What to wear to coffee meetings?
I have a coffee meeting with an SVP at one of the big brokerages. This is supposed to be just a chat about the industry, but I will definitely be implying that I'd like to work there. What should I wear to the meeting? It's pretty cold out right now and I was thinking of just wearing jeans and a jacket. But after looking at a few relevant threads to my question on here (but in the investment banking section), it seems like most people would come to the meeting in more formal clothing. What do yall think?
Just put on a suit without a tie
suit with or without tie and a conservative overcoat. good chance he will be in a suit and tie, esp if he has meetings that day
Suit and tie. Nobody will think you’re overdressed. If you skip the tie or jacket, there’s a chance nobody will care but a chance they will care and be offended. Why take the chance?
Personally I tell them why I like their company. Know what sets it apart. And then tell them I would like to work there.
Nit-picky points for the sake of discussion:
You don't need to know the deals he's working on. People on here go overboard with the linked-in/online stalking IMO - if someone knew this about me I would think it's really fucking creepy. Have a few well thought out, GENERAL questions about either the field, the firm, or the market, and go from there. Then you can get more detailed about his specific team/deals if the conversation naturally progresses there.
If you want to make it personal/shared connection, like if you both went to the same college or something and want to work it into conversation and haven't already discussed it, find a subtle way to get him talking about it other than 'I NOTICED YOU ALSO WENT TO XYZ COLLEGE' because to me it's super fucking creepy you had to be that blatant about it. There are smoother ways to work it into the conversation.
Again, in brokerage especially, your success at the later stages of the career will be close to 100% predicated on your ability to get people to a) believe you are technically competent and b) get them to like you. This means being able to game a conversation and let it evolve naturally/be able to pivot to a discussion instead of trying to force-frame it.
Also, I agree with everyone saying that he knows you want a job, but I do think you need to emphasize that you want to work with HIM if that's an option. You'd be surprised how many brokerage pitches I hear where they don't ever actually ask for the business, which is a mistake. Your competitors in brokerage will explicitly beg/plead/demand the business from clients, so you better start learning how to finesse this as well. It can be as simple as 'thanks for your time, I really learned a lot from this conversation and I'm even more convinced that this is where I want to be. If any openings come up on your team, I'd love to be considered for them.'