No reply from Bain

Hi A,

Unfortunately, you are not the only candidate who has stock in the middle of the process during the screening part. I would recommend you to do three things:

1) Keep on chasing HR, in case you have its contact. Otherwise, figure out whom it might be to check your application. Just keep on reminding on yourself from time to time.

2) In parallel, try to network with some former or current employs of Bain and try to ask them for help. Maybe they could reach out to HR on their own to track the status of your application process.

3) Also consider other MBB, tier-1 and tier-2 companies.

I hope it helps you.

Feel free to reach out if you need any help

Good luck!

André

Hi Anonymous,

Not entirely sure if I understood your situation correctly .. but you haven't heard back about your current ongoing application and waiting for your expected first-round interviews invitation?

If so, why not simply grab your phone, call your HR contact and kindly inquire about your situation (and try to read between the lines what they are telling you)?

I believe everything else is mostly speculation, just go to the source and ask.

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

Robert

Hey there,

It has been a very uncertain time and probably would continue to be like that for a while. No reply doesn't necessarily mean you are rejected. Depending on the office/country, it could be that the recruiting process is being put on hold due to the disruption. 

You can still network and try to see if anyone in the firm can shed some light on whether the recruiting is still going on, or help you find out what happens to your application (this would only happen if you are pretty close to the person though, not for acquaintance). Other than that, nothing much can be done at the moment, so probably just focus on preparation since that's something in your control. 

Best,

Emily

Hi There,

No reply or response doesn't always translate to Rejection. There might be several possible scenarios:

1. There are piles of CVs - and HR/Recruiter has limited time to do it (they are very busy to arrange the ongoing process, especially with this Covid condition)
2. The recruiting process is put on hold
3. New CV process is put on hold

If you happen to know somebody that is currently working there it would be very helpful to reach out and understand the situation. Otherwise, nothing can be done in my view to speed up the process.

Hi there,

no news in two months is not a great sign; however until you receive a formal rejection email you are not rejected – maybe the process is just on hold due to the COVID.

In terms of the referral after the application:

• If the CV has not been screened, a referral could still be useful. However, since you have formally already applied, the person won’t get the referral bonus if you are successful
• If the CV has been screened, the referral won’t help in case of a negative outcome, unless the person has seniority strong enough to influence the HR decision (eg a partner) and wants to vouch for you

If you cannot find someone that could refer you, I would recommend to call HR directly to ask for feedback.

Best,

Francesco

If you have made it to the interview stage in the past (and that is some time ago, typically a year or two), you can be hopefull to get another interview invitation. The past interview performance will not influence this decision. Good luck!!

Usually there would be some form of communication, I would assume that there is a huge backlog given the COVID situation. Give it a few more weeks and then give recruiting a call.

Hello,

no, it doesn't mean that you have been rejected because in that case you would have received a negative answer.
At this point you could:

• Reach out directly to the HR contact, calling/emailing him and asking for a follow-up
• Network with someone inside the office that could push your application (just in terms of timeline)

Consider that in this COVID period, they could be a bit less reactive.

Best,
Luca

Hi There,

I currently work at Bain.

Please send me a private message, and I can find out for you what the regular timelines are.

Pascal

Hi there,

I am afraid no one can really guess what could be the outcome. Do you have any insiders in the firm? They are probably the best ones that can provide suggestions. If you don’t have, I would still reach out to someone to try to get an ex-post referral, or least get more visibility on the process.

You can find more on referrals here:

https://www.preplounge.com/en/consulting-forum/hey-everyonehope-all-is-well-3176

Best,

Francesco

As they say, hope for the best but plan for the worst.

You have a chance. Is it good? No. What does that mean? Regardless of my answer you should be pushing forward with all other avenues!

Assume you have it

• Keep casing
• Keep reading financial/business sources
• Keep practicing fast math
• Etc. Etc.

Assume you don't have it

• Network agressively with other companies
• Apply to other companies
• Prepare for interviews with other companies
• Interview with other companies

Regardless, just keep pushing forward and see what opportunities come!

Hi

During this lockdown period, I think that Recruting Staff from HR are still proceeding with CV screening and CV rejections (e.g. none target schools). 

I can imagine that if your CV is not rejected, it means that your process have been on hold until the office get more visibility on the situation (end of lockdown, evolution of the business, new hiring plan, ...). 

Do not hesitate to drop an email to the HR point of contact to better understand where you are in the process.

Best

David

Hello!

Usually, not coming back means you did not pass the filter. 

However, they normally send a rejection mail. 

Best next step in your side would be to get an internal referral to maximize your chances, particularly with the COVID crisis. 

Best, 

Clara

Hi Anonymous,

The disadvantage of email is clearly that it is an asynchronous communication channel - and especially in current period HR staff sluggish in response time (seems to be across all firms).

So, if emailing does not work, you can still try to reach them on the phone as a synchronous communication media. In general I recommend taking your phone and calling your HR contact, since in email you usually get some kind of predefined answers whereas on the phone you sometimes can read a bit between the lines and ask follow-up questions to clarify immediately.

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

Robert

Hi, in this period it is totally normal a delay in answers and it will not be 100% a rejection. I recommend calling / emailing HR without worrying about bothering them: they are there to help

Best

Antonello

Hi there,

Having interviewed before and having a good CV with strong brands is not always enough to secure a first round of interviews. As you might know, many firms have slowed down recruiting recently and they are taking more time to decide on who to interview for the role. This, of course, does not mean that you will not receive an invitation to interview, it only means that it is difficult to predict the outcome and the reasons behind this delay. I believe that the best way to clarify this situation is to reach out to HR and try to learn more about their deadlines. In the meantime, act like if you did not get it and keep preparing for case interviews and applying for other firms!

I wish you all the best in this process.

Mehdi

Hello!

TBH, none can answer that in an insightful way. 

Best is to touch base with recruiting and ask. 

Hope it helps!

Cheers,

Clara

Hi A,

Assuming that you really have a strong CV, relevant experience, and, besides, are familiar with the interview process, you still have a chance.

If you don't have any contacts within the company, I would just recommend contacting HR for an update about your situation.

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