possible.

Whether the HR meet together to filter through resumes (they don't) or a single person filters through them, what does that change about what you do?

Please please focus your time and energy and effort on things that matter!

To answer your question:

1. It's different by firm + office
2. Some offices/firms automatically filter (using a system) at all screening stages, some automatically filter at some stages. 
3. If your resume is looked at by a human, it is done so by one human, not a committee
4. Interview results are not thumbs up + down. Rather, it is generally a discussion, and is a bit of a gradient
5. Discussion may or may not happen depending on how close the decision is
6. Interviewers don't really “get together” with HR. They inform HR

Hi there,

I think this is an interesting question that may be relevant for many people. I would be happy to share my thoughts on it:

• First of all, while there are still smaller differences within MBB, I think you described the general application process correctly, even if a bit rough.
• Still, even if not only you tend to mix things up, please keep in mind that it is not HR but the recruiting team that is involved in recruiting, as the name indicates.
• Moreover, while the recruiting team initiates and accompanies the whole application process, to my knowledge, they do not have any formal decision-making power after the initial screening phase.
• Lastly, to my knowledge, there are no interns involved in the screening phase, but employees of the recruiting team or consulting staff.

If you would like a more detailed discussion on how to best prepare for your upcoming interviews, please don't hesitate to contact me directly.

Best,

Hagen

Hi there,

You can check how the recruiting process works from an internal MBB perspective here: https://www.preplounge.com/en/articles/mbb-hiring-hacks-behind-the-curtain-secrets

Best,

Alberto

—

Check out my latest case based on a real MBB interview: Sierra Springs

This is entirely different for each firm. Some companies assess CVs using AI which look for keywords, some have the resumes screened by HR, some (including McKinsey) ask consultants to screen resumes. 

Post resume screening, when it comes to the interviews it will be a decision between the interviewers and HR - again, each company is entirely different. 

I recommend not thinking about how the process works, but focusing instead on landing the job! 

1. Interns are definitely not involved in the process. Usually HR takes care of the first pass, but if they ask for help it will be from people who have been at least a couple of years in the firm, ideally senior consultants or even managers.

2. HR has no decision power. None. Never heard of it in any consulting firm.

3. Interviewers may talk to each other at the end of each round. My guess is that will depend on the firm. They will inform HR. HR will not take part on the decision process (HR owns the process, but is not a decision maker).

4- Partners will consider all the interviews when making a decision, and have to agree on giving out an offer. HR provides the information, but does not decide.