Craziest networking stories | Successful & Cringe

What were the most crazy networking stories that happened to you? Could be either successful or try-hard cringe that make you feel ashamed when you think about it.

Personally, amidst the recruitment desperation I reached out to my brother's primary school friend, whose father was working in PE and had connections with bankers. Felt extremely awkward at first, but he appreciated the efforts and recommended me to a boutique, resulting in an interview which turned into an offer.

Looking forward to your stories, Monkeys.

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Kind of similar to yours and really not that crazy, just a stroke of luck. My freshman year of college I was still exploring different areas, and at home over winter break I went to my younger brother's hockey game out of sheer boredom. Struck up a conversation with one of his teammates dad who happened to be wearing a hat with my college on it, and found out he's an MD at a bank and alumni of my school, and he's basically been mentoring me since. Told me what professional clubs to join, what undergrad internships to get, etc. Just landed a junior IB internship, not at his bank, but definitely couldn't have done it without his help

 
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Just luck basically. About 2 years ago, I was looking to network for CRE and had minimal mentors. I go to my high school career center (my dad is head of admissions and my HS places better than my UG...) and see if there are any alumni in CRE. One of my dad's coworkers tells me there's this guy who graduated in the 80s and works at a top 3 CRE firm. Before I leave the office, I have a call scheduled with this big shot that week.

Turns out, the guy is the CEO of Global Real Estate Investments for one of the top firms. Not only this, but the guy is the fucking UNCLE of my roommate, which I discovered maybe the day before my phone call.

The dude didn't get me a job at his firm or anything, and I didn't want/ask for that to happen either. He did however set me up with some heavy rainmakers in NYC to speak with. I still regularly keep in touch with one of those references and that relationship got me my first job in New York.

 
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