What is the HR guy trying to say?

Question

Final interview 4 business days ago. At the end of the interview partner said someone will get back to me in the next day or two. But now it's been a week.

E-mailed HR to follow up. Response was ‘we are aiming to revert to you with an outcome decision by the end of next week’.

In my head there are a few scenarios:

Base Case - Busy than expected period and there are a few candidates, consensus from partners are taking a while.

Bull Case - No ding from HR means final round feedback was positive. Taking some time for HR to compile things and move on to next steps.

Bear Case - They're waiting for someone else to decide on an offer. Or, it was a ding, and they're waiting for next week to send rejections in one go.

Based on your experiences working in consulting firms, which one might be the more likely? If the partner mentioned to get back quite quickly - what may cause this delay? Would it be more of my suitability as a candidate; or internal workload?

PS

Please don't answer with ‘it means what it means’ type answers. Obviously i'm trying to speculate what is going on internally. Just being an impatient brat.

Answer 1

Based on your experiences working in consulting firms, which one might be the more likely?

Of course the base case.

Bear case just doesn't apply. If you didn't make it, you didn't make it, they don't need to wait for anyone else to know that. Regarding rejections, they rarely process in large batches - could be the case in campus recruiting, but even in that situation the base case is more likely.

Base case - they also don't take days to move the process forward. It could happen that they get the information one day and only move forward the next, but that's the kind of lag we're talking here.

So yep, it's base case. No information means… no decision yet. Of course, if they were super-excited about you… most likely the decision would have been faster.

Answer 2

Hi there,

I would say you may be the off-wave hire and those can take time. All of the people that interviewed you must provide feedback and someone must put it together, everyone's agenda is packed… No worry, they will come back to you. I would do weekly follow up or ask when to expect the outcome.

Good luck!

Lucie

Was this answer helpful?

Answer 3

Hey there,

This is obviously frustrating and I get your anxiousness!

Here's some comments on your scenarios:

Base Case - Busy than expected period and there are a few candidates, consensus from partners are taking a while. Yep, this seems pretty likely. Getting partners into the same room during a busy recruitment period can be a tough thing. HR might be busy too, which you're only invoking in the Bull Case but applies generally. Wouldn't be surprised if it's just people being busy. Outcome could still be positive or negative.
Bull Case - No ding from HR means final round feedback was positive. Taking some time for HR to compile things and move on to next steps. Sure, let's go with that! People have gotten offers anywhere between a couple of minutes and a few weeks after the final interview. This is entirely possible.
Bear Case - They're waiting for someone else to decide on an offer. Or, it was a ding, and they're waiting for next week to send rejections in one go. They're not waiting for someone else to take an offer. Either you cleared the bar or you didn't. If you did, you'll get an offer. In case of batch-rejecting people, this depends on the firm. However, this is not typically done unless part of a very synchronized campus recruitment process.

Keeping my fingers crossed! Best of luck!

Answer 4

Hey,

If you want to speculate, try to get information on what is happening with other candidates at the moment (especially if this was part of a campus recruitment). You can then extrapolate if HR are busy or not, if they batch rejections etc.

Other than that, I would agree with the other comments, the more you wait the less likely you will get a positive offer (it still happens though).

Best of luck!

Answer 5

Hi there,

The most likely is the Base case and the bear case.

If they're already decided they wanted you, they would have called.

Answer 6

Hi there,

The quick answer is:

If they get back same/following day – it is usually a good sign
If they get back within a week – no one knows whether it’s good or bad. It could be anything you mentioned
If they get back after one week – it is usually a bad sign

Normally the more you wait, the less likely an offer is. However, I helped a few candidates who got an offer after one week, so there are still chances of a positive outcome in your case.

What you can really do in this situation is to “forget” about the final and focus on the other options, if present. Difficult to do, but there is no possible gain for you in trying to guess an outcome you have no control over.

Good luck!

Francesco

Answer 7

You dont want to hear this, but what are you doing in your head and outside of you is a total waste of your time, effort and energy. I hope you gave your best during the interview process and if you did, just relax and wait patiently. Nudge them if you dont hear anything back say within 2-3 weeks. There could be many things going on the backend which you have no control over and no visibility of. Speculation is an utter waste.

Get on with your life while you wait for the outcome. Your job is to give your best absolute best and then let things happen without getting too hung up on the outcome.

All the best and fingers crossed for you.

Answer 8

Hello!

I laughed a lot with how you finished the post :)

Most likely, tbh with what you say, base or bull. In MBB at least, the last one wouldn't happen, you only compete against yourself.

Hope it helps!

Cheers,

Clara

Answer 9

Hi there, I wouldn't overthink it. I do not think the performance of other candidates affects your outcome, as there are no rigid hiring limits in place (even though there are seasonal hiring objectives, of course, with ideal numbers of recruits per role per specialization). Based on my experience in BCG, where there were literally 2 HR people managing ALL recruitment, they are just overwhelmed and behind schedule. So try to stay calm and be patient :)