Best Time to Cold Email?

Hello monkeys,

When do you think is a good time to cold-email / cold-call banks (or anything finance related) to ask for a summer internship in 2017 as a freshman in university? Do they decide their available internship spots as early as February (or am I too late?)

In addition, any tips for a freshman to land an internship in these positions?

 

There are always start ups, ngo's, and other organizations that will want a lending hand. Also, use Glassdoor. I already saw two postings for an IB Analyst in California and Ralgeigh which requires only 1 year of college experience. It's too late though, it was posted one month ago.

 

All the time. When you aren't contacting someone, someone else is, and you just got smoked and have none of the recipient's mental real estate.

In order to find best times, you have to make that first call and know how to leave a 15-30 second voicemail.

 

You're also taking (arguably) the easiest classes, though. You're definitely right, though. You have to make that semester count.

I should have said this in my previous post, but OP, the reason you want to list the GPA is because while you obviously have no knowledge of accounting or finance, a high GPA signals that you're intelligent, hardworking, and a quick learner.

 

For cold emails, target sometime in the morning, usually around 10am. Just avoid the extremes like early morning (5am) and late at night.

In terms of getting a summer opportunity, I think you should target local wealth management offices near your hometown/university. I cold called/emailed these types of offices asking if they needed any help over the summer. Eventually, I got a job working part-time for a PM. Offer to work for free, you should view this time as an investment in your career and get some experience.

For the larger firms, check their websites for freshman and sophomore programs. These are not internships, but usually programs that last a few days and allow you to learn a bit more about the firm. I know BB's and Big 4 have these programs, so do some digging for a thread on WSO about them (I've read them)

Regardless of whether you get an offer or not, you should read a few books and the WSJ to gain a bit more insight on the industry.

 

Hmmm that's a tough situation. I would continue to pursue google as well as the WSO database (Interview prep ribbon > WSO company database > advanced filters)

I would also try networking aggressively. Start asking family and friends if they know anyone working in finance or business related field and are willing to set up an introduction. I'm always amazed at how "small" the world really is and you can find great connections through unconventional means. Good luck!

 

Take this with a grain of salt, but in the real world (at least at the BB's me and my friends are at), there are virtually no kids who have lived and breathed banking since freshman year. There might be a very select few, but those are the kids that aren't typically grabbing drinks with the rest of the crowd after work, because they're, to put it lightly, a bit odd and are the type that like to talk about the latest deal they're working on after work.

If that's what interests you and you'd honestly rather do extremely low-level work and sacrifice an entire summer in the office because you'd rather talk to middle age professionals about a debt financing they did back in the 90s instead of hanging out with your friends and going out, by all means do so.

This forum would have you think that that's the norm, but it really isn't unless you're coming from an extreme non-target and absolutely need to devote your life to banking to score a shot, but even then it's fairly uncommon. This is absolutely unnecessary, and there will probably be people who question if you're a robot or not, and will honestly ask you why you weren't out having fun like the rest of the kids in school at that age.

 

Start now. If you wait to start reaching out to people during the "actual" recruiting season you'll simply be one amongst dozens and dozens of other candidates doing the exact same thing. Now's your chance to actually stand out. Any edge you can gain on your competition will greatly help you.

It's implied that you are looking for a job so there's no reason to actually ask for one in your email. Just say that you'd like to speak with them for 10-15 minutes about their experience and would appreciate any advice they can offer to you. First rule of the business world, people like talking about themselves.

Don't limit your search purely to NYC. Look up local shops as well. Simply having a few dialogues with people in the business, regardless of their position on the totem pole, can do wonders for you down the road.

There's no issue emailing multiple people from the same BB. That being said, don't blast out emails to everyone in the same group.

 

Echo the advice of everyone above. Now is the time to start cold emailing. This is especially true if you want to position yourself to land interviews in the fall.

Authored by: Certified Corporate Development Professional - Director
 

jj, I'm in the same situation as you and I started networking pretty recently as well for fall recruiting. I've conducted about 70 informational interviews thus far. I'm by no means an expert but I'll try to address some of your questions. 1. I'd suggest starting now. One of the things to keep in mind is that the closer you get to recruiting season the busier these guys are going to be and the harder it will be to schedule things. Plus, relationships take time to build and ultimately networking is about establishing relationships as opposed to quick transactions. 2. It's completely fine to email people in the same firm. They aren't going to know, and even if they figure it out they aren't going to care (many of them probably did extensive networking to get their job BTW). As one of the poster's suggested though, be careful about contacting people in the same group in the same office at the same time. I did it unwittingly twice; the first time nobody cared and in the other instance I got a really strange reaction (they were very suspicious of my motives), though once I got the person on the phone I addressed his concerns easily. Just keep that in mind. 3. I've only done a couple of in person interviews, most are on the phone. I really don't think it matters that much. The good thing about using the phone is you can schedule 10+ informational interviews a day, which allows you to become much better faster. Plus, if you really hit it off with someone you can drop them a line when you're in town and have coffee or something. 4. I agree with sending requests on Wednesday/Thursday. I've done extensive testing and realized that Friday-Monday my response rate is much lower. Tuesday evening isn't bad either. Ideally you want your email to arrive in their inbox after they've cleared it out (in other words, after Monday) and are answering emails (usually happens in the morning around 6 am, right after lunch ~1 pm, and in the late evening ~8 pm). 5. The analyst vs. MD/VP thing is a false dichotomy. Both would be happy to talk to you in my experience, though your approach is going to be a bit different with someone who has more experience (they'll tend to have more to talk about but at the same time may talk through 10 years of stuff in a few minutes, making conversation a bit more difficult - just be prepared).

 

jj, great question. I haven't gotten to that stage of the game yet. I've had a good number of people offer to either give me an internal referral / guide me through the process / help me practice for the interviews (for more details on the breakdown see my thread on asking for referrals, I think it's below this one) but I haven't taken advantage of my networking efforts yet since recruiting season doesn't start until late August/early September (note that I am shooting for consulting jobs). I'll let you know in a month or so after I've successfully done more conversions.

To be honest my main goal is to establish connections at every office of the top 40 consulting firms. Not an easy thing to do obviously but very achievable if I keep up my present rate of growth. Based on past experience with job searches/networking I suspect things will turn out well, but I'll track things and maybe create a master post summarizing how things are going as recruiting season moves forward. Hope that helps, sorry I couldn't specifically answer the question yet!

 

While you should take the above advice and focus on GPA/leadership positions/networking at school, I would highly suggest downloading an email scheduling app (tons of free ones that off 10-25 emails a month). This will allow you to email analysts in that Tues-Thurs 7 AM - 10 AM sweet spot without fail.

 

Actually anytime you email anyone from 5-6am they either think you're nuts, or really determined. May be crazy enough to work

I'm on the pursuit of happiness and I know everything that shine ain't always gonna be gold. I'll be fine once I get it
 

I would email 1 hour to 45 mins before market opens or after trading hours. They are least busy then and can read emails. Monday works pretty well from my experience of cold emailing people in IB/S&T and ER.

 

I've had great success with my networking and I've never worried about when I send emails... it's the call that's important, in my estimation. I call after markets have closed. At that point they shouldn't be on the phone anymore and should probably just be writing. I don't email or call during earnings, obviously.

 

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