As the title says...
Hoping it goes well. I'm very good on the phone and with people in general. Hoping to make a good impression, not sure what will come of it. Any of you ever been in this position before? Not nervous, just really not sure what to expect. Not really expecting any direct opportunities to happen here, although you never know. Getting to be that time of year.
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Who initiated the call?
Well I sent him an email a few weeks ago, I know the email convention and found his name on LinkedIn...we have a mutual contact but when I asked to be introduced the guy I know didn't really want to due to not knowing him very well.
So I just guessed his email address and wrote him a short email asking if he might have any time to speak. Didn't get a response, so I followed up last week and he said I should send him a note today when he gets back from a trip. So I did, and he suggested we speak on the phone tomorrow.
So I'm pretty happy about even getting to this point.
stalker
MDs tend to be more straight to the point and focus on assessing you qualitatively. Best way to get them going is ask how they got into the industry, what is it like to work in the industry. Depending how this goes (some MDs just love talking about themselves only) you can lead into telling him/her your background and why you want to do investment banking.
Probably expect for sure the following questions: why banking? your background? what do you know about the company? The call will probably be 15-30 mins. Right before the call he might also ask you to send in your resume.
I would also say it's atypical of MDs asking any technical questions during the call, most of the time they just want to see that you are ambitious, motivated and eager to get into the industry.
Pretty much what I figured. With my background, I know I don't look good on paper given no finance experience, a lower GPA, and a complete non-target school. Trying to basically figure out how assertive I should be in selling myself to him. Guess I'll just have to feel it out as always.
I think the biggest thing is that while I can charm an MD and get him my resume, HR departments seem to get in the way half the time. I feel like there's a "hurdle rate" you have to meet in impressing whoever your contact is so that they're willing to maybe do more than just forward your email to HR. Hopefully I can do that tomorrow.
You should have a solid reason for "why banking" since there are a lot of factors against you (school, gpa, experience). By the end of the phone call if he is not convinced about your fit for the industry/company he probably won't forward your resume to anyone.
NEED ADVICE - call tmrw with BB MD (Originally Posted: 09/06/2012)
I have a phone call tomorrow with an MD at a BB firm - the MD is a graduate of my high school (A solid prep HS that I'm glad I attended because I have found 20x more connections then from my non-target college).
I have been emailing alumni that I find on LinkedIn (using the WSO questions regarding email formats). I simply tell them 2-3 sentences about myself and my interests in I-banking and then ask for a few minutes of their time to chat in the next week or two (its been pretty effective - around 1/3 alumni have responded offer advice via email or a phone chat).
Here's where my questions come in:
At the end of my call with this MD, if the call goes well, should I 1). say something along the lines of, "With recruiting start at (firm name), is there someone you could refer me to so I can speak with them about the process?" and then hope he asks me to forward him my resume
OR
2). If the convo goes well, should I shoot him a thank you email and include at the end that, "I am really interested in working at (firm name). How can I best position myself for an interview at your firm? If you could refer my resume to those in charge of hiring I would really appreciate the favor." and attach my resume.
My second question is, what are some creative questions/topics you guys have used in informational (aka please-get-me-an-interview) interviews?
I know the group this MD works with and I know a project he has worked on so I will definitely bring that up and ask him how the experience was, but do you guys have any good questions you ask?
A good one I use when chatting with an analyst or associate is, "is there something you wish you would have known at the beginning of you senior year that would help you with where you are right now?"
Thank you everyone who read this far - I would appreciate some insight from all of you.
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