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Does office size affects conversion rate at MBB

Assuming I've made it to the interview stage, does office size significantly influence the conversion rate to an offer? For example, will smaller offices have a lower offer rate? 

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Top answer
on Mar 15, 2021
#1 Coach for Sessions (4.500+) | 1.500+ 5-Star Reviews | Proven Success: ➡ interviewoffers.com | Ex BCG | 10Y+ Coaching

Hi there,

The likelihood of an offer depends on the supply and demand for a particular office and company. The main factors influencing that are:

  • Demand-side: office location/attractiveness. Some offices have more demand for job positions simply because more people want to work there and English is the required language (eg London, SF, NY)
  • Supply-side: projects ongoing for that particular MBB. Some offices have less supply of job positions due to lack of projects (eg McK was hiring more than BCG in recent months in Germany)

A small office may have less supply due to fewer projects, but may also have less demand. So the conversion rate may not necessarily be worse.

A good strategy is to target large offices with some kind of “barriers” (eg language requirements that you satisfy and others don’t).

Best,

Francesco

Ian
Coach
edited on Mar 14, 2021
Top US BCG / MBB Coach - 5,000 sessions |Tech, Platinion, Big 4 | 9/9 personal interviews passed | 95% candidate success

Hi,

This is basic economics...you cannot only look at demand side when looking at quantity consumed.

A larger office has both larger demand of candidates and a smaller supply, all things constant. A smaller office has larger demand and smaller supply (presumably...if it is a smaller office because it is in a smaller country).

So, for every single office, the answer to your question depends on how many people are needed, and how many people apply. 

In general, desireability of office plays a greater role here - in particular, offices that accept people from many backgrounds (read: English language).

Deleted user
on Mar 14, 2021

No, not systematically. The smaller offices typically also see lower application numbers, so you can't infer any higher or lower offer rates. Differences exist, but they are much more driven by business cycles, last year's offer conversion success, etc.

14
Ken
Coach
on Mar 14, 2021
Ex-McKinsey final round interviewer | Executive Coach

My personal sense is that this is more dependent on the specific firm's approach of how they want to manage the interviewee funnel. McKinsey for example has traditionally be known to invite more candidates for first round (i.e., lower conversion) compared to other MBBs. Otherwise, most recruiters will try to feed the interviewee funnel based on typical conversion rates for each round to meet the recruiting target (e.g., 1 in 4 first round candidates progress to final round and 1 in 3 final round interviewees get an offer, etc.)

Gaurav
Coach
on Mar 14, 2021
#1 MBB Coach(Placed 750+ in MBBs & 1250+ in Tier2)| The Only 360° coach(Ex-McKinsey+Certified Coach+Active recruiter)

Totally agree with Ken, for each step each company has its own limits. It might be different with smaller developing companies, as their offer rate could depend directly on the amount of people they already have in the company. 

Raj
Coach
on Mar 14, 2021
FREE 15MIN CONSULTATION | #1 Strategy& / OW coach | >70 5* reviews |90% offers ⇨ prep-success.super.site | MENA, DE, UK

It will really depend on the firm and how they allocate offers. For example, some may pool certain regions e.g. DACH

Denis
Coach
on Mar 15, 2021
Goldman Sachs Investment Banker NYC | Ex-Bain 5 yrs| MBA Chicago Booth | Passed > 13 MBB > 20 IB interviews

No - should not at least. However, developing your Q further, are your chances getting into a tier-2 or tier-3 MBB office higher? Likely not vastly, but still possible. There are offices that simply do not receive as many applications (compared to the other overrun offices) and hence would allow you perhaps to rather get in. Also, it is not only about the number of people applying but also the quality of people. The mega offices tend to be in mega cities which tend to attract the best pool of candidates (e.g. everyone wants to work in NYC or San Fran)...

Clara
Coach
on Mar 15, 2021
McKinsey | Awarded professor at Master in Management @ IE | MBA at MIT |+180 students coached | Integrated FIT Guide aut

Hello!

Not neccesarily.

What we would really need to know here would be # of applicants and # of open slots, and this is info that only HR haves, and will never share. 

Hope it helps!

Cheers, 

Clara

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