I have an upcoming coffee chat (not a formal interview) with an alumni of my university who is a managing director at a bank I’d love to work for. I want to express my interest in working for him, but I don’t want to come off as aggressive, and I don’t know if his team is hiring.
What are some best practices for asking for an interview/expressing interest in a job? Is it okay to do this the first time we meet? Or is it better to build the relationship and ask after meeting/talking several times?
Only 1 year out of UG and don’t have a lot of networking experience under my belt, so any thoughts would be much appreciated.
I would say that it depends on if you are meeting with him again. If you know that you will be meeting with him again sometimes in the future, then I would wait to ask him if his bank is hiring. If you aren't sure that you will be meeting with him or someone else from the banks that he works at, you should ask him if his bank is hiring, but not that directly. Depending on how much time you have to talk with him, I would ask him about what he does, and ask some questions about that to show that you are interested in his area of work. If you aren't interested particularly in his specific area, then say something like "That's very interesting and cool stuff. I really like what I heard and was wondering if there might be any opportunities to work at your bank in X area? I realize that your bank may not be hiring right at this time, but I would like to talk about opportunities for either now or the future."
Obviously you will want to make it more original than this so it doesn't sound so cut and dried. Just to get you started. He/she obviously knows that the reason that you are meeting him is because you want to get a job/internship, and so you shouldn't worry about having to ask him.her about it. Just do it tactfully.
Only ask for it after you get POUNDED. Not the first time, but usually after the second time it SHOULD be okay. To stay safe, I recommend asking only after your third POUNDING.
"Asking for it" is essentially a sales process with the emphasis on process. There are stages or steps you must go through in any type of selling (and yes, this is selling - perhaps the most difficult kind). You need to 1. build repport , 2. Fact Find / identify need, 3. Present, 4. Close
If you rush to 2 before adequately handling 1, you go nowhere fast. However, they know what you want and, if they like you, want you to get to 3 and 4 but aren't going to do it for you. You need to ask.
At some point the "Informational Interview" needs to turn into a job related / seeking conversation. I like the idea of keeping the first conversation purely informational (seeking info about company, career track, his/her current role and how they got there, future of the company / industry, etc. Follow up with a very nice thank you email, include pertinent info from the conversation, closing with a question about who they would recommend you speak with to inquire about internships, jobs, etc. If they like you, they'll refer you to X and even let him/her know you'll be in touch. That's 1 and 2. Then you need to repeat with referral (build rapport and fact find about jobs) and Present Yourself (3) and Close (4 - ask how to partticipate in interview process.
Don't be discouraged if they just tell you to follow the process online. However, you can get a major leg up if they take a shine to you and "push " you throught the process.
Good luck.
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