Missed a coffee chat w. an MD of an EMM

Literally overslept one of the most important coffee chats of my time networking with bankers. What should I do?

Just a little more background on my situation-I’ve never missed a call, even to junior bankers, but I think my body just gave up after Finals.

Please grill me. I genuinely deserve this.

17 Comments
 

There probably isn't any recourse you can have from this. Send an apology email but know it is extremely unlikely you'll get a second chance and your application won't really get the light of day (especially if it is group-specific). 

 

Dont sweat it, if you've managed to land a coffee chat with an MD once, you'll likely have it in you to land a similar opportunity at another firm. We are all humans at the end of the day and sometimes we make mistakes. Apologise and move on.

 

Mistakes happen to everyone, tough look but I’ve done similar things in the past and ended up fine. The big thing to remember with mistakes is to not let it affect you going forward and learn from it. If you can do that, you’ll be better in the long term for it. I’m sure you will make sure you are beyond punctual for future meetings (which is what I do now) and if you do so, you’ll can turn this negative into an overwhelming positive.
 

you seem like you have a good head and are a hard worker, one day hopefully you’ll look back on it and laugh.

For now though, you are still young and dumb and this is kinda funny to tease about haha. How did you oversleep? Just snoozed the alarm in a dream state?

 

Hi, tysm for the comment and help!

So the thing is I recently just went back home for winter break and it was an 8-hour train of me relentlessly working on my remote IB + PE internships (yes, I have 2 internships atm) and terrible naps. Plus, I had just gotten off finals as well so my body just wanted a good fucking break after weeks of poor nutrition and sleep.

 

Bunch of unhelpful hater comments — while the aggregate is correct, it obviously depends on the individual and how you (sincerely) apologized. Unfortunately, the first commenters are right, in a way, since there a plenty of people in finance with a complete lack of empathy who will act like this (“you would be blacklisted bla bla”). 

I would always prefer an honest “I’m sorry, I fkd up — worked a lot / overslept” than some made-up emergency story… but just my two cents. If people smell a fake excuse, they are not likely to engage any longer...

Fwiw, I can’t remember some random reach-out name (no offense but it is what it is) for more than a couple days, given the 5k things on my plate. That MD has his team to manage, a couple of live deals, budget & review discussions, family stuff — won’t give a shit about this unless he’s particularly vindictive, in which case it would anyway not be a good fit, I suppose…

Would be curious to hear what happened after you’ve sent the apology — fingers crossed for your recruiting nonetheless.

 

Hi, tysm for the comment! This comment is prob by far my favorite one! But yeah, I think you’re right, maybe I’m just too unimportant because he never reached back (its the harsh truth and I accept it). But it is what it is, and I’ll definitely learn from this mistake. I still have a warm connection with an MD at a BB so it doesn’t mean the end of the world.

Btw, I would be eternally grateful to get the opportunity to learn how you broke into the industry. You stuck out to me because no one’s ever this kind to me on WSO before😂

 

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