Networking Saved My Career (ex bank teller & big4 auditor)
You read that correctly. I really worked as a bank teller in my hometown after I graduated with a Master's in data science (top 30 US university) - because of the slow job market & lack of career assistance at my school. Now I'm about to work as an analyst at a boutique doing tech M&A. I wanted to share my journey to break in because I wasted so much time self-blaming and depressed instead of doing what was needed to move in the right direction. Hopefully one of you can use a bit of motivation in case you are not where you want to be professionally at the moment. Trust me, I have been where you are.
I knew I wanted IB since junior year (non-target program at a target university) but failed to break in time and time again, so I just kind of mentally gave up after hundreds of applications and a few calls here and there.. I returned home and began working a part-time bank teller job at a local branch. I still don't understand my reasoning till this day but at the time they promised it was possible to move into an WM position within the bank so I caved.. After 3 demoralizing months I left to join a big4 audit job which I did for about a year. It was by no means ideal, given my end goal being IB, but I started to have some hope because I was working on financial statements now and putting a brand name on my resume. One day I was scrolling WSO and came across that post about how to deal with not breaking into IB. The top comment was written by this intern about how one really needs to be mentally gone to get something remarkable done. In this case, making out of audit into investment banking would be fucking remarkable (to me at least). I started networking like there was absolutely no tomorrow: writing/scheduling emails during lunch breaks, tracking my contacts on both my personal and company laptops lol, following up on my cold emails every week, and waking up at 5-6AM to do networking calls sometimes (I work in Asia and wanted to move back to the US). After about 4.5 months and ~500 total cold emails I got 2 formal interviews at 2 regional boutiques. The one in the US unfortunately did not move forward but I did manage to land this one in Asia which took many rounds including a modeling test for me to secure.
My journey is by no means special, in fact I think I got lucky on many occasions for this to work out the way it did; however I wanted to tell you that networking does work and it can really save someone (mentally and literally) from a dead-end job/industry. Hell if you are reading this in your undergrad years you're so far ahead of where I was. If I only have one singular piece of advice for someone in a big4, audit, non-target, small town, or any adversity really, just grind (with a strategy) for a few months on networking but give it your all. You will eventually get good at those calls and start showing a truly refined character, which if you're not a total outlier would be naturally charming to bankers. The rest of this stuff concerning technicals can always be learned no matter how bad at math you think you are, it doesn't take a genius to know how to build a DCF/3-statement model well if you just do the WSP course a few times over. Feel free to ask me any questions and I will do my best to address them here. Cheers
How old are you if you don’t mind sharing? Congrats on the hard work - true show of perseverance!
Thanks. I’m 25 now, graduated with my Master’s when I was 24.
I did the exact path and ended up in PE. Always believe in yourself and anything is possible. Congrats on the gig man.
Thank you and great to hear about your success as well. Will definitely keep it up going forward, it’s a proven path to success.
May we hear a bit about what it was like building that character and coming off that “affable” self, esp to bankers who have nothing to “gain” from you and are alr frustrated working long hours?
“the harder you work the luckier you get”. Don’t discount your own work mate. You created the openings to be lucky there.
This is really inspiring, thanks for sharing! How did you go about identifying people to reach out to as an experienced candidate and what did the cold email template look like?
Thank you and I'm glad this inspired you at all.
My process roughly look like this:
1. Do a blank search on LinkedIn (just press enter on the search bar) and filter by company -> industry -> location -> size etc. For me, I mostly focused on regional boutiques knowing my lack of direct experience in M&A but feel free to assess your own scope.
2. Go from firm to firm and pick several people either in your own rank or slightly above (I never had success reaching out to VP/MDs).
3. Save their details in a spreadsheet including name, school, email, past/present firm, and the date you reach out (this is crucial for follow-ups). You can find a networking tracking template through a google search easily.
4. Schedule the emails to arrive during business hours (afternoons work well for most) and try not to copy and paste them especially for contacts in the same firm..
5. Follow up in 3 days if no initial response, then do one more follow-up after a week or so. I had a lot of success just by following up since most bankers don't have the time to respond to every single outreach request, this is also their way of testing how much you really want their help.
There is no correct template to use for cold emails but you can find one here on WSO or similar sources, but make sure to fine tune it to fit your personal tone. For the follow-up emails, a simple professional sentence reminding them of your intention to speak with them will suffice.
Good luck. Consistency and keeping records are key.
Congrats man, that's amazing! Am in similar boat here, having graduated this past spring, with an internship but no FT offer.
When you were networking, how you found the position? Did you apply to a role posted online or did you just hit it off with someone and they offered you the role?
Also, how did you prepare for your interviews? I have prior ib experience but my interview skills are quite bad haha. I always find it hard to be prepped for all the behaviorals, technicals, and sometimes case studies and paper LBOs...
There is not reliable way to check whether a firm has an open position or not (especially true for boutiques), but that's where the beauty of networking comes in: opportunities find you. As long as you cast a wide net and sell yourself well, your contacts will tend to inform you of opportunities present within their company. For me, they happened to see me as a good fit and gave me the offer even though there never was a public listing online.
In terms of interviews, I'd recommend you doing mocks with friends/peers on behaviorals and (maybe even technicals). Make 100% sure that you can defend & elaborate on every single bullet point in your resume. Definitely make sure your modeling skills and knowledge are on point because case studies are common these days. My school provided WSP access so I just did the modeling & DCF courses a few times over.
Hope this helps and good luck!
Def very helpful - will try tacking my preps again with a fresh mind. Thanks!
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It's so nice to see someone in a similar position. Even if I take nothing away from this post and comments, it's very reassuring to see someone in a near exact same position still manage to succeed despite going through hair pulling times.
I started as a bank teller during undergrad and briefly after graduating. Didn't expect to get access to the experience I have now and the opportunities after. Life will work itself out for you if you're committed to achieving your goals.
Hey, when reaching out, did you make a general introduction & inquiry into open positions or more of just "Hey, like your experience, have time for a chat?" Im struggling with which approach is better. In a similar boat as you and trying to get into the "screw it" mindset
Your mindset is a bit short sighted. You shouldn’t “struggle” with which approach is the best. You’re never gonna know if a firm has a potential vacancy or not, especially at a small boutique. Just start putting your most humble self out there, either there is an opportunity present that you can tap into, or you’ll be making connections for future benefit. I get that you’re trying to optimize the process, but judging by this question you’ll never get that “screw it” mentality until you just drop it and start reaching out with absolute conviction and consistency.
But to answer bluntly, never ask for a job/opening in a first email. This should be common sense for most people, consultants or bankers.
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