Oliver Wyman application feedback

Question

Yesterday I have got mail from Oliver Wyman, London that I couldn't make through the CV screening stage for one of the position which I had applied. I was very hopeful that I would get the interview call, unfortunately it didn't. I was thinking if I can get a feedback for my application, idk what was lacking in cv vs what their expectations, as it will be helpful for future such applications.

Should I contact firm by calling them from one their Tel no given on their website, will HR people respond or is there any other way where I can a feedback on my application.

If any anyone could suggest me , it would be very helpful !

Answer 1

Hi there,

First of all, I am sorry to hear about the rejection!

This is indeed an interesting question which is probably relevant for quite a lot of users, so I am happy to provide my perspective on it:

First of all, chances are very low you will receive any feedback from the recruiting department at all. Still, if you want to take your chances, I would advise you to write a very polite e-mail and ask about whether you might have a brief call with them or whether they might prefer answering via e-mail. Cold calling seems to be not meaningful for two reasons: 1) It comes off very pushy and 2) the recruiter will not be prepared to give any feedback even if he/ she wouuld want to.
I would advise you to now focus on the more important question: Why did you most probably get rejected, and what can you do about it/ can you do anything about it? Therefore, I would advise you to, for instance, reach out to people in the industry and ask about their feedback on your application files (I would equally be happy to have a look at them). Once you have determined what the most probable reason(s) are for your rejection, you can assess what you can do about it.

In case you want a more detailed discussion on how to best prepare your application files for your upcoming career entry in consulting, please feel free to contact me directly.

I hope this helps,

Hagen

Answer 2

Short answer: No.

Don't cold call HR to get feedback unless you know someone from the firm personally. Getting the feedback through “cold calling” is practically impossible. Consulting firms reject thousands of candidates each year - it's not physically possible for them to provide feedback especially to candidates who are rejected at the very beginning of the recruitment funnel.

There are many external factors that could explain why your application could have been rejected, such as:

A large pool of applicants (e.g., many candidates with your background, by design not everyone can get invited for an interview)
High quality of applicants (e.g., candidates having top schools or more experience went through)
Diversity goals (e.g., not enough female applicants)

Last but not least, your application might have been simply not strong enough. What I usually look for in candidates for consultant roles:

Matching “minimum” quality requirements (school, GPA, first work experience)
Ability to communicate clearly his experience & unique qualities on the A4 page (can I see those when looking 5-10 seconds at a CV? is this person structured and can prioritize or is their experience a “laundry list”?)
Standing out from the pool of other candidates (what have you done that nobody else has done?)

Hope these comments will be helpful and guide you into understanding what went wrong.

If you believe that there was a problem with the quality of your application then engage with an external consultant who will help you review it and reapply for your dream role!

Answer 3

Hello!

Sorry to hear about that.

For sure you can try to reach HR, but 99% they won´t give you detailed feedback.

For the next time you apply, you can have your CV reviewed by experts and see if they detect an issue there.

Hope it helps!

Cheers,

Clara

Answer 4

Sorry to hear about the rejection.

I recommend writing an email to HR and asking for a brief feedback call. Some consultancies do give feedback on a call even at this stage.

If you can't get any feedback directly from them, you should have your CV reviewed by a coach here or someone in your network who is or has been in consulting.

Answer 5

You won't be successful by contacting them. Even if they wanted (which I doubt, given that it would be time consuming), HR does not have on record the information on why a CV was rejected. They know which were selected, and that's all. And to be honest, provide feedback on a CV would take much longer than the time one spends looking into a CV (usually ~60 seconds, which is why it is really important to have a well structured and well written CV).

Sometimes you are just unlucky, other times you have clear improvement areas. To know the real issue, you have to either reach out to someone already working in consulting, or (even better) someone used to screening resumes for consulting. That's the only way to know for sure.

Answer 6

Hi there,

I'm sorry to hear about this. Now, while nothing is ever 100% and this could very just be “bad luck” (no application is guaranteed), you're not going to get much insight here from HR.

Better yet, get a professional review of your resume from a coach! Feel free to send it through to me and I'll give you my initial thoughts.

Also, in the future, make sure to network extensively to optimize your chances.