Hello may I ask what level of seniority your referral should at least be when seeking for a referral?
I have sought of secured a potential referral when I was connecting with an individual who joined the MBB. She has similar background to me in terms of education and work. She has even offered that she is willing to offer me a referral if I need one.
She is an Associate who just joined BCG not too long ago. Thus I am wondering how senior should a referral be in order to fare a better chance.
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 (manager level and above) 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. But any referral is 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 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 HR 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 on average.
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 there,
Q: May I ask what level of seniority your referral should at least be when seeking for a referral?
In general, the more senior the person, the more effective is the referral.
I would recommend to target a referral from Manager and above. However, any referral is better than no referral, so if you cannot find that, a referral from an analyst/associate would be fine.
Partners are the most influential people in the company so if you have the option to get a referral from a partner, definitely go for it.
You can find more information on referrals here:
Best,
Francesco
Hi there,
Generally speaking, higher seniority is better (impossible to quantify). That being said, having a referral from a junior person is still MUCH better than not having a referral.
Whether or not you should seek a referral from a more senior person depends on your personal timeline and and willingness to invest energy in networking.
Hope this helps! Best of luck!
Hi there,
Primary goal: Get a referral
Secondary goal: Get the highest referral possible
It's really that simple :)
Hello,
Generally speaking, the more senior the person referring you is, the better. However, having a referral in any case gives you a significant advantage. My advice would be, if you think you can do enough networking to get a referral from someone more senior, try to aim for that. But if you don't think this is possible, having this person you mention recommend you will certainly be helpful.
Ideally someone who is involved with recruiting or a partner. A recent hire isn't ideal but it never hurts of course.
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