Importance of referrals and office of referrer (US MBB)

Hi there,

A referral is just a door opener such that the recruiting team will look through your application more thoroughly. Depending on the seniority, tenure and advocacy of the person referring you, you have a better chance of getting a first round interview. The more senior the person referring you is, the better. The longer the tenure of that person with the firm is, the better.

The reason is that such voices carry more weight than referrals coming from super junior or brand new people. They typically know the HR folks better and have been involved in recruiting activities for a while so it is usually assumed that they have a good grasp of what types of candidates with which sets of qualifications the firm needs. However, any referral is ultimately better than no referral. 

Ideally, you get a referral from someone from the same office (or same country) you are applying to. But again, a referral from someone within the same firm but different office or country organization is still better than no referral.

A direct rejection after the CV screening stage can still happen - even with a referral. In that case the recruiting team usually provides some feedback to the person having given the referral. So you should follow up with them to better understand the rationale in case that happens. On the flipside, you can still get an interview invite when you just apply online without a referral - the probability is just lower - particularly when your CV is not “stellar” on a standalone basis.

And as always, factors such as economic conditions and headcount/budget planning of the individual firm also matter significantly in these decisions - but they are not within your control.

Best

Hi Anonymous,

The referral is not bound to the specific office - so perfectly fine if your referrers are located in a different office.

And yes, you are right - referrals are now more important than ever!

Hope that helps - if so, please be so kind to give it a thumbs-up with the green upvote button below!

Robert

Hi there,

In regards to your referral:

You're perfectly fine/safe. Go ahead with the referral and you can select your office - no problem :)

Just make sure the Pl/Principal knows you're applying to that office.

In regards to networking tips:

a) Reach out to people in your network

b) Reach out to people once removed from your network

c) Reach out to people with a similar backgorund to you (i.e. same alma mater, same historically underrepresented demographic i.e. gender, orientation, ethnicity, etc., same career switch, etc.)

d) Tailor a message to them specifically both showing interest in them and their journey and demonstrating that you have done your research and could be a valuable hire

e) Play "tag" across calls you get so that you can work your way towards the company/office/role you want

f) Never directly ask for a referral, but "hint" at needing one (this is nuanced and important...happy to talk through wording)

Hi,

Referral from the target office will be more ideal, however, a referral from any office is better than no referral specially in this testing times.

For networking I would suggest all channel, e.g. cold email / LinkedIn to increase your chance of receiving a response. Try to be very concise in your email / LinkedIn message and the objective should be to get a time to discuss. Don't bombard with questions as it is too much demand from someone you don't know to reply the email with answers.

Hope it helps :)

Dear A,

First of all, my congratulations that you are able to get referral from project lead or a principle in the US. This is already a good news and it doesn't matter that you're applying in the different office, if it's within the US. I think this will definitely increase your chances to get invited to an actual interview. May be you could also ask your refery to introduce you to some other colleagues in the targeted office so that you can also engage with them and even further increase your chances of passing the actual intervies through learning more about actual culture.

Other than that, you can also send cold emails and have a look in your network by asking whether some has friends withing company in your targeted region. Or you can also get back to me, I also have some contacts and might help you with an introduction.

I wish you best of luck,

André

Hello!

No problem at all, referrers from different offices are usually the norm.

MBBs pride themselves of being global firms, hence, it does not matter.

Cheers,

Clara