How to schedule coffee chats during SA
I'll be in NY for my reduced time summer internship this summer. I want to network for a different FT offer. I know banks give those out within weeks of the internships ending. So I want to be as productive as possible networking people while I'm in the city. However, how do I schedule coffee chats? I don't know what the SA hours are like, but I'll be in the FiDi networking with places in Midtown. That's a 1 hr commute there and back. Plus the 30 min chat. It's not like I can take a 1.5 hr break. How do people fit in these chats? Or do you have to stick with firms close to where you're based?
Hate to break it to you, but chances of you getting coffee with a lot of people during your SA in NYC this summer are low. See: pandemic
I figure towards the end of the summer?
Bad idea to even ask, they will get offended. Source: kids from my school tried to fly out to talk to people right when everything started up and the bankers got offended.
Wanna know a good way to navigate this? Shoot an email that sounds like this: “Hi Bill, it’s great to meet you. I’m Bob, an undergrad at NYU Stern studying underwater basket weaving and I’m currently interning at Morgan Stanley in the "Australian healthcare" group. I’ve enjoyed my time in IB and I want to meet even more experienced professionals; I noticed on your LinkedIn that you also like Chia Pets, and I’ve always been interested in Lazard’s recession-proof business model. Do you have a quick 15 minutes this week for a call? I’d love to chat Chia, learn how much you moisten your seeds before planting them, and learn more about your time at Lazard.
Thank you for your time, Bob”
Yup, cold email, get them on the phone. You won’t be in-person, so you can’t have a tender meet-cute when you accidentally touch hands to go for the same coffee, but you CAN win them over with your charming personality via an intelligent phone call. You’ve got an internship so you were clearly a good candidate, but you want to create a good relationship instead of pissing them off by asking for coffee when they might be a germaphobe, so you can call again at the end of summer to ask if they have open spots. If they like you enough, they might even call you to offer you a spot.
Nobody knows how long quarantine will go on, but there’s a solid consensus that life won’t be the same until there’s a vaccine. Too large of a downside risk to even ask.
Thanks man! Definitely good advice. Your template was great, now I just need to find a banker with such an interest in chia farming that they put it on their linkedin
Admittedly it's hard, but when you find them, you've got a lifelong friend.
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