Are bankers responding less?
Hey guys,
Current target sophomore currently recruiting for 2026 SA positions. Early in the Fall, any alum I reached out to on LinkedIn would be happy to chat and even would refer me to other alums in the group at the end of the call. But recently, I've reached out to dozens of alums in the past few days and can't get a single response back. Even contacts who I had good initial chats with, who've referred me to their peers, seem to be ghosting me.
Is this normal for December and will response rates go back up in January? I was hoping to get a bulk of networking in through winter break--not sure if I'm doing something wrong or this is a normal seasonal downturn in networking responses.
Looking forward to your responses!
Year end is either really busy or really slow for most professionals. Also people would probably rather spend their weekend breaks with their friends and family than some random kid. Just keep at it and don't give up.
I've left many kids on read these past few weeks but I'm struggling to keep my own head above water.
If they keep sending me emails, I eventually get to it. Just send follow ups. You think it comes across as annoying but in reality it's a pretty helpful reminder.
It’s a really busy time. I’m heads down trying to finish up whatever I can before the holidays. A lot of people are hard to pin down from around Halloween to New Year’s. Just a time warp honestly. Keep following up politely and they might remember to respond. I see the emails I just file them away and respond in bulk occasionally.
I don't normally respond, but that is because most of the folks that reach out to me have nothing in common with me. If you aren't able to find something in common with me, which is pretty easy based on my LinkedIn profile, or have an incredibly impressive story that stands out, I'm probably not taking the time to talk with you because I have 5+ kids just like you hitting me up each week. I will reply and tell the kid who they SHOULD be hitting up if there is someone in my group that I know we to their undergrad.
Word
bro this is an absolute g moment but I think this is very rare most ppl arent willing to put in the time for that
Funny enough, I’ve been annoyed by the amount of networking emails I’m getting and don’t plan on responding to them at the moment. Investments banking clubs must be making a collective effort to network right now. Getting at least 20+ emails / messages per day for the past month
The days of cold emailing are over. You have to be like Bud Fox. Just marge in to their office tower/floor and ask the secretary straight up, you gotta meet up with Johnny Kaye.
Ditto on others saying it might take time to get a response. I networked quite a bit in the summer with an alum from my MBA program and it took ~2.5 months to finally get me the warm intro he offered during our call. Slow job market and slow time of the year.
My response rate is down a lot, and I'm also getting "Could you get back to me after the new year" quite a bit, so yeah probably
Mine just tanked. I swear I went from 25-35% hit rate to I think a 20 email streak of nothing. Networking should probably become a more formalized process.
Same here, just echoing what others have said, a lot of bankers are wrapping up work at the end of the year and are too busy for chats the next few weeks
I just won't respond to someone who I don't have a mutual connection with or didn't go to my alma mater. It's not personal, I've been in their shoes, but it would be crazy to suggest that I should talk to and try to vouch for 25+ kids just because we both went to State schools
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