as incoming sophomore at semi-target I was wondering how many hours per week networking is gonna take (from sending emails to calls...) I'm planning to try to connect with 50ish bankers over the fall
| +148 | AI Creating More Work | 44 | 1d |
| +146 | Senior Banker's Guide to IB Recruiting / Group Placement (with a Healthcare Bent) | 18 | 18h |
| +142 | Shit PWP Culture | 88 | 1d |
| +117 | Is pay at BofA really that bad? | 58 | 1d |
| +81 | Day at Macquarie | 8 | 9h |
| +44 | Is the life of a VP at a 'top-bank' really good? | 15 | 2d |
| +42 | How bad did I mess up | 10 | 35m |
| +29 | Law school instead of MBA for RX Banking | 5 | 3d |
| +29 | No BB RO 2026 | 10 | 1d |
| +28 | Misrepresented Houston IB | 14 | 5h |
Career Resources
Get instant access to lessons taught by experienced private equity pros and bulge bracket investment bankers including financial statement modeling, DCF, M&A, LBO, Comps and Excel Modeling.
I had about 120 phone calls (sent ~1500-2000 emails) over the course of 2 or 3 months before I got my first offer. At times I felt like it was all I would do from the moment I woke up to the moment I went to sleep. For context, I went through recruiting with nearly a 4.0 and 2 banking internships but went to a non-target. Most of my outreach was cold. I’m not sure how the hit rate varies at semi-targets and targets.
total contacts or including follow ups? 2k is impressive. hope you landed somewhere solid
you are not going to get a clear cut answer for this as it varies for everyone but I would say 2-3 normally and 4-5 if things are really heating up
Depends how hungry you are. You want to work in IB, then networking is your life until you get the job.
I went to a semi-target. Did around 3-4 calls a week in the peak of it. That was enough for 6-7 first rounders. I believe 1-2 strong contacts are better than a weak relationship with 10 randos at the bank. Between prep/research/call itself, this would take around 3 hours of my time each week, so not bad.
SalesQL and LinkedIn xray can save a ton of your time though.
In my opinion, I think you should be a volume shooter for the first month or so and cast your net wide. During this time put who you've reached out to and somewhat have an honest assessment with yourself on how the call went and rate it on the excel sheet. For the calls that went well, after the first month you should continuously try to double down on those relationships and try to cultivate something meaningful without being annoying. In my experience, the meaningful relationships are the ones that yield the best results.
At a target, started in the winter around January and spent around 1-2 hours per week at first and ramped it up as the recruiting season kicked off through info sessions and applications opening. Try to aim for about 2 calls a week in the early part of the season, and aim for 4-6 calls in the heat of recruiting. I had a lot of time on my hands due to online classes so I could fit in more calls into my schedule, but if you're in-person it gets pretty hectic to have so many calls. You should aim to have 1-2 good contacts at each bank you're interested in. If your school has OCR, try to have a good chat with the alumni in charge of recruiting as they will be the gatekeepers for your process.
hi what do you mean gatekeepers for your process
Banks have recruiting teams for each target and semi target that they actually care about. Usually they are the ones who decide who gets first round interviews so you want to be well liked by them by the time apps drop.
id dedicate a hour per day. so maybe 7 hours
50 won’t cut it. Based on my experience, 10 calls = 1 interview
Eveniet ea provident repellat sed. Nulla nihil distinctio voluptatem non occaecati. Sit molestiae quia consequuntur ut mollitia aut. Quidem consequatur sed magnam deserunt atque eos. A et commodi consequatur et fugit.
See All Comments - 100% Free
WSO depends on everyone being able to pitch in when they know something. Unlock with your email and get bonus: 6 financial modeling lessons free ($199 value)
or Unlock with your social account...