Cringe-worthy networking mistakes I've seen in IB
(moving this to the IB forum given it was moved to the wrong forum...) As a non-target who endured the IB assembly line, networking was huge for me. For some reason, this time of year, I always receive a massive uptick in networking inquiries. I'm guessing it's bc a bunch of New Years resolution-makers are trying to get their shit together with 2026 IB recruitment around the corner, or whatever. Given it seems to be a popular time of year for networking, I figured it'd be helpful to share painful mistakes I see kids make over and over again, every year, to hopefully inform networking efforts.
- DON'T attaching your resume to the initial cold email. This diminishes personability, and appears way too transactional. The worst part about this that many don't even know is that most of the top firms automatically flag attachments from unrecognized addresses as spam mail anyway. Not only will you not reach their inbox at all, but if this happens enough your personal email address might get flagged by email service providers like Gmail as a spammer, and your reputation / overall deliverability could suffer
- Over time, I feel like students have taken a more and more awkward / structured approach to "coffee chats" or whatever you want to cal them. I get that on-campus resources and IB clubs teach you to come to the call with "good questions" to ask, but simply rattling off 5-10 questions in linear order is not how effective conversations are curated in the real world. If you make a question list, use it as a "backup" to reference if the chat hits a "dead end" and instead of awkwardly asking disparate question after disparate question, try to follow a more natural conversation pattern in order to learn more about their role while articulating your interest in investment banking. Like everything you say should ideally have some relevant link to what they said, and so on...
- The BIGGEST blunder I see students make is not having ANY idea how to convert coffee chats into actual actionable recruitment opportunities. No matter how well the conversation goes, directly asking for a referral always appear too transactional imo. Sure it's a bit of a paradox because all bankers who get networking inbound know the sender isn't actually genuinely interested in their role / firm, they just want help through the recruiting process, but it's best to keep that as an unspoken rule. Instead of directly asking and breaking that barrier, "open the door" for whoever you're networking with to help you into recruitment. For example, at the end of the coffee chat if things go well, ask “what’s the best way to stay in the loop for recruitment?” or "how can I learn more about formal recruitment at Firm?" instead of “can you refer me for an investment banking summer analyst role?“ – though subtle, this is much more emotionally intelligent approach and surely if the convo actually went well and you were well-liked, next steps will ensue and perhaps you'll be told a month or date to follow up closer to recruitment. And from there perhaps they'll put you in touch with whoever is running recruitment
- LinkedIn can be fine for networking, but there's a lot of other resources to try if you aren't seeing results. In reality, LinkedIn searches only reveal public profiles (a fraction of what's actually out there), and few bankers actually put which product or industry group they're in, which is crucial information for networking, especially for those who know which team they want to join. Instead of LinkedIn, try RecruiterBase or something else that includes verified work emails and product / industry groups along with universities, hobbies, and other criteria. Most bankers don't check LinkedIn very often anyway, it's better to land directly in their inbox
Am I missing any? Or curious if there's anything folks disagree with. I have skin in this game here too even though I'm already to the buy side, given it's brutal watching kids fail over and over again at networking haha
I always sent my resume in the initial email and it never really affected my response rate..
Agreed - it acts as a helpful filter for me when I receive networking emails. No chance I can talk to everybody.
If someone's resume is interesting and they didn't go to my school, much more likely to talk to them.
Don’t take this advice, attach your resume…
Agree, it can only hurt leaving it off.
I will always respond to school alum with a good cover note and then ask for your resume right away either way. If you are borderline and don't have the resume I'm not going to work for it.
Any banker pearl clutching about the resume attached up front being too presumptuous is likely very insecure and probably not great to work for. Of course its transactional, I can do 1000 calls and never gain an iota from them, help the kids out for Pete's sake.
Well both the bank and PE firm I'm at sent any email from a new sender with an attachment straight to spam in today's world. I think that's more common than you think. I also never replied to anyone who reaches out with their résumé just because it feels weird like dude. I barely even know you haha. Not saying you were wrong I just think it's important for candidates to have both of these perspectives in mind
Topic of attaching or not attaching resume for networking gets brought up often and IMO it is very situational specific.
I would attach resume if resume is perfect (e.g. target school, high GPA, etc.) without any major flaws.
If you have a weaker resume or a glaring flaw somewhere (e.g. low GPA, weird hobbies), I would not attach resume because you never know how the reader will perceive it. It's best to at least meet in person and voice over questions/flaws rather than have the reader discard your email instantly.
so WSO simultaneously tells me to not put my resume or they won’t reply or if I don’t put my resume they also won’t reply. tf
The conflicting advice is so frustrating as someone who doesn’t have connections
For sure frustrating but you have to understand despite what TikTok and this forum might sometimes lead you to be believe people in this job aren’t some monolith in personality / what they value lol. I think the conflicting advice on this topic may reflect that. People are going to have personal preferences in what they want to see out of candidates in interview responses, demeanor in an interview, etc. That is just human nature and I guess that extends to whether someone includes their resume in a cold email lol.
My personal view is no one should care if you do or don’t include it- that’s just being way too intense and who cares. What I will say, however, is at least at my firm analysts probably get 10+ emails a week from people we don’t know and me personally I’m not going to respond to someone unless they seem unique enough in some way. Reality is we just get so many people that reach out we need to pick and choose somehow so unless you stick out (either by email, from same hometown, or something on your resume, etc.) I don’t think many people will respond. From that perspective it’s only value additive to include it and I think it’ll help you with way more people than it hurts. Ultimately you can’t win everyone over and that’s just life though.
That’s true, I just hate when people are like “if you do this little thing in your email I’m getting you expelled!!!!” and then someone says the inverse. I’m not sure why so many people are so unforgiving in a role that literally required people’s kindness to get.
My 2c - There is zero chance that I respond to a networking email if a resume is not attached.
Seen lots of people saying to put resume, but not why, so I figured I'd chime in. Most bankers get tons of emails. Further, outside of mandated networking/recruiting, a lot of the time it makes us go home later (and the sheer volume of candidates is hard to deal with). Only way I can tell is if you attach a resume, its easier to see if we share things in common (school, clubs, activities, interests, etc) and it helps me try and find candidates that I think will do well or at least will have something interesting to talk about with. Its often a huge drag when candidates don't include resumes since I then have to go check linkedin, email them asking for it, or (more likely) just not respond.
That's fair. Thanks for adding that color and context
If I've learned one thing about recruiting is that it's a crapshoot. Everyone has conflicting information on what do for emails, calls, how to structure bullets. Correct me if I'm wrong but at the end of the day it's just about understanding the industry, putting in the work for techs, having ppl like you and not do anything overly cringey or stupid.
Maybe it's because I attended a target with tons of hardos; but I will never respond to an email without a referral or a strong resume. This is coming from someone who is pretty responsive, I am actually leading my school's recruiting this year for context so I am one of the more chatty people. Please attach resumes!
This is actually some pretty bad advice
Not attaching your resume is a great way to have bankers not respond, because as said above, they're probably not going to want to work to get your resume
Is also a terrible question to ask.
Y’all ever gonna realize that this a guerrilla marketing post for that Recruiter Base site in the OP? It’s designed to drive engagement by having you all bickering over the resume attachment suggestion. Monetized trolling, if you will - and better done than most.
For what it’s worth, i went to a target MBA and we were told explicitly to always attach your resume in email outreach. Maybe for analyst recruiting it is different but I doubt it
Is this the same post on Reddit too?
100% attach your resume
Wow I don’t respond to someone unless they attach their resume lol but I guess everyone’s different
‘Pick me’ ahh post
Wow. I lateralled out of an EMBA and never attached my resume on initial outreach. I didn't seek an internship because I was gainfully employed and I networked my way to a FT offer. Come to think of it though, I would say about half of the inbound emails I get from people trying to network have a resume attached.
Bad advice. I almost never respond if a resume isn't attached
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