[McKinsey]: How long after a referral can I expect to hear back?

Hi there,

Generally, a Sr. Partner referral ensures two things:

1. Your application will be screened thoroughly
2. The screening is usually prioritized and hence should be a bit quicker

A week isn't all that long, so I would give it another couple of days, then inform HR that you need to decide on other offers.

Unfortunately, the recruiting environment is pretty bad at the moment, and even Sr. Partner referral is not a guarantee to get through to the Solve/Interviews.

Fingers crossed for a positive outcome!

Cheers,

Florian

Hi there,

Q: Do you know when I can expect to hear back or if HR will just not contact me at all if they are not interested?

They most likely will contact you with the outcome. The exact timeline is difficult to predict. When I got referrals, some companies called me within one week while with others I had to follow up after a month.

A referral substantially increases the chances of an interview, but doesn’t guarantee it.

Given you have other offers with a deadline, I would recommend the following:

1) Wait for one week from the date of the referral.

2) If they haven't replied, follow up with HR with a call. Explain you have a few other consulting offers but would love to interview with McKinsey and wanted to check if they received your application.

3) If they cannot speed up the decision, you have two options:

• Ask for more time from the companies that extended the offers.
• Sign with one of the current companies and then withdraw if you get the McKinsey offer. Not ideal, but could be the only alternative if you don’t manage to postpone their deadline.

Good luck!

Francesco

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:

• With a senior partner referral, your application always gets screened, and the probability of you being invited slightly increases. However, it is hard to say for certain whether you will be invited for the interviews or not, especially since I haven't had a look at your application files.
• Moreover, I would advise you to wait a couple more days before reaching out to the recruiter to inquire about your application status.
• Regarding the situation with the other companies, I would highly advise you to reach out to them and ask for an extension of the offer deadline. If, however, this is not possible, you might still consider accepting and asking to withdraw the contract in case you receive an offer later from McKinsey. While it is certainly not something I would actively advise, I feel that it might be the only way to work around the indeed very tight timeline.

If you would like a more detailed discussion on how to address your specific situation, please don't hesitate to contact me directly.

Best,

Hagen

Hi,

Congratulations on the referral from a senior partner - those hold a lot of weight with recruiters and you must have really impressed them! You should definitely send a friendly follow-up with your assigned recruiter, given that it has already been a week, and let them know that you have a couple offers with exploding deadlines, but McKinsey is still your top choice and that you would like to give McK a chance. If you have a good enough relationship with the referring senior partner, you can shoot over a friendly email to them, saying that the same thing (e.g., thanking them again for the referral, that you hadn't heard back yet from the recruiter, you have a couple exploding offers but really do want to try with McK, and whether they have updates for you)

But given the current status of work and staffing at McKinsy, hiring has slowed down significantly, and do prepare yourself mentally for the possibility that your chance at interviewing and joining the Firm may happen further down in the future, as your next job after you accept one of your current offers. 

Good luck! 

Julia

Hi there,

it's great that you already have some offers under your belt - congratulations. That makes this easier for you because you have something to fall back on. 

A referral is an advantage of course but by no means a guarantee. One week is also not a long time to wait for a response. However, given that you now have to respond within 2 weeks regarding your other offers, it warrants a follow-up with McK.

Realistically though, even if you get a first round interview, it is unlikely that you would complete the full recruiting process before your other offers expire. In the current market environment, it would be high risk to let secure offers expire. Nontheless, get in contact with McK and see how they react. At least you will have done everything in your power.

Best of luck

Dear P,

Congratulations on receiving a referral from a senior partner at McKinsey! 

If it has been a month since you applied and your application status has not changed, it may be helpful to follow up with the recruiter handling your application to check on the status (would recommend mentioning that you already have offers from other companies). It's possible that they are still reviewing applications or that the recruitment process has been delayed.

In the meantime, if you have received offers from other companies with a deadline to respond, you may want to consider accepting them if McKinsey has not yet scheduled an interview with you. It's always possible to decline an offer later if you receive an offer from McKinsey, but you should do so in a professional and timely manner. 

Good luck with your job search!

Hi there,

In this market environment especially, remember that a bird in the hand is better than two in the bush.

You can reach out to McKinsey to say you have other offers and ask if they might be able to accelerate your timeline. That said, they're quite backlogged and have a narrowing pipeline so if I were you I would temper expectations.

Referral does not gaurentee an interview. Especially right now. Referral improves the odds.

Hello,

Congratulations on receiveing the offers!

Try following up with McKinsey recruiter and indicate that you have a couple of other offers hence you have some time pressure.

Hopefully, they should get back to you with the result. If not, might be worth accepting one of the offers that you've received.

Best,

Rushabh

Given your situation it's best to reach out to HR and the person that referred you and inform them that you have several exploding offers and need to make a decision but McKinsey is your first choice. Ask them if an accelerated interview timeline is possible given this. 

If they think you're a very strong candidate they will make all efforts to meet your timeline. If not then you anyway have many offers in your hand which in this market is very commendable. 

If you have offers from other firms you need must reach out to Mck to let them know and ask them to speed up your process. 

Usually a couple of weeks is fine before getting an answer, but you may need an answer that is faster than this.

Hi there, 

Congrats on the offers and the referral!

Considering your situation, I'd call HR and explain to them the situation, assure them of your commitment and interest in joining McKinsey, and ask whether they could look at your application any time soon. 

There's no set timeline in terms of when you should be hearing back from them, so that's why it makes sense to apply a bit of delicate pressure if you're in a tight spot. 

Best,

Cristian

Hi there,

adding on to the great advice other coaches already gave - if you know the Sr Partner well enough, just reach out to update on the long wait and ask if he/she can double-check on whether the referral has been actioned.

Occasionally I see cases, where Partners promise to do so, but given their hectic schedule or other reasons, the referral falls through the cracks. Hence, worthwhile checking-in.

Regards, Andi