Offer from OW/RB and can not wait for BCG interview

Question

Hey guys,

I got an interesting situation:

I have received offers from Tier-2 firms, for which I need to decide if I want to join next month by the end of this week, otherwise I have 4 weeks to decide but then I could only join in 4-5 months. I have another BCG interview linining up next 2-3 weeks or even maybe in 2-3 months because of unavailability of interviewers, BCG HR told me.

I really want to do the BCG interview and then decide, however I am not sure if I can have it done before end of the current offer. Should I take the offer and do the interview with BCG later and drop the contract to go to BCG? I am afraid that would harm my professionalism at my consulting colleagues.

What do you guys think?

Please let me know if you have any idea! Appreciate any advice!

Thank you so much!

Answer 1

Hi!

Couple of points:

1. Please make sure BCG understands that you are having these offers and need to decide soon. Normally they are very open to expedite the process under these circumstances!

2. If this does not work, please be open about the situation with RB/OW and ask for a couple more weeks.

3. If they refuse to give you more time to decide, then just decide and take one of the offers. Then do your BCG interviews and see what comes out of it. If you get an offer by BCG and want to accept it, then you quit with RB/OW. Please don't second guess too much. Normally the firms should understand it and you would not be forced to such a move. But if they don't, then you just take a reasonable rational personal decision! And by the way - firms also don't hesitate to rescind offers or delay starting dates if external condiditons force them to do so. This has, e.g., happended a lot when the last financial crisis unfolded.

Cheers, Sidi

Answer 2

Hi Anonymous,

I would first verify with BCG if they understood you have a relevant competitor offer. Once I got my OW offer, BCG accelerated the process and scheduled all the interviews in 4 days, to allow to make a decision (they also decreased the number of interviews compared to the standard process, since having an offer validates the fact the candidate is a strong one, which was a nice add on;)).

You may also try to extend the time to make a decision with OW/RB, although won’t probably work and will clearly indicate you are not super committed to the Tier 2.

If it not possible to anticipate BCG, you would have to accept the OW/RB offer, and then leave the Tier 2 if you get the BCG one. This is not ideal, but happens quite regularly when the interview process doesn’t align. There would not be other options at that stage rather than drop from the BCG process which would not make sense.

Best,

Francesco

Answer 3

Hi!

Several recommendations:

Try to understand whether you are ready to have the BCG interview right now or you need more time to prepare
Ask BCG to expedite the process mentioning another offer if you are sure that you are prepared. In general, BCG will be fine with that, unless there is a lack of capacity on their side.
Try to postpone the offer from the other firm if you feel that you are out of time. Note that It's important to demonstrate commitment.

Here are some general strategies on how to get more time with the offer (I guess in your case it's only the first and the last):

Be transparent - you want to finish the process with all companies (And it's not about the particular company. For example, Bain was giving me an Intern Role while McKinsey gave me a Senior Analyst)
Ask for the time without explanation and if there is an urgency ask back why is the urgency
Time to learn more from employees: Given with what I've seen so far I am happy to sign the offer but I might need some more time to talk to people, visit the office and learn more about the company
Contract - Need time to check the contract details (it's not just about salary but also you can't have equity ownership as a consultant and you need to sell your businesses)
Refer to feelings - you can say that you don't feel comfortable making a fast decision and need some time to reflect
Family reasons - Need time to discuss with the partner
Professional reasons - need to finish some other project

Best!

Answer 4

Hello!

This is a classic, since most people (I did myself) apply pretty much everywhere at the beggining, so situations like this are liketly to happen.

I would talk to BCG asap, since they are very likely to speed up everything when knowing that a valuable candidate is at risk. Normally, they even ask you up front if you have any offer on the table.

If they really cannot expedite it, I would start a new job in one of the 2 firms (congrats!!) and see how it goes. Then you can decide whether to interview or not for BCG, and in a positive case of an offer, you will have knowledge on the previous company to properly compare them.

I don´t believe it would harm your reputation, since, if you decided to move, everyone would have done it in your shoes.

Hope it helps!

Cheers,

Clara

Answer 5

Hi,
congrats for the offer! It's a common situation, I recommend to call BCG HR to explain the situation and anticipate the interview. If they do not do it I would accept the offer and however continue the interview process.

Best,
Antonello