BCG Final Round, no offer due to not listening well?

A quick question:

I had final round with BCG and thought I had done the best interview of my life: never stalled on any of the cases and asked the right questions. However, I was not extended an offer. I asked feedback and was told that on two of the interviews I did not listen well to the interviewer. Does it ever happen that the interviewer lets you continue with the case even though you are not on the right track, ultimately guiding you to the wrong conclusion?

Any feedback is appreciated

13 Comments
 
Best Response

This has happened to me before. I have 2 things to say:

1) You probably didn't listen too well. I know I didn't when I got that feedback. The truth is, you get so caught up in your own frameworks and ideas, which are probably very good, but just not what the interviewer was looking for. So seriously every time the interviewer utters a word, even if it is "hmm", pay solid attention and try and incorporate it into your own dialogue.

2) The way to counter this happening again is that every time you kinda go off on a point/theory that you're making, ask the interviewer, "does that make sense?" This will force the interviewer to contribute. Of course, if he says "do you think it makes sense?" or something cryptic-as-fuck, then trust yourself and go for it.

 

1) Is it necessarily a good thing that you "never stalled"? Maybe, instead of taking the necessary time to think through things properly you rambled off on whatever popped into your head?

2) How do you know you asked the right questions?

3) If the interview isn't intervening, how is that "guiding" you to the wrong conclusion? And if you reach a wrong conclusion, it's your job to realize it. Real consultants don't have a magic warning light that flashes red when they are on the wrong path ... they have to be able to recognize it when it happens

 

If you stayed on the wrong path for so long, maybe you didn't ask all the right questions.

To be successful in consulting, you need to be good at knowing when to BS, when other people are BSing, and when you're in too far to BS. Sounds like their detector was better than what you came up with.

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zobomohoA friend of mine did a final round with BCG last November. He nailed the cases and the fit, and BCG told him he was in the top 30% of final rounders. Unfortunately, they only hired 8% of final rounders.

Sometimes it's not you. It's just the competition.

What the fuuuudge, top 8% of second rounders? You've got to be kidding me. Why would they do second rounds for so many?!

If they only want 10 out of every 1000 applicants, they should do something like 200 1st round interviews, 30 second round interviews, 10 offers. Not something stupid like 300 1st round interviews, 120 2nd round interviews, and 10 offers.

 
randombetch
zobomohoA friend of mine did a final round with BCG last November. He nailed the cases and the fit, and BCG told him he was in the top 30% of final rounders. Unfortunately, they only hired 8% of final rounders.

Sometimes it's not you. It's just the competition.

What the fuuuudge, top 8% of second rounders? You've got to be kidding me. Why would they do second rounds for so many?!

If they only want 10 out of every 1000 applicants, they should do something like 200 1st round interviews, 30 second round interviews, 10 offers. Not something stupid like 300 1st round interviews, 120 2nd round interviews, and 10 offers.

They shouldn't give 10 offers, they should give 10+x offers, x being the number of people they expect not to take their offer.

"We are lawyers! We sue people! Occasionally, we get aggressive and garnish wages, but WE DO NOT ABDUCT!" -Boston Legal-
 

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