What Kind of Networking Cold Emails do you respond to?
Prospective student at a target school currently emailing alumni and non alumni at top BB's. Basically the title -- what makes a good, genuine email that makes someone want to respond? My current formatting is self-intro, connection to person, and why I am looking to chat and a request to chat. Should I send my resume even to analysts and associates? Should I try to make it very short? Any suggestions and advice would be appreciated -- especially if you've been on the other side of these emails. Thank you!
I sent out over 1.5k + emails during my recruiting. Non target and non diverse. In my experience, what worked the best was to make the subject line as convincing as possible. That is the first thing that people see. i come from a european country so i tried to reach out to ppl who spoke my foreign language or who are from there. that worked the best. on top of that i would say niche interests or sports are huge. so many ppl in IB are a huge fan of sports or even played d1 back in their day. and a referral from another person is obviously really key as well. I would also add thag from 1500 emails i only had like 215 calls so the response rate is about 10-15% for me and all my buddies
What were some of the convincing subject lines you used?
Are you in the US now or?
Keep it as short as possible and just throw in our connection / how you found me in the 1st or 2nd sentence.
Also please follow up if we don’t respond. Have had tons of emails from kids get buried in my inbox and now I’ll never talk to them because they never followed up with me and I forgot their names to search for the email
Here are some tips off the top of my mind:
1. USE YOUR SCHOOL EMAIL. Seriously, don't email cold from a non .edu account if you're a student.
2. Cold email levels that makes sense. If UG go after analysts, MBA then associates (in either case alumni based on your school norms). Get internal referrals to levels you are not recruiting for. Many will respond to flawless/compelling emails from any school/level and will push them if a good chat.
3. Respond timely. The faster you reply to me the better opinion of you.
4. Clear simple subject line.
5. Resume attached. This is such a basic thing to do, and if you didn't know to because no one told you, you probably aren't prepped enough more generally for me to help you.
6. Keep it concise. Your description of your format seems fine, take it a step further and offer your upcoming availability.
7. Similar to 6, don't build in a need for multiple back and forth emails. Setting up a coffee chat should not require more than a single 2 line response from me.
8. No silly grammar/spelling/formatting errors.
9. For the love of god, spell my name ccorrectly
Edit: Bonus: If using a template, don't forget to double check the bank and group.
Regarding point 6 and 7 on availability. Do you still respond if the student asks you to pick a time? Moreover do you respond if they offer one time slot? How about awkward times such as 7pm? Would love some more insights, thank you!
Are you involved with your school's club? They should be giving you this kind of guidance.
Availability alone won't make/break if I respond. Offer a few time windows during normal business hours. If you send me one 30-minute window of time you are telling me you are too busy and don't really care if we chat or not.
Think of it like this: more availability means more options means easier for me to agree to chat.
Don't ask me to pick a time. That's more back and forth and unnecessary. Just give me your availability and if I can't make it but the rest of your message was good we'll find an alternative.
Hi just a quick question on #1, do you know why should someone use their school email? I ran into something similar where I connected with an alumni through LinkedIn that agreed to talk to me and requested that I send them an email but I sent 2 emails (original + follow up) but never got a reply using my personal instead of school email and I felt like not using my school email played a role in it but wasn't quite able to pinpoint why
It makes you (essentially) verified and every respectable IB/finance club will tell you to. So either you don't know how to follow directions or you have not prepared. Either way I'm not wasting my time.
i typically only respond to those genuine ones who are keen to find out more/enter the industry/not motivated by money
What should the subject line be?
Respond to people who know how to write a proper email and know how to ask it for a chat in the right way
Candidly, I only respond to people with great GPAs from reasonably good schools. I check this before even reading the email.
Why so much emphasis on school and GPA?
What if a kid has a 3.7 and a school you haven’t heard of, but great internships?
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No I’ve actually heard of analysts/associates who go out of their way to make sure your application gets tossed immediately if you try to contact them as a McGill student.
Good way to ensure your new analyst class is a ton of squids with no personality
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