Cold networking etiquette
I have been a long time reader of the forums but only recently have begun actively posting. This will be a rather long post but I hope you monkeys find it valuable and humorous.
Let me start out with a bit about myself. I spent the first two years of my career at MBB, both of my parents are high level consultants so I was able to leverage their networks to get my gig. I am now a third year PE associate at $5-$10b AUM shop. Due to my connections I have never had to utilize cold networking. I understand that most people are not as privileged as me. I respect cold networking as long as it is done with tact. This brings me to the crux of my post. Maybe I am getting old and crotchety but it seems as if this generation of wannabe Wall Streeters has absolutely no idea of how to interact with professionals.
I have a cold networking story that is both humorous and should send chills down the spine of every professional on Wall Street.
Fast forward to last Thursday night. In PE you obviously do not work banking hours. My fund is post LOI on a potential deal so I have been pulling 70 hour weeks. I had my first opportunity to go out in about two weeks and met up with some friends at a bar and then head to a club. I come back to my place and am mid coitus at 230 when my BB starts going off incessantly. I stop what I am doing because I think something serious is going on at work only to find 10 messages from the same kid that read:
Hi XX, I came across your contact info on Zoominfo and I would like to talk to you about internship opportunities at your firm. I will call you at 10 at the number XXXXxX. I look forward to speaking with you.
The fucking kid had my cell phone number. I emailed him back right away and said if you even think about calling me I will make sure that your résumé is blackballed across fucking Wall Street.
He emails me back saying that he will be reporting my contact info to career services at his school.
HOLY FUCKING SHIT!!
I find out that he has cold emailed my entire firm (200 investment professionals). I also found out that this kids school (a target that sends 25 kids to BBs) has a zoom info account and has a new career service advisor who believes in aggressive networking and encourages kids to do this.
I have a friend who is in a 15 person group at a BB who are all considering changing their numbers because everyone from Analysts to MDs are receiving approximately 5 cold calls a day from kids at this school.
In short, this target may find itself blackballed across Wall Street.
Do not be like these kids.
Part 2 tomorrow........
First, congrats on the success.
Second, I agree. It baffles me how inept these younger folks are. This is etiquette that should've been taught early on.
PS - That target school should be blacklisted for promoting this ridiculous shit.
I find a lot of my free time being after school work around 10:00 PM, so generally I will conduct, and possibly send a few emails, no more than one to each person. Being that you said your blackberry went off, would you say just keep the drafts until the next day as to not annoy someone after hours?
As for the original story... Holy crap. I feel bad for these kids as their school is potentially doing a lot of harm to these kids' prospects. It astonishes me that a career services professional, especially at a target, would believe this is appropriate.
Ambitious move.
Sending an email at 2:30AM is not an ambitious move. It's fucking stupid.
It is my understanding that this school's career service center is pushing this strategy to the sub 3.3 crowd since they are going to have a hard time getting interviews through OCR unless they stand out. Now phones all across Wall Street are lighting up with clueless kids bothering professionals asking about internship opportunities.
As for networking tips, I am willing to help out almost anyone who takes the time to reach out as long as it is done with tact.
Send me an email. If I do not respond in a week, send me another one. If I do not respond than I either can't help or am just too busy at the moment. If that is the case it is best to try back in a month.
Under no circumstance is it ever okay to call my cell phone or the phone at my desk unsolicited. If you do this, the only way that you will set foot inside a Wall Street bank is if you legally change your name.
I find this interesting. In the other thread people were slamming me for emailing twice and then a call in the span of over half a year. Alum directory email, company structure email, phone # in directory.
Yet you seem to be saying that an email followed by one the next week, and then a month later is ok. Personally I feel like that is far too aggressive and I would never actually do that. In my thread you even (perhaps incorrectly) tried to make it seem like I was going to out the alum and the firm, which I had no intention of doing, something that is corroborated by a number of other posters.
You seem to be a pretty up front guy, I have an interesting question. I know the goal is to build a relationship then eventually inquire about an internship/job. That being said would you rather them, the candidate, just get straight to the point (be up front) of why they are contacting you, or take the more formal approach of emailing you a few times, then asking you. However, you have a job, therefore you are genuinely more concerned with work while you are there, and would it be right to assume that it would be best to be up front as to not take up too much of your time by having a conversation via email.
You seem to be a pretty up front guy, I have an interesting question. I know the goal is to build a relationship then eventually inquire about an internship/job. That being said would you rather them, the candidate, just get straight to the point (be up front) of why they are contacting you, or take the more formal approach of emailing you a few times, then asking you. However, you have a job, therefore you are genuinely more concerned with work while you are there, and would it be right to assume that it would be best to be up front as to not take up too much of your time by having a conversation via email.
I mentioned this in another thread (http://www.wallstreetoasis.com/forums/cold-e-mailing-can-anyone-attest-…), but again, people here too often confuse networking for job hunting. Networking is about a lot more than just getting a job. I sincerely hope, even after securing a position, the network you established during the job hunt isn't just something you plan to ditch and forget about.
Approach networking as it should be - get to know people, their interests, and their goals. Over the long haul, a solid network will do more for you than just securing a 2-Year analyst gig.
I hope I get an email like that one day.
That makes sense. That was definitely not my intention. It's just so often (both here on WSO and elsewhere) the advice is "aggressive networking"/"don't be afraid to pick up the phone" or the aforementioned multiple emails in a fairly short time.
Like I mentioned in the other thread I only emailed twice because I know the emails on the directory are sometimes incorrect (there are things like netscape email addresses on there!). That was the first time I've ever actually cold-called, which makes me feel like I should never do that again and just stick with e-mails from now on.
I guess I came off as having a bad attitude was because it was literally just 5/10 minutes after the call and it was the heat of the moment, so I didn't word my post as nicely as I probably should have.
@HNEP: If a kid emails me out of the blue, I know that he is not trying to be my friend. I will usually try and help if I can. If I can't help I will usually try and pass him on to a friend. The key to cold networking and networking in general is to have to have tact.
I will repeat it again. Under no circumstance should you ever reach out to a professional while he is balls deep and getting his nut off.
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