Ways in which networking can get you to an offer? Networking in London
I have few questions:
1. When does networking become useful? If hirevues at BBs and first rounds in EBs are reviewed by HR and recruitment agencies, respectively, how do I leverage the relationships with people I networked with? Also, my brother is a VP at BB, but he said that he can't do much before I go through all the initial procedures of behavioural tests and etc, but if I receive an interview invite afterwards he would be able to connect me with some people to talk beforehand. But I'm reading this forum and it seems people leverage their network to bypass even initial procedures? Am I wrong?
2. How senior of a people should I be approaching? I mostly networked with analysts and associates to learn about the nature of work, but now I'm thinking maybe I should reach out to more senior folks, VP or MDs? Would I be annoying them with my LinkedIn messages (I bet their inbox is already overwhelmed)? Also, given that 90% of the time they don't reply is there any other way to connect with them? Sending an email to the online found address feels like a huge intrusion into their privacy, no?Thank you!
Networking holds no real importance for early careers recruiting in the UK
1) In London, due to anti-nepotism rules and the like, you don't really get CV pushing or any tangible help before interviews. Even then, interviews are scored pretty rigidly for some criteria so you have to hit those HR points in order to advance, your brother would literally help you contact people beforehand so you have more talking points and slightly better rapport with people making decisions (although this last point can help a lot if you can pass the basic criterion)
2) Most people get offers without having contacted anyone in London, including myself and all my friends. It's just not necessary and there are definitely diminishing returns on how much it helps past a certain point.
tldr; you still need the baseline luck/skills any successful applicant would have
Networking can definitely help get your CV pushed to the staffer, especially when lateraling. To provide two tangible examples (these were for lateraling): one time I networked with a junior on the team and that person referred my CV to the staffer, and the staffer ended up reaching out to me for interviews. Another time, via via I was put directly in contact (via email) with the staffer of the specific team I was interested in. We ended up having an introductory call and that definitely placed me on his radar in case a position would open up. My conclusion is that networking can help your CV get past the standard HR screening, and directly land you that first round interview. Also, not unimportant - when networking and speaking to people of a certain firm/team, it helps you get a better understanding of the culture, the deals they work on etc. which, in the case you are invited for an interview, will help you formulate reasons why you like the firm, deals they worked on, etc.
Yeah, this is for lateralling though, the process is entirely different to summer/spring week applications; I assume you're not being asked to complete psychometric tests as a part of the lateral process either?
Thank you. Associates I talked to also say networking doesn’t mean much in London for some reason. I didn’t know about anti-nepotism rules but now that I know it I will be more careful involving my brother into my getting-an-offer struggles.
You are right. I’m taking preparation very seriously. Is there any materials that you’d recommend looking into? I’m currently going over Rosenbaum for second time and WSP. Thanks a lot again!
I have never been asked a technical question for BB/EB interviews, and neither have my friends. They're unlikely to come up in any meaningful/deep way aside for a handful of banks (which aren't strong in London anyway). Go over basic technicals and you'll be fine.
how do you go about answering the ”why x firm” question without having talked to anyone, given that you have to make it personal?
It’s a fair point, but I have you and entire wso community to consult on why X or Y company.
But in all seriousness, I was just wondering whether it’s reasonable to expect that the networking would help me bypass or at least go through a lighter version of initial screening procedure. I still however reach out to people to learn about the firms of my interest. It however feels overwhelming - I’d rather spend 5 hours going over corporate finance textbook than letting my cringe barometer skyrocket in 20 minutes of networking. I should be changing my attitude though given that communication skills matter a lot in IB. :)
How do you know this? Respectfully
All the above is correct, just want to say that this holds for large structures such as BBs, EBs, etc. For buyside roles/internships etc. (which are typically much leaner organisations) networking can help a ton, especially for under the radar job postings that are not widely advertised
Thank you for bringing it to my attention - definitely useful to know. I have tons of questions with regards to buy-side, AM specifically as well. I’ve been dealing with eating disorder for quite some time and started thinking whether AM would suit me better work/life balance wise although from purely interest standpoint I’m still inclined to M&A.
What would you say the importance of networking is at buy-side places like BlackRock or PIMCO? They are also large and recruitment procedure there is similar structurally to that of EBs and BBs.
they're on the larger side with structured recruiting processes. It would probably help to an extent but not as significantly as it would for places like hedge funds and PE firms (some of which the only way to get in is via networking an interview)
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