Here's what happens when your email hits my inbox...
Mod Note (Andy): this comment was originally posted in The Phone Call that Never Was and I thought it deserved it's own blog post for those that missed it.
When I first started full-time, I would enthusiastically respond to every recruiting email I got from undergrads, knowing that I was in their shoes not long ago and wished someone paid some attention to me.
As time goes by, my response rate has dropped significantly while the barrage of emails only increased (I go to a lot of recruiting events and hand out my card when I interview candidates)
Here's what happens when your email hits my inbox (times are arbitrary)...
1) You email me at 11AM on a Monday morning.
Things are slow on my end. I've been reading the news since I got in. I recognize your name as the kid who asked a good question at the info session or you mentioned that one of my analyst friends referred you. Or we're from the same hometown. Or we both did the same extra-curricular in college. Whatever. Something piques my interest and I feel like we might get along. I email back immediately to set up a time that afternoon when I know things will still be slow.
2) You email me at 2PM on a Wednesday
I just pulled an allnighter last night and we're still working through the day to get the deck out to a Board. I haven't had lunch yet. As I'm typing you a response saying this week might not work, I get four emails from the team asking why a number doesn't tie. I discard the draft and work on more pressing matters. 10 hours later, the book is finally out and I wrapped up other requests, I could respond to your email or I could get the first little bit of shut-eye in 48 hours. Your email goes into my "Recruitment" folder and you don't hear from me until you follow-up.
3) You spell my name wrong or half way through the email, your font changes.
I know you just copy and pasted that from some other email. I could respond to you, but why bother when you put so little time into it and I got four other people waiting to hear back from me.
4) You email me and say you're free at 3-4pm on Friday and 8-9am on Monday to chat.
This is the most likely scenario actually. I could try to schedule you in, but I'm on a bunch of live deals and I know things are going to flare up at that time. If a MD is hovering around my cube waiting for a draft, I can't drop everything to call you. So we're going to reschedule multiple times and it'll be frustrating for everyone. Instead, I'm just going to ignore you and hope that when you follow-up, you give me less ridiculous times to call you. Nota bene: bankers get in between 9 and 10. Don't even think about scheduling something at 8:30.
5) You email me at 2AM on Saturday night, or any late nights/weekends for that matter
If you only read one thing from my long response, read this. NEVER, EVER, EVER EMAIL BANKERS AT ODD HOURS. We have blackberries and weekend emails means sudden staffings, emergency meetings, more comments for that painful deal. When we see that stupid blinking red light when we're out with friends at a bar, we panic and envision the worst case scenario - saying goodbye to friends we haven't seen in weeks, hauling our drunk selves back to the office, and fixing a model the first year associate refed out because they don't understand circularity. Then we realize it's some undergrad brat trying to network with us. We read your email with hatred and then go back to drinking our sorrows away. Along the same vein, when setting up coffee chats, don't do it on the weekend. Why would I spend my precious weekend helping undergraduates I don't know?!
So after all that, here are the key take-aways
- Banker response rates are very random. Don't take it personally that we don't respond. Some people don't respond period, so it's us, not you. Some people get busy and forget to respond, again, it's us, not you.
- Remember that recruiting is just 1% of a banker's workload. This is something I didn't understand early on in recruiting. I thought people just sat there waiting for my emails. We get hundreds of deal-related emails every day. Recruitment doesn't affect our bonus and ranking for the most part. Those of us who are actively involved do it because we care. After a recruiting trip, I'm always staying up really late in my hotel room trying to catch-up on work that piled up during the day. The next morning, I'm flying back on a 6am and going straight to the office to do more work. Try to understand that.
- Nothing wrong with following-up. It helps us remember your name. I'd do it two more times max and then just move on to someone else
- Say this, "I understand that you are very busy and that these times may not work for you. Please let me know and I will work around your schedule. I appreciate you taking the time out of your busy schedule to speak to me." Fact: We love hearing how busy we are.
- Mention your background in your email.
- Be flexible, give large chunks of times that you're available
Comments
awesome post
awesome post
I help people with the tough situation of not knowing how to respond to emails.
Ha great breakdown
Ha great breakdown
when actually are the best
when actually are the best times to chat?
ky0ung: when actually are the
when actually are the best times to chat?
probably early in the day from what i hear
I help people with the tough situation of not knowing how to respond to emails.
ky0ung: when actually are the
when actually are the best times to chat?
It really differs depending on the day or the banker. I think for the most part it's pretty random, as I tried to convey with the post. I usually slot candidates in at around 11 or in the early afternoon, that way if I need to push the time back it won't cut into my dinner time. The analysts who sit near me tend to have conversations earlier on in the week as opposed to Thurs/Fri. We have a lot more energy earlier in the week whereas later on we're either sleep deprived, cranky, or antsy to get out of the office.
What about the higher ups?
What about the higher ups? Does most of this apply for them as well in terms of how they react to emails and so on.
"If it were easy, everyone would do it"
So when would you say is the
So when would you say is the best time to send an e-mail? Anytime between 9-11AM on weekdays?
If you have a goal in life, think to yourself each day - "What did I do today to help me reach my goal?"
+1
+1
"History doesn't repeat itself, but it does rhyme."
JPMortgage: What about the
What about the higher ups? Does most of this apply for them as well in terms of how they react to emails and so on.
Senior folks tend to operate a lot more often from their blackberries than junior bankers, as such, the timing probably isn't as relevant. I would imagine that they're less likely to respond during the evening when they're at home with their families (compared to analysts, who are all eating Seamless together in the office). Obviously don't read too much into the timing. All of this is anecdotal.
I would still try to hit them during the time they're in front of a computer because you want them to add your appointment to their Outlook Calendars. If that Outlook alert doesn't pop up telling us to do something, we're not going to dig through our emails. Since senior people rely heavily on their administrative assistants to manage their schedule, it might be helpful to send them a reminder email 5-10 minutes before your call in case they didn't add it to Outlook.
While I certainly understand
While I certainly understand that many bankers are hyper-sensitive about "proper recruiting email etiquette", I don't see why receiving a recruiting email at an after-hours time is such a big deal that you'd consciously ignore that person going forward.
I think the sad reality is that a lot of bankers are on the edge of their seats just waiting for you to do something they can joke about with their cube-mates. However, I think the whole process would be much more productive if both sides decided to chill out a bit.
Hearing your Blackberry vibrate while you're out at the bar only to find out it is a recruiting email isn't the end of the world. While the OP tries to make it sound like all late-night emails are unexpected staffings or #REFed models, I receive plenty of automated corporate emails about new company card transactions and plenty of blasts from analysts in Europe or Asia that are even more irrelevant to me than a recruiting email from an undergrad. The only downside to emailing me after hours is that I'm less likely to respond than if I have down time during the day and get a message.
I'd say the only points here that resonate with me are those relating to scheduling. If you give a really narrow window of time during which you're available to chat, I'll try to accommodate, but it gives the impression that you are too busy to network.
One other note I'd add to this is remember to take time-zone differences into account! I can't tell you how many times I've scheduled calls with undergrads for a generic "1:00 PM", only to be sitting at my desk at 1:15 PM ET thinking to myself, "Well I guess that call wasn't very important to them." Without fail, my phone rings at 2:00 PM ET or (even worse) 4:00 PM ET and I wonder why I'm getting a call from a number I don't recognize. Always assume that the person emailing you is referring to times in their local time zone, and when scheduling calls, make sure to list the time zone with a simple "ET" or "CT" to avoid ambiguity.
That said, unless I am completely jammed and have literally no time to spare, I respond to every recruiting email that I receive, even if just to say, "Today isn't great, shoot me an email tomorrow and we can work something out." I think we'd all benefit if everyone took recruiting a bit less seriously.
This is awesome. Kind of an
This is awesome. Kind of an insider view that you never get in all the "networking tips" posts.
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NorthSider - Excellent
NorthSider - Excellent points, especially about scheduling.
I agree with you that we should take it easy with recruiting, which is why I'm hesitant to give people an exact window to email bankers. I wrote the post as a response to someone wondering why on earth we went from enthusiastically responding one moment to radio silence the next. I'm just hoping to demystify what's happening on our end a little and give people some options to maximize response rate.
On a side note, to other analysts out there, I don't know if you guys do this but when I was a summer, the analysts taught me how to filter emails. Alt T + L on Outlook creates rules which automatically pulls emails into folders so you don't get a BB notification. I have my company card transactions, global blasts, mergermarket alerts etc. filtered so my BB doesn't get flooded. You can make the rules specific enough so you don't accidentally filter out important emails.
gdxx: NorthSider - Excellent
NorthSider - Excellent points, especially about scheduling.
I agree with you that we should take it easy with recruiting, which is why I'm hesitant to give people an exact window to email bankers. I wrote the post as a response to someone wondering why on earth we went from enthusiastically responding one moment to radio silence the next. I'm just hoping to demystify what's happening on our end a little and give people some options to maximize response rate.
On a side note, to other analysts out there, I don't know if you guys do this but when I was a summer, the analysts taught me how to filter emails. Alt T + L on Outlook creates rules which automatically pulls emails into folders so you don't get a BB notification. I have my company card transactions, global blasts, mergermarket alerts etc. filtered so my BB doesn't get flooded. You can make the rules specific enough so you don't accidentally filter out important emails.
Agreed, I think your post is very valuable and provides some much needed insight into the networking process from the other end of the table.
gdxx: - Say this, "I
- Say this, "I understand that you are very busy and that these times may not work for you. Please let me know and I will work around your schedule. I appreciate you taking the time out of your busy schedule to speak to me." Fact: We love hearing how busy we are.
Great post. It's funny, I have a line extremely similar to this in my networking emails.
Thanks for these tips, much
Thanks for these tips, much appreciated.
Honestly... Besides the
- Only time will tell....
So, what is the best time to
When I cold emailed analysts,
great insight, thanks
From my experience, catching
NorthSider: While I certainly
1/2 of the WSO Bash Brothers
"Licensed to Ill It"
We all know Bro J did it...
gdxx: NorthSider - Excellent
1/2 of the WSO Bash Brothers
"Licensed to Ill It"
We all know Bro J did it...
Couldn't agree more with all
This is great. I'm e-mailing
Plato: This is great. I'm
NorthSider: Plato: This is
OP - great post. likewise, if
"If you want to succeed in this life, you need to understand that duty comes before rights and that responsibility precedes opportunity."
.
"If you want to succeed in this life, you need to understand that duty comes before rights and that responsibility precedes opportunity."
Can't emphasize enough
Plato: NorthSider: Plato:
gdxx: Fact: We love hearing
milehigh: Couldn't agree more
FranciscoDAnconia: Really
Here is my advice: When you
Just sent out my first round
Nothing short of everything will really do.
bonks: Just sent out my first
I help people with the tough situation of not knowing how to respond to emails.
bonks: Just sent out my first
kyleyboy: bonks: Just sent
Nothing short of everything will really do.
FranciscoDAnconia: Really
Great post. Will definitely
+1 Good post.
"They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety."- Benjamin Franklin
nice. if i could only reach
I really like input from the