Can someone explain the B School Career "bid" system?

It's not a huge deal for recruiting but:

Ultimately, firms who come to OCR are required to put up a certain # of interview slots for bid candidates. This means you can win, in an auction, the right to interview with a firm. They cannot deny you the first round interview.

There can obviously be some bias if a firm already decided that they weren't interested in someone or if you never networked with a firm that values that. Some firms are more "bid candidate" blind than others. I know someone who got a McKinsey offer off a bid - they also had offers from Bain and BCG, so clearly they were a rock star (they went with one of the B's). In the finance world, it's already more resume driven so it's tougher to win on a bid. That being said, a number of students every year get offers out of the bid process.

At the end of the day, the companies are mostly going to hire the people they were actively interested in interviewing, but it allows some students to get a second chance and for a few who might have decided late in the game that they're interested in a field to still at least have a shot, even if it's coming from behind. The talent level is unilaterally pretty high at MBA business schools">M7 programs, so there are a lot of talented folks that get shuffled out in the normal process.

I think the other MBA business schools">M7 programs also allow bidding - while it's largely not a factor after the top programs. From what i know schools lower down the T15 definitely don't have bidding.

Ultimately, it's not a differentiator to consider, because the schools that do it are all top ranked schools. OCR companies won't let that shit fly at schools that have more variable talent. I mean, if you're looking at Kellogg vs MIT, there are 50 things you should consider before how their bid system works comes in to play. If you're looking at Kellogg vs Darden, the needles already probably pretty heavy in one direction.

Most people get to campus and don't even know the program exists. I wouldn't put much, or any, thought into it, even while you're at school, until like 2 days before the bid deadlines.