| Topic Name: |
How good is Bain at picking the right people? |
| Message Name: |
Congrats |
| Date Posted: |
01/12/2006 |
| In Reply To: |
I'm not sure if Bain picked correctly?
I know this is an odd question, and I am really grateful to have obtained an offer from Bain in one of the US offices. But I am a little hesitant about becoming a management consultant for two reasons.
1) I met many top candidates during my interviews (3 rounds, 6 case studies in total) and I felt they were much better qualified and more outgoing than I was. Yet I was told that only 2 of us were hired in the end. Was it a mistake??
2) I did not get into the final rounds for BCG/ McKinsey for offices in the same location. In fact my feedback for one of them was that I lacked 'pragmatic business sense' and had problems looking at the big picture.
I find it very odd that I could do well in the Bain interview but not in the others. Hence I am wondering if you guys had any opinions as to how good the Bain recruiters are at picking people with potential? I really do not want to join consulting and realise that I am not cut out for it after all. Thanks for any feedback. |
| Message: |
Congrats on getting an offer! The fact that you made it through (whereas MANY did not) should prove to you that you're fit for the position.
The interview process is by no means perfect. I personally believe a significant amount of luck plays in the process. Once you get past the case (which most people do in the later rounds), a number of very subjective factors determine whether or not they move you forward, including but not limited to 1) whether they like your personality (obviously, not everyone will "click" with you) 2) whether you are able to develop a rapport with the interviewer (somewhat related to point 1) 3) what kind of mood the interviewer is in at the moment. Whether or not you get through depends on whether or not you happen to interview with the "right" people. I think very few people get more than one offer from M/B/B for these very subjective reasons. It's definitely not a perfect process. I know of many people who got offers from McK but dinged in round 2 or earlier for Bain or BCG and vice versa. I even know of one person who got dinged in first rd with McK and got to the final rd of BCG, but didnt get an offer. She applied again the next year, and didnt get an interview with BCG, but got an offer from McK. Go figure.
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