A Networking Tale...
The guy in the apartment above me left his cellphone in his apartment last night and his alarm was set for 2AM. So, from 2AM until god knows when I was listening to an iPhone alarm. Laying there, sleepless, my mind started to wander, which prompted me to write this.
About three years ago, when I first became interested in finance, I found WSO. I zealously consumed as much knowledge as I could about banking, networking, and recruiting. "Ok, I'm coming from a non-target and this guy says I should utilize cold-emailing." And that is exactly what I did, I started shotgunning generic e-mails out to different MDs; hopefully something would stick. My e-mails were plug and play--the only custom adjustment that needed to be done was change the person's name "Mr. X" to "Mr. Z" and occasionally edit a sentence.
After about 100 e-mails I finally made a flub. I went to e-mail "Mr. BSD," but I had "Mrs. Smiths" information pulled up. I send an e-mail to Mr. BSD and it leads off with "Mrs. Smith." The mess up was amplified by the fact that Mrs. Smith was a part of the same group as Mr. BSD. Mr. BSD sends me an e-mail back saying something along the lines of "You will never work on Wall St. if you're [sic] attention to detail is that poor." Now, this wouldn't be much of a story if it ended here. A kid messed up an e-mail, big deal...
I am now mortified and I instantly begin to type up an apology letter to Mr. BSD. Ah, redemption. I send my apology letter to Mr. BSD and I go to my sent folder to confirm it was delivered. I open up the e-mail only to realize I led the e-mail off with "Dear Mrs. Smith" again. Fuck. I'm never going to get a job in this industry. This guy probably thinks I'm the biggest fucking asshat alive. I am now contemplating sending a hand written apology letter to this guy.
Mr. BSD, almost instantaneously, e-mails me back saying "Unbelievable." I hit reply, fuck the formalities, and just start typing a letter in plain English. "Look, I'm really sorry about this mishap. I've sent out about 100 e-mails and I'm lucky to get 1 response for every 10 I send. I'm just trying to get some insight into the industry. I meant no disrespect to you; I messed up." Mr. BSD e-mails me back, again instantly, and tells me to call him. I'm shitting bricks at this point, but I call him up and we actually hit it off great. Fast forward to today and Mr. BSD is a good friend of mine. We still joke about it to this day.
lol. cool story. i can't say i've ever made that mistake (that i noticed) but i definitely know what you're saying. sounds like a cool guy.
I did mention it in passing one time, but never really gave him shit about it. He's a cool dude, so sometimes I'll text him and say something like "Yo, Mrs. Smith." He doesn't let me live it down though.
Cute story. Real question is, do you work on Wall St.?
Yea, recently got hired at a good shop, but I haven't started yet because I'm in my final semester of school.
So what I gather from the story is: 1) Make typo to get BSD's attention 2) Make typo again to draw BSD in 3) Apologize and ask for informational interview 4) ..... 5) Profit?
Next level networking strategies.
Total mind *uck
+1. Great story
A tale indeed. That was great, thanks for sharing.
This is the way to do it in interviews too. Be straight forward, confident, honest, and show them that you're not a cookie-cutter stick-in-the-mud robot.
Nice story. Many people forget that the vaulted BSDs in our in industry are regular people too (some BSDs may think otherwise). I find that generally that the sweet spot for networking is either low on the totem pole or all the way at the top.
You're lucky he even responded.
Are you going to bring this up with the guy in the apartment above you? Can't keep having that happen.
Did you ever talk with him about how he would've responded to your e-mail had you not made the name error?
Nope. I think he would have responded either way because he mentioned that he doesn't get all that many "networking" e-mails from students. Who knows for sure though.
can i send you back to back emails asking about the industry that aren't intended toward you, you reply what an idiot I am for not paying attention, but later I tell you I'm lucky I even got a response, I send out so many emails are rarely get responses, I just want to know about the industry? Then you reply call me?
semi srs
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