The more and more I go through different accelerated processes, the more I feel like the way some BB groups decentralize their recruiting really hurts their chance of getting top-tier talent. I'm at a target that has plenty of alum contacts at various groups, but started reaching out a little late (last week of internship or so). Since then, I've found BB HR to be relatively shady and unhelpful (one girl legit told me they were full one day and invited me to a superday the next) and the process to be a total crapshoot in terms of networking.
When it comes down to SA networking, if you get in touch with some people and they forward you to HR, that's usually a pretty good indicator of getting an initial interview. I feel like for FT, not only do you need to hope your contact is in a group that you like and has spots, you also need to pray they're "close to the process". Add in the usual networking struggles of people being busy/catching them on a bad day/etc., and it seems totally haphazard which kids get invited to the superdays and phone screens.
I know I might get some flame in the vein of "should have started earlier, bud", and I admit that the best practice given this situation might be to start wicked early (mid-to-early July) and reach out to all contacts, not just ones who responded for the SA cycle. While that may be true, I've found that the EB and even more centralized BB processes make a lot more sense: you call your contacts, if they're close to the process, it's Gucci; if they're not, the guy who is sits in the desk down the hall, not in a black box; oh, and HR might actually not answer you like a politician if you ask them for details on if/when there is a process going on.
I don't see any real benefit to the group-specific BB method: do you really want to have the average candidate who's been drooling over GSTMT since mid-June at your 8/11 superday instead of, say, the Qatalyst rock star whose contacts happen to be in Industrials (or just not close to "the process" in TMT?) and couldn't redirect him in time?
