I've seen these posts from time to time. I utilized WSO and relied heavily upon advice from this forum to help me land an offer as a SA in a top group at a top MM (non-NYC) in the US (also, shout out to WSO's IB Interview Course). I finished up my SA stint a couple of months ago and received a FT offer, which I took. A little background: 1) I come from a school with very little investment banking exposure. Around 1-2 people "break in" every year. 2) The MM I'm at is highly recognized in the space and the group that I'm in is the largest at the firm. 3) I went through SA recruiting mainly by cold reaching out to people. Ended up with two superdays out of the 30+ firms I reached out to. 4) I'm in the undergraduate business school at my university and had some semi-relevant finance experience (financial analyst intern at a tiny boutique shop), but wasn't heavily involved in any other finance organizations or formal recruiting. Happy to answer any questions pertaining to non-target recruiting, the interview process, my summer analyst stint (how to win an offer, office dynamics, types of work), or anything else. This forum helped me tremendously, so I want to give back. Thanks and ask away!
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location?
Non NYC Non SF
Any secret sauce for cold reaching out to people?
I know it's been said a million times, but it comes down to finding some kind of connection with the person. You will more likely get a response or a phone call if you can relate yourself.
E.g. both in finance clubs at school, both from same city, both from non-targets, both studied same thing in college, etc. You need to give them a reason to help you. Hopefully this is helpful.
Did you just use a template when teaching out? Would love to see it. What level of customization did you apply to each message? Thanks!
How is the work different in the MM compared to the boutique? Would you do the botique internship again or aim straight for networking with MMs?
Congratulations btw!
From my experience, it was very different. Everything is just on a larger scale. The boutique I was at was tiny, so I might be biased, but the work at the MM was way more in depth and the firm more reputable.
Once you reach out for a phone call, what steps do you do to follow-up/convert to a referral?
If you're talking with a banker from a bank you're interested in, the best way to go about it is to have an informational call with them just to learn more. Then, if you feel like you've built rapport with the person and it's recruiting season, ask them if they can connect you with someone to learn more about their Summer/FT analyst program. If you didn't build rapport during the call(s), kindly ask if they can connect you with another colleague to learn more about the firm.
I've found that:
1) You're much more likely to get an interview at a place where you've built relationships with a few, core people (hopefully at least one person Director + level) and someone from HR. 2) You're much more likely to get an interview at a place where you've had multiple meaningful talks with these people, so start early. In-person is always better but phone calls can work too. 3) You're much more likely to get an interview if you show the bankers you're speaking with that you've done your homework and you want to learn. No this doesn't mean asking questions about DCFs or recent deals you've read about in the WSJ that you pretend to understand. I mean asking questions about their career, life as an investment banker, and other meaningful questions about the job that you actually want answered.
Following the post to see the responses. By the way - MMIBAnon , thanks a ton for doing this!
Happy to!
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