Referrals in UK vs USA

As far as I am aware, the referral system is not only significantly more common in the US vs UK but also a lot more impactful/important to a successful application.

I was curious to know whether they can still be useful in Ldn BBs/EBs. I am not referring to a simple referral from a coffee chat (which is what previous threads have been in relation to) but rather from someone you know well at the Assoc level to join as an analyst. Does anyone have any colour on this from experience or witnessing it?

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Let's be clear here.

Most discussion on networking on this site pertains to recruiting for summer internships. Referrals/networking is not a big thing in this case. 

When you get to full time, doesn't matter what country you're in, networking matters. Many people get jobs through "I know X who told me Y was looking for Z role and threw my hat in the ring". Obviously you still need to be competent and whatever but "who you know" is ALWAYS relevant for FT recruiting. At BB/EB or otherwise.

And to be clear I'm not saying either that people who don't know someone on the inside won't get any looks or that getting a referral gets you fast tracked (it probably won't especially be someone as junior as Associate) but there's definitely a lot of rooms you don't get to be in if you don't happen to know someone who happened to know someone who happened to be looking for a certain candidate. 

 

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