This is an old post--I'm deleting it.
But here's an update:
It's been a while, and now I'm working full time. Our mentee group is pretty active on Facebook. Work has been busy, 18 hours a day, 7 days a week.
On cold-emailing: It can't hurt. Just email first before the cold-call. Don't feel entitled, tell your audience how you can help them. Instead of "I'm looking for," "I thought you might need a hand."
In that other post about emailing the VP of HLHZ whose wife is a principal at a top 5 strategy shop? My best friend got his full time offer after the cold-email led to him being HK's first intern. He worked his butt off, watched Youtube videos of Excel, lived in a small, small room, and finally things are going his way. Just one email, a lot of luck, and not spending a day questioning yourself, "what else can I do?"
The thing is, once you get a job after looking for so, so long, you realize that it's ... just a job. The best learning lesson for me, that I use everyday now talking to C-levels, is that I had a hard time, I had a unique narrative, and I got through it. I feel pretty confident now. I can sleep under my desk because the alternative is, ... well... all that over again.
So after all that crap, when you realize you'll get a job, it's the personal relationships that matter. Your buddy who will slip your resume into the pile, the introduction at the bar, your own mentor offering your mentee an internship within 5 minutes of lunch (happened 3 weeks ago while I was in Beijing)... that's what it is.
My intern at where I work got hired without an interview. It was me saying, you won't regret it; she's great.
So, keep emailing. Don't think it's above or beneath you. Ask your friends for their university recruiting logins. I post a lot of Boston College jobs in our Facebook group. Does it matter if you lucked out or followed a process to get that SA? Not really.
Just do a good job once you get it, and help some other poor kid.
Also, I kind of retired from WSO, so sorry if I haven't answered your PMs. I'll get to those very soon. Good luck guys. Every so often I read my desperate posts on here, and then I realize, wow, what a long way I've come!
-wolfy
