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I AM SCHEDULED FOR A COFFE CHAT, PLEASE WHAT KIND OF QUESTIONS DO I EXPECT?
Bain & Company scheduled a coffee chat meeting for me. Please someone who has the experience should elaborate on what coffee chat is all about. How do I make it a means to my success?
I'm sorry but I'm going to have to disagree with the other consultants here.
Not only have I run the analytics around how important networking is (it's important), but missing a company-sponsored coffee chat is not good. I unfortunately think it's unlikely that you'll be invited to interview this year (but you won't be "blacklisted", that's different).
In case you were curious, see below for the research I did around networking/connections and recruiting success. Feel free to message if you'd like to read the full article and see the Naive Bayes regression + variable coefficients.
Hi A! I'd be careful putting too much weight on this analysis. For two reasons: (a) It's actually bad consulting practice: Ian throws in fancy tool names and is suggesting causation that might or might not be there. Nobody would claim that networking is not important, but the number of touchpoints is largely driven by e.g. the school - candidates from target schools get flooded with contact opportunities and going to these schools drastically increases chances for an invitation. But the number of touchpoints is not necessarily the driver of this. (b) It suggests that the more touchpoints the better. An anecdote to the contrary: I run the MBA recruiting for my MBB office. We are actually tracking who reaches out to our consultants and sign up to coffee chats. In the past we have actually discounted applications from candidates that flood us with coffee chat requests just to maximize the number of touchpoints for the sake of it. I'd rather hire somebody that respects the time of my colleagues and asks pointy questions when relevant, than somebody that wastes our time just to make their name being recognized by as many people as possible.
Anonymous E
on Jun 30, 2021
Thanks for the response to this B! I'm not worried because I didn't get to have a coffee chat, I have a formal recommendation and have attended other events. My main concern is that the recruiter will see me missing the chat as wasting their time. Do you think they could interpret my actions that way?
Anonymous J
on Jun 30, 2021
Na, I agree with the other coaches on this. Missing a coffee chat isn't ideal but it won't disqualify you from the application, especially if you have a referral.
Top US BCG / MBB Coach - 5,000 sessions |Tech, Platinion, Big 4 | 9/9 personal interviews passed | 95% candidate success
Hi Anonymous B, I always appreciate active discussion, especially when it concerns data! Now, there's always an issue of causation vs correlation, but I isolated a range of variables and these were strong predictors of success (for example, someone with a high GMAT score may network more, but if we isolate across a set GMAT range, we can see this relationship holds true). Furthermore, the sample size for this data was just one school, therefore your point regarding school differences is moot. Feel free to check out my analysis on SpencerTom where I dive into the actual process. If you still have issues with it after you've given it a fair shot, I'd love to hear how I could improve it! Note: I emphasized how important a coffee chat/networking is, but I never said "reach out to everyone and anyone you can"...would appreciate no strawman logical fallacies against me please :)
Top US BCG / MBB Coach - 5,000 sessions |Tech, Platinion, Big 4 | 9/9 personal interviews passed | 95% candidate success
I would also note that, while I worked at the career office for my MBA program, we did know of candidates who were eliminated from the process because they missed a coffee chat. This doesn't mean you are disqualified, but I have seen it happen.
My answer is no, you still have a good chance of applying for this job and I have 2 reasons for your:
1. My personal experience: I never got invited to any coffee chat, company event (small scale ones which invite candidates to offices) when I applied to Bain and the reason given was exactly the same as yours i.e. limited capacity. However they still invited me for interview and eventually gave me an offer. This is same for McKinsey as well.
2. There are normally more spaces for interview than small scale events. For example if they are looking to hire 20 associates this year, they normally will invite 400 people for first round and around 100 people for second round. This is much more than the number of people they can invite for the company event. It might be the case that your CV is not ranked the very top of their list, but you still can be invited to interview. Also bear in mind, once you started interview, your CV doesn't really matter that much any more!
If you want to learn more about how companies select their candidates, please also PM me.
I wouldn't worry! The coffee chats are more of an informal event that isn't part of the selection process. Consultants will only share feedback to recruiters if something stands out; unless its an ethical conern, the impact will be marginal.
Ex-McKinsey final round interviewer | Executive Coach
It would depend on that individual consultants proactivity around flagging it to HR. I would genuinely shocked if an MBB rejected a strong candidate based on missing a coffee chat with a junior consultant.
I've actually done research in this space and found that, while there is a positive predictive co-efficient/correlation to being invited to an invite-only event, it is by no means a pre-requisite to being accepted to interviews.
I promise you, my data research showed that, even if you were not invited to a company event, you still had a reasonable chance of being invited to interview!
Please take this exclusively from my personal experience and perspective. Before getting an interview offer, having a single 1:1 connection is more than enough. If you ask for more it feels over-reaching. However I think is acceptable to:
ask to refer to someone else to have a different perspective
touchbase asking if they are coming to many:many on campus events so that you can briefly say hi
ask for a 1:1 follow up once you receive interview offer to get tips/suggestions.
Thank you for your comment Andrea. I networked McKinsey and Oliver Wyman 1:1, for their summer internship last year.
From networking with consultants, they have advised me to network atleast 2-3 times to build the relationship.
How should I go about navigation this in this case.
This is indeed an interesting question which is probably relevant for a lot of users, thus I am happy to provide my perspective on it:
It's generally a good idea to wait until after the holiday break to send in your application, as you mentioned. This will give them time to review and process all of the applications that have come in, and it will also give you the opportunity to make sure that your application is as strong as possible.
As for the coffee chat, it's generally a good idea to follow the instructions that were provided in the email you received from the firm. If the email indicated that coffee chats will be held after the holiday break, then it would be a good idea to wait until that time to reach out and request a coffee chat. If the email did not specify a timeline for the coffee chats, then you could consider reaching out to the firm to inquire about the availability of slots.
Keep in mind that consulting firms are typically very busy, and it may take some time to coordinate a coffee chat with a specific individual. It's also possible that all of the slots for coffee chats may be taken, in which case you may need to wait until a later date to request one.
In any case, it's generally a good idea to be patient and to follow the instructions provided by the firm. This will help ensure that your request for a coffee chat is handled smoothly and efficiently.
In case you want a more detailed discussion on what to do in your specific situation, please feel free to contact me directly.
Hi, if you are talking about the ban to apply again for a full-time position the answer is no. Of course something can be improved in your CV before applying but you can do it
Not sure what the problem is. Are you worried your message gets lost if you reply now? It won't.
My advice is to stop guessing when people may be in or out and just reply as if it weren't the end of the year. Keep the conversation going on your end and let them be the bottleneck, to avoid the risk that you're it.
#1 Coach for Sessions (4.500+) | 1.500+ 5-Star Reviews | Proven Success: ➡ interviewoffers.com | Ex BCG | 10Y+ Coaching
Hi Anonymous,
a coffee chat in consulting is an informal interview, usually to understand if you have the motivation and background for consulting. Rarely, it could evolve in a small case to also test your case skills. If you receive a case it will be normally a short market sizing.
The preparation for a coffee chat should be similar to the one for the fit part of the interview. I would actually recommend to prepare in advance for the questions you are going to get – this from all points of view is the first step in your assessment and you should be prepared accordingly. Some of the key questions to prepare will be:
Tell me about yourself
Why do you want to work for in our industry/company
What are your three top strengths and weaknesses
Tell me about a time when you failed
Tell me about a time when you lead your team in a difficult situation
Which role do you play in a team
Why should we hire you
To prepare, I would suggest the following steps:
Write down your answers. Use bullets to structure them.
Repeat loud the answers. Put a timer with 2 minutes (complex answers as “What are your three top strengths and weaknesses” may require more time). If feasible, do so with a partner or record yourself.
Reiterate till when you are able to deliver the answer with such time constraint. After few attempts you will notice that your answers will automatically be more to the point.
One thing many candidates neglect to do is to prepare their own questions. Relevant questions at the end are a great way to show your interest in the company and get additional points. In the first reply at the following post you can find some more information on the ideal type of questions to ask at the end of your call:
The key for a good question is that they should not be related to the firm per se (eg how is XYZ in Bain), but to the experience of the consultant (how did you find XYZ in your experience as a consultant? Which challenges did it bring to you?). This will make your questions far more interesting.
Agree with Ken. This is unfortunate, and the message will probably have made it to the recruiting team, but I also don't think that this will be a reason to not invite your for your office. Besides: Recruiting files are probably accessing the same database, so I don't think just by sending your application to a different office you'll be starting with a clean sheet.
Apart from that, make sure you're professional but also personable! Adjust/react to her questions (she will drive) but also be prepared to ask questions of your own.
I believe you are overthinking this a bit and the impact on a future application will be minimal to non-existent. The main benefit/opportunity you lost was to score a referral during the chat.
Even that can be ironed out with some networking efforts.
No harm in expressing your interest for doing a coffee chat now. Most likely, they will still see your email after the holidays, but if they allocate slots based on first in first out, you would still be better off!
Hope this helps.
Feel free to contact me directly if you have any further questions regarding interviews with BCG Middle East.
Q: Needless to say, applying now was a bad idea, so I'm waiting at least a week into the new year. But what about this coffee chat thing? Should I wait for that also? My thinking is that it's different because slots may be taken fully.
If they invited you to the coffee chat now and you are interested to reserve a slot, I can’t see problems replying now. You may indeed avoid the risk that the event runs out of slots in this way. Worst case, you might have to call the office once they reopen in January and follow up on the application if you don’t hear from them.
It's generally a good idea to wait until after the holidays to reach out about scheduling a coffee chat, as many people take time off during this period. In this case, it sounds like the consultant you spoke with mentioned they would be returning in Jan, so wait until they are back.
Given they may be busy getting caught up on work after returning from the holidays, it may be more convenient for them to schedule the coffee chat for a later date. Just ask when works for them.
The main idea of this ~2 years of waiting time is to give you a chance to develop yourself further in that period.
For sure there was 1 or more topics in your previous interview procedure which were not up to the performance level expected by McKinsey at that time.
So the main idea for your current meeting is to prepare accordingly the following key aspects:
What was not 100% perfect in your previous application?
What did you do over the last 2 years to address each of those issues specifically - and what are specific examples of that as proof?
In general: What's your development since 2 years ago and why is consulting/McKinsey right now the logical next step in your career - so have your story-line ready for that.
Hope that helps - if so, please be so kind and give it a thumbs-up with the green upvote button below!
Hi Anonymous - well done on landing the coffee chat! This already shows they are still interested in your profile. Use the 30 minutes to tell your story and making sure it is 'WOW'. Take the time to also understand the Senior Partner - their focus area, impact of COVID etc.
At the end of the 30 minutes - mention you are keen to apply again. If your chat has gone well then most likely the senior partner will be supportive and offer to refer you without you having to ask. Try not to focus on what happened 2 years ago - water under the bridge. Fact is they want to speak with you now
That said - I expect you will need to prepare for the interview process rigorously to avoid the mistakes of last time. Highly recommend working with an experienced coach if you are through to interviews
First, well done on securing the coffee chat - this is the first step :)
Ask For Yourself
While a coffee chat is a way for you to make a good impression, please remember that it's also about you making sure this job + path are right for you!
To prepare, think about things you'd like to learn about the company. Ask about your person's experience at the firm, where they've come from, if they have any advice for you etc. Be inquisitive and interested in what they have to say, and feel free to ask thoughtful follow-up questions.
Have Your Pitch Ready
In terms of what they'll ask you, make sure you have your 30 second pitch prepared! Who are you in a nutshell and why are you interested in Mckinsey and strategy consulting?
Ask About Them
People love to talk about themselves. Just ask them what they've worked on recently or what their journey at Mckinsey has been like. Importantly, do your research beforehand - find out what they've done and try and pick something from their past that looks interesting to you. Tailor your questions just like they tailor their FIT questions to your resume.
"So, how did you end up in the Industrial Goods sector?" "I saw you worked on a big digital transformation for a financial services company - I experienced one myself and it seemed so hard to move such a big organisation. What did you see as the major challenges and breakthrough moments?"
Please do not do this. If you are meeting with them through an MBA arranged coffee chat (I'm picturing a series of times/dates they've provided you) then this consultant is meeting with you and a bunch of other candidates.
They may or may not be evaluating you, but, regardless, this is not the forum to ask for a referral!
Be careful with this type of networking! Just come forward with your best self, give a good impression, and let the conversation flow naturally. If he likes you as a candidate, you won't even need to ask him to do anything (he'll do it voluntarily without telling you).
Well, in general, you need to be lightly person on order to do so you need to google the most relevant information about your partner with whom you are going to talk about his background, his competence and focus, past projects. Maybe, you can even find any publications where he was an author. Through this, try to ask him the questions and find similarities with yourself: maybe you cam from the same school, town, or interested in the same topics. This will help you to establish both profesional and personal link.
Listen more than you speak, be an active listener. Partners normally like those person who are smart and listen to them. So make the partner feel great during this conversation. And I'm pretty sure that afterwards he will be eager to help you to get into the firm, which is your ultimate objective.
I would recommend to send an introduction (killer) email with your CV and ask for a quick chat/coffee. Partners are extremally busy and they may refer you to someone to take it from there.
Congrats, that is exactly how it´s done! Really well done in getting the referral.
Most of the times, is just going to be an informal chat to get to know you a little better. you should be prepared tough for some Motivational questions, one of the four key families from FIT questions. If you want to deep dive on the topic, the "Integrated FIT guide for MBB" has been recently published in PrepLounge´s shop (https://www.preplounge.com/en/shop/tests-2/integrated-fit-guide-for-mbb-34)
It provides an end-to-end preparation for all three MBB interviews, tackling each firms particularities and combining key concepts review and a hands-on methodology. Following the book, the candidate will prepare his/her stories by practicing with over 50 real questions and leveraging special frameworks and worksheets that guide step-by-step, developed by the author and her experience as a Master in Management professor and coach. Finally, as further guidance, the guide encompasses over 20 examples from real candidates.
Furthermore, you can find 3 FREE Expert Articles on PreLounge, in a sreies dedicated to preparing for the different parts of FIT:
Learn more about the company, so prepare a broad set of questions for your counterpart
Make a good impression on the interviewer and (potentially) secure a referral; so, research the company and prepare your personal fit questions - these chats very very exceptionally include case-related questions
For the coffee chat, feel free to write to them already. This has nothing to do with your application per se. Then aim to send the application mid-Jan when certainly everybody will be back in the office.
Here is an article about how to approach coffee chats. It details out what you should expect and how to best prepare to get the most out of it.
ex A. Partner McKinsey |Senior Interviewer| Real Feedback & Free Homework between sessions|Harvard Coach|10+ Experience
Hi there,
Congratulations on scheduling a coffee chat with Bain & Company! Coffee chats are a fantastic opportunity to network, gain insights, and make a positive impression.
Here's how you can leverage this coffee chat for success:
Research Thoroughly: Familiarize yourself with Bain's recent projects, company culture, and any recent news. This will showcase your genuine interest and enthusiasm.
Prepare Questions: Have thoughtful questions ready about the company, the interviewer's experience, and the consulting industry. This demonstrates your engagement and curiosity.
Share Your Story: Be prepared to briefly share your professional journey, emphasizing key achievements and highlighting how your skills align with Bain's values.
Seek Advice: Use the opportunity to ask for advice on breaking into consulting or excelling in the industry. People often appreciate helping others navigate their career paths.
Express Enthusiasm: Clearly communicate your enthusiasm for joining Bain. Conveying genuine interest can leave a lasting impression.
As a former Associate Partner, I'd be happy to roleplay a coffee chat with you. Feel free to DM me, and we can schedule a time that works for both of us.
Best of luck, and enjoy your coffee chat experience!
McKinsey / Accenture Alum / Got all BIG3 offers / Harvard Business School
Hi,
There may be 2 options:
Personal coffee-chat that is usually scheduled if you are an experienced hire or if you have some valuable background
Group coffee-chat
In the first option, it is mainly about your questions to the interviewer, thus try to ask the following:
Questions on the topics of your direct expertise (What types of projects, who are the partners, etc)
Asking for advice about your career and how consulting fit into it (! Only if they found you themselves. people love to give an advice)
Questions on the topics you are excited about that can demonstrate your intellectual capacity and help you make a good discussion (e.g. data science in consulting)
Questions that cause positive emotions and highlight consulting pros (e.g. Mck people)
Non-business questions (e.g. team retreats)
Don't ask the following:
Questions that can cause negative emotions (e.g. work hours)
Information you should learn before the interview (e.g. typical career path)
Questions that may show that you are unfamiliar with consulting work (Like are you specialized in strategy or operations?)
Group coffee chat is much easier since you just have to ask several questions. Although try to demonstrate your intellectual capacity sharing your experience and relevant facts
It's great that you have a chance to talk with Bain partner.
Well, in general, you need to be lightly person on order to do so you need to google the most relevant information about your partner with whom you are going to talk about his background, his competence and focus, past projects. Maybe, you can even find any publications where he was an author. Through this, try to ask him the questions and find similarities with yourself: maybe you cam from the same school, town, or interested in the same topics. This will help you to establish both profesional and personal link.
Listen more than you speak, be an active listener. Partners normally like those person who are smart and listen to them. So make the partner feel great during this conversation. And I'm pretty sure that afterwards he will be eager to help you to get into the firm, which is your ultimate objective.
Getting a coffee chat is always going to be a good idea. The least you can get is some info about the company and experience about doing networking, and the best is contacts and even a referral to apply.
The coffee chat thing is something you can contact them about whenever. Send it now and they'll get back to you whenever they can. It's less of a process than the application so I wouldn't worry about perfect timing in conjunction with year-end shutdown.
Why do you want to network up to 3 times per consultant? How does this improve your chances of getting the Offer? My advice is to limit yourself to activities that positively impact your chances of getting an offer. Chasing 3 meetings for the sake of it sounds unusual.
It will also come off as weird. When you consider that most consultants are too busy to have even one coffee chat and will turn down the majority of candidates who ask them for one, seeking up to three will ring weird: it could communicate that you lack confidence, signal that you have too much time on your own hands (which is not particularly a good thing), or it could be mis-read as a super-awkward romantic interest.
Unless the consultant has dropped some earth-shattering insights that simply cannot be fully explored in a single session, then the single session you're offered should suffice! :-)
Well done on setting the coffee chat – that’s a great achievement already.
I would recommend the following:
Prepare good questions (see below some examples)
Move from the questions to a conversation, trying to connect on a personal level with the partner. It is too long to describe how to do so in a post, but if you are interested How to win friends and influence people by Dale Carnegie has all the basics
Ask a closing questions to test if he would be willing to refer you. You cannot ask directly of course as it would be too pushy.
The key things I would recommend to prepare in advance are the following:
Read about McKinsey and the consulting industry. Try to understand recent developments – this will ensure you can ask relevant questions and stand out
Learn as much as possible on the partner. In this way, you will be able to connect more easily.
Be prepared on company-related fit questions. You won’t be formally interviewed, but you want to leave a positive impression. At the bare minimum, you should:
have a clear idea of why you want to become a consultant
why you want to join McKinsey
what you can bring to that company and
have a clear, 5-lines pitch of who you are as introduction
how did you improve in the last 2 years since the rejection
Prepare your questions to ask. Relevant questions are a great way to show your interest in the company and get additional points. In the first reply at the following post, you can find some information on the ideal type of questions to ask: https://www.preplounge.com/en/consulting-forum/open-house-at-bcg-311
I think you're seeing things using the wrong angle, you shouldn't focus on what questions to expect, but actually on what which questions to prepare (based on information you want to gather and clarify, image you want to convey) in order to have an fruitful coffee chat.
Bain representative is not going to be there to interview and you should aim to lead the conversation.
Indeed the McKinsey coffee chat is non-evaluative ... unless you completely mess up everything it's just a very nice occassion to get to know some McKinsey folks on a slightly more personal level.
In terms of preparation there is only 1 must-have to bring - which is a thoughtful list of questions which you would like to have answered (maybe you will talk about something completely different and the conversation will go it's own way - but better to bring some food for thought in case it does not automatically).
For that, the main idea is asking insighful questions which you cannot find out easily otherwise. For myself, I also appreciate candidates asking tough questions about the job and the firm - it shows also a realistic assessment of the situation and not focussing only one the "nice" things. Also, personal impressions or evaluations are kind of really interesting - like what turned out to be different at McKinsey for them compared to their expectations, etc.
Hope that helps - if so, please give it a thumbs-up with the upvote button!
First of all, the MBB coffee chat is non-evaluative ... unless you completely mess up everything it's just a very nice occassion to get to know some McKinsey folks on a slightly more personal level. So you can really ask whatever you are interested in and might help to you make an even more informed decision.
The main idea is asking insighful questions which you cannot find out easily otherwise. For myself, I also appreciate candidates asking tough questions about the job and the firm - it shows also a realistic assessment of the situation and not focussing only one the "nice" things. Also, personal impressions or evaluations are kind of really interesting - like what turned out to be different at McKinsey for them compared to their expectations, etc.
Hope that helps - if so, please give it a thumbs-up with the upvote button!
I would suggest introduce yourself and ask for 10 min coffee chat where you can quickly ask him for advice ! would avoid asking lunch / dinner at this stage
if you applied for an internship position last year, once you receive response back (either positive or negative) is fine to reach out again to ask for time and keep in touch. It's also ok to keep touhcing base with the individuals who made the suggestion. If instead the individuals made the suggestion to build rapport not with them but with other people...well I would be careful on doing so.
Since this has still to be a conversation I would, as other suggested, focus on what questions to ask vs. what questions you will be asked but make sure that doing so you give an opportunity to the interviewer to assess you in these areas. Also would strive to ask questions on things you can't find the answer for online or on forums and to keep questions very positive (e.g. don't ask what makes McK different from other consultancies? but ask what is unique in McK culture and what is the flair in your office?)
However, I understand your concern about making the right impression and preparing a bit for it.
Being successful in this part of the conversation would mean being able to emphasize with them. Hence, ask them questions to connect with them (e.g., what is the best thing about consulting for them, the most fullfulling? Are they specialized in any vertical or any industry and, if so, why? What is the most exciting about that particular one?)
Most of the times, making people talk about what they like and their motivations is a very good way to connect.
relevant questions are a great way to show your interest in the company. Ideally, your questions should respect the following criteria:
Should not be related to something you could easily find online.
Should not be related to the firm per se (eg how is XYZ in Bain), but to the experience of the consultant (How did you find XYZ in your experience as a consultant? Which challenges did it bring to you?). Ideally, you want the other person to feel important and/or share a positive experience. This is the easiest way to leave a final positive impression.
Should help you to understand the core values of the company; this will help to understand if that company is a good fit for you and evaluate your options in case you have multiple offers (if you don't have fit with the company, your growth there will be a lot more difficult).
In the first reply in the following thread, you can find some more information and some examples of questions:
First of all, don´t worry, since it´s not evaluative.
Hence, take it as a real chance to meet consultants and get good insights about the job. A good hint is always asking questions about what they like, which industries they chose to work in and why, etc.
In a nutshell, trying to emphasize with them as you would with a colleague is the best approach.
don't worry and be authentic - use this informal opportunity to get to know your future colleagues and get some insights about the firm and daily work.
The chats are non evaluative - you would have to do something completely terrible to mess up.
The main reasons we had coffee chats and other sessions was actually to 'sell' McKinsey to the most desirable candidates so you're actually at an advantage here. Prepare a list of genuine and thoughtful questions that you want answers to (e.g., how staffing works or how mentoring works in the office etc.) and you'll be more than fine.
Congrats for making it into the final round!
As Udayan mentioned, it is a good signal which means that your profile is very attractive to the Firm and they wish to convince you to accept the offer should they decide to extend it and provide the opportunity to address any remaining concerns and questions you might had that prevents you from being fully convinced to join the Firm as of now.
My suggestion is to make the opportunities to the fullest, asking any elements that are still a mystery to you and you are very keen to know before deciding to commit yourself to the role.
Additionally, this is the opportunity to establish a relationship with the 2 analyst, so if and when you decide to join the Firm, you would already have 2 network ready to help you.
I would structure the chat as I would do for questions at the end in the interview. Specifically, I would recommend to prepare questions that:
Should not be related to something you could easily find online.
Should not be related to the firm per se (eg how is XYZ in Bain), but to the experience of the consultant (How did you find XYZ in your experience as a consultant? Which challenges did it bring to you?). This will help to connect more easily with the analysts
Should help you to understand the core values of the company; this will help to understand if that company is a good fit for you and evaluate your options in case you have multiple offers (if you don't have fit with the company, your growth there will be a lot more difficult).
If you follow the previous points you cannot really do mistakes and will get relevant information to make a decision in case of multiple offers.
FIrst of all congratulations for being at the final round!
Regarding the coffee chat, you should not worry so much. Prepare also some smart and interesting talking points to enhance the discussion and to make the chat pleasant for everyone. Be just natural and nice and everything will go well.
Try to see it also as an important chance for you to know some McKinsey people outside the time of the interview and a strictly professional environment.
Do not worry so much about that, coffee chat is usually not part of the evaluation. Prepare just some smart and interesting talking points to enhance the discussion and to make the chat pleasant for everyone. Avoid to ask general information that you can find online, try to leverage the experience of the principal to have some insights. Be just natural and nice and everything will go well.
Try to see it also as an important chance for you to know some people of the company outside the time of the interview and a strictly professional environment.
Be enthusiastic about the firm, tell about the experiences of your friends now there, show that you are very interested in joining the company and ask for personal questions to engage the consultants and get a perspective about the environment inside.
It´s a great opportunity, ensure you make the most out of it!
On top of what´s been shared, try to think about this as if you were meeting your partner´s parents. You need to impress them and you want them to have a good opinion about you, but you also need to be enjoyable.
Careful with correlation vs. causation when you see data about networking!
Agree that is not ideal, but you cannot change the past. I would honestly stand up and own the mistake, apologize, and see how they react to ask for a new slot. Honestly and courage rarely work badly
Hi Clara, thanks for the response. Unfortunately, it is too late to send an apology to the recruiter. Additionally, I already have a recommendation so scheduling another coffee chat isn't something I'd benefit from. However, what I am concerned about is that the recruiter will see my absence (and lack of an apology/explanation) as a reason to not extend an interview to me. If this is likely, than I can simply preference another office. However, I do have a slight preference for this office. Do you think the best course of action is to preference another office?
MBB incentivize their employees to bring referrals, however, generally speaking I wont referrer a someone I hardly know. Recommending someone that may not fit at all, can harm my reputation. I would hence ask for referral only someone that knows you well and is confident and comfortable to recommend you.
Sorry, it doesn't work like that. It's not about asking, but about earning it.
First, you don't need to bring it up. They know they can refer you.
Second, does asking for it increase your chances? No, not at all, and can actually lower your chances.
Third, what increases your chances? Having a meaningful conversation. In a meaningful conversation you share unique, interesting things about you, and you learn about the personal experience of your counterpart. Sometimes you discuss an interesting business problem and are able to bring up some value add to the discussion.
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