Is it just me or is it impossible to get people to reply to inquiry / coffee chat emails now?? Not even just asking for a job, just emailing to learn more about what they do and how they got there if they are an employee OR wanting to learn about the recruiting process and specific groups or opportunities if they are recruiters. I have several years of front office finance experience and can't even get a reply on linkedIn or email.
During COVID and early post-COVID when I was a new grad I was having 5+ calls a week, some for just knowledge and some for actual recruiting. Relationships that I have loosely still maintained...
I have a belief that the underlying economic sentiment is so poor and also there are so many bots (both AI bots and human NPCs) that it is not even worth the time or effort to dig through the clutter and do more than the bare minimum expectations of your job for the sake of building the esoteric aspects of the industry like networking and creating non-transactional relationships. I am completely bewildered at the state of the finance world.
Truly cannot imagine being a recruiting senior if this is what the hiring environment is
When every human under 35 with a pulse and an internet connection has been served an ad about breaking into Investment Banking/Private Equity/Hedge Funds/Quant Firms can search you up on LinkedIn and brute force your company's email format, suddenly there's a lot less to differentiate at face value between genuine interest from competent people and any finbro wannabe with a YouTube account and $20 AI subscription for writing outreach. The quality standards have never so high with the requisite bar for showing "interest" being so low. I haven't been in PE for almost 2 years now but it was getting bad back then so I can only imagine what it's like now. It got to where I blocked 90%+ of inbound based purely on recruiting/coffee chat keywords because it would've been so cumbersome to try and politely answer each person. I would bet a lot of founders/business owners have more or less started doing the same because open rates for even the most painfully, personally crafted emails are down double digits in the last 18mos.
The irony about all this technology lowering the bar is I think it's going to make this industry more closed off than it has been for the last 20+ years. You'll have to get intros through mutual contacts or meet people in-person at designated networking events to really make headway beyond pure luck of the draw. Whether that's good or bad is up for debate, but it is what it is.
It’s not just you—getting replies to networking emails or LinkedIn messages has become increasingly challenging, and there are several factors at play. Based on the most helpful WSO content, here are some actionable tips and insights to improve your chances of getting responses:
1. Email Over LinkedIn
2. Timing is Key
3. Keep It Concise and Professional
4. Attach Your Resume (When Appropriate)
5. Follow Up Strategically
6. Personalize Your Outreach
7. Be Realistic About the Current Environment
8. Leverage Existing Relationships
9. Consider Paid Networking Platforms
10. Don’t Take It Personally
Networking is still a critical part of the finance industry, but the landscape has undoubtedly changed. By adapting your strategy and staying persistent, you can still build meaningful connections. Good luck!
Sources: Want to get me on the phone? Here's how - a networking overview., Want to get me on the phone? Here's how - a networking overview., The Best Networking, Cold Calling and Cold Emailing Posts on WSO, Networking Problem
Just say “Like if you want 100,000 a year, reply if you want 1,000,000 dollars right now”
Brother you may as well become an SDR/BDR and at least get paid for being rejected and ignored. Genuinely don't get why people think finance is the only high paying career path today.
Honestly yeah but I’m not worried for myself or anything - just noticing the structural shift in networking. I have a solid remote gig, 3 cash-flowing businesses I get my passive checks for every month, and $7m of real estate rentals locked in at low rates.
Being in a slow paced LCOL city geogrpahically secluded away from the major finance hubs makes me miss how I felt when I was in college in a big city with nonstop networking and knowledge sharing with the coolest innovators out there that are changing the world.
Funny enough, I have a $120k remote SDR role offer in hand and thinking I might as well give the “over-employed” setup a chance since I’m already remote for the most part
If you've got money coming in, why do you even want to bother working in banking then? It's 70-80 week grind of being an over glorified secretary who gets comped based on how much the rain makers like you and think you're valuable to them. You're doing 0 selling and won't make any money. Also how do you expect to manage your rental properties if you're not in the area in case something (and it always does) break or need to evict a tenant?
I think the phase you mentioned that we're going through is great, and will force undergrads like myself to adapt to the changing structure. I've always been more old school with my style of 'networking' anyway, so the idea that someone I wanted to reach out to before is too bothered by npc students and people trying to sell them something through LinkedIn/Email actually benefits me. When I reach out to my targeted audience in more creative ways, it makes the attempted connection I'm making relative to everyone else vying for their attention more valuable.
I’ll take the other side of this. Your expectation should be for no replies, and be happy even with a “no” reply. You’re asking people to spend some of their time for nothing in return. That’s just a fact.
As to why it seems difference and lower hit rate? I don’t know in banking. At least in hf land it’s a combo of tough market (at least in my pocket of equities) and less hiring needs now with AI. I’m in that camp and don’t need an analyst but that is n=1, aware.
Similar thing on my team here, we got rid of the anlayst opening we had after interviewing for 5 months. And our dedicated valuation analyst is having his time split half & half between fp&a. definitely a structural shift underway but idk how far it will go
Buddy it’s not that hard, all your competitors are using AI why don’t you sit down and get to work. I went to an ULTRA NON TARGET (think like maybe 10 people aggregate in high finance in the last 10 years) had no junior summer internship and work at a top 10 firm in ER on a top 3 team in ER in TMT at that. Attach a write up, do a mock m&a pitch for actual two companies for the individual IB (you can do the work once and target similar banks I.e you can write up on how two small cap public companies should merge in TMT because of X industry trend and send it to 50+ people). For ER/HF this is the easiest for people who actually like the work, every school has Bloomberg and you can write a million stock pitches and do a superrrrr variant pitch. Even on the sell side you are constrained by business incentives and can come up with something more intellectually honest with AI + Bloomberg and proprietary research. For PE I would pitch a company with a founder looking to exit with an LBO model and reasons this is an attractive deal go pursue vs the institutional sourcing methods an average PE shop has (for MF you should do everything to get an MBA at an top 10 school) or actually make an intro to a founder looking for investment it’s not that hard use your network. Goal is to be different so all you need to do is focus on quality. Theres so many things, I WISH a kid would email me and tell me the created a way to automatically update notes on earnings or found a way to update a model during earning season with a project file and screenshots sent to my email so I can easily replicate. Like I’m sorry but you have sooooooo much free time in college. GET TO WORK. I swear half of the messages I get (like even responses to advice are AI generated garbage and makes me not wanna give you the time of day). Go do something different and keep going at it and I promise it will pay off in the end. GL 🫡
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