Hi, I am currently a recent graduate from a big state school (Umich, UVA, UCal) and majored in economics. Since I only have MLWM internship on my CV, I have been desperately looking for any interesting experience that might help me get my foot in the door.
I have been sending 200 emails per day requesting informational interview, but it seems like success rate is low and even if they do, it takes a lot of time arranging informational interview. Since its almost June, I am getting very nervous about my job prospect for this summer. Do you guys have suggestions on how I should go about in reaching out to firms? specifically any tips on attaining unpaid internship this late?
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200 per day???
just keep at it. assuming you graduated this year, you're only 1-2 weeks out of school. That's not enough time to panic yet
also, focus on email quality vs quantity.
Dude, if you're sending out 200 a day and not getting much traction, you're clearly doing it wrong. Retool your approach and message. I reached out to around 50 people and met in person with 10-15 of them.
Whgm45, how did you manage to do that? Do you have any tips?
Yeah, you must be doing something really, really wrong. I'm willing to bet if you're sending 200 per day it's a pretty crappy, obviously generic email. My experience was a reply rate in the 10-20% range.
My response rate was also around 10-20%. If you don't mind, can you post one of the sample emails you've sent out? You can X the firm and individuals name out.
Pick up the phone and dial it 200 times a day. You'll have much more success.
like what ipso said, with quality vs quantity, quality wins a 100% of the time when it comes to cold emailing. if you are sending a shitty initial introductory email to a person who could potentially be of significant help to you, you wont get a response. you might as well consider that person a lost contact at that point. cover who you are, your interests, and inquire on what they do and their career path. you will build much better traction. i was doing this initially because i was considering it as a numbers game. however, you should reach out to as many people as you can, but the emails still need to be fucking good and tailored to each persons background. it takes a lot of time and groundwork.
i would recommend you post it on here so someone could fix it up for you.
This is what I have been sending, please feel free to revise and comment on it! Thanks so much!
Dear Mr. XXX,
My name is XXX XXX who is currently a graduating senior studying economics at the University of XXXX. As a senior, I have given a lot of thought about my career path and realized I attained a strong passion for investment banking industry. However, because I lack real experience in this industry, I am focused on getting as much experience as possible this summer. After some research, I came across your profile on XXXX website and I was very intrigued by your track record and your passion for investment banking. I know you are very busy, but I was hoping if I could have an opportunity to speak with you to better understand your career path and possibly hear any advice you have for non-traditional candidate like myself. I would really appreciate 20-30 minute of your time to have a brief conversation with you, so please feel free to reach me at XXXXX or via XXXXX.
Best Regards,
XXX XXX
Ok, here's my take:
First off, shorten it, nobody's going to want to read through that shit.
Don't say "I lack real experience." Never emphasize your shortcomings.
The second sentence makes it sound like you just decided on IBD your senior year because the pay was good.
Why do you really want to be a banker? Think about it... you won't get past interviews if you can't come up with a good response.
Cut the "passion" garbage. Everywhere. Not many people have a "passion" for investment banking, and it sounds retarded anyways. And the guy's LinkedIn is showing passion? Give me a break. Half of these analysts are in it so they can bounce for buyside jobs in two years.
Try and find something you have in common with them and emphasize it. Make them realize why they should be giving you advice. This isn't practical for 200 people, though, so just find some way to personalize the rest of the emails. Focus the more "unique" emails on people on people you think have more probability of responding.
Throw out a few a times so the call is in their head. Otherwise, they'll forget to call you.
Also, the grammar is shitty. "For investment banking industry," "for non-traditional candidate," "20-30 minute." Fix those. And not to be a dick, but have a friend that speaks/writes better English than you look it over for mistakes after you re-write it. Good luck dude.
...This. Or spend $30 and get the WSO Networking guide so you can follow the templates in there. This is just a bad intro e-mail which is why you are getting a low response rate.
Here is my translation of your message for how most professionals would read it (sometimes being harsh can help others not make the same mistakes):
Some other OPs made good comments.
One paragraph is a mess to read.
The passion thing is ridiculous... you "realized you have a strong passion for IB" How that happen? You walked by GS and suddenly you saw it? It is not like you realize you have a strong passion for helping people in Somalia after touring in Africa for 2 months. The guy will LOL in his BB and will send your mail to the Trash.
"After some research"... that seems weird... the guy knows how you found him (alumni website, Linkedin, Google). Otherwise it seems like you are a psycho peeping on someone.
"I know you are very busy"... obvious is obvious. Seems lame or even that you are desperate. And no one likes to be reminded how his life is shitty because of his work. Not even by a 22 yo kid.
"speak with you to better understand your career path and possibly hear any advice you have for non-traditional candidate like myself."... that is crap too. No one wants to explain his career path to a 22 y.o. kid.
Your mail seems very passive-aggresive... you want the job now, you send it to half the US, you want money, and you didn't do your things right. Not good.
200? I call BS. Pic or it didn't happen.
Mention that you want to speak for 15-20 minutes (20-30 min seems long). Instead of a "conversation", say you want to take him out for a drink or lunch to ask about etc. etc. Also, emailing alumni's are your best bets. Try not to sound desperate. Good luck.
You're trying to hard. That is a block of text and I definitely would not bother reading it, especially if it came across on a blackberry. Shorten it up and get to the point. They know what you want.
From my experience, the email should be short and attention getting. If you want to include something longer, attach a cover letter that the person can read if they're actually interested. You need to get them interested first though.
Contact mostly alumni.
Yeah way to long and not sure about that 200 mark... a day....
My response rate was like 60%, not all positive but responses nonetheless.
Quality over quantity
Having you been contacting alum?
Have you been using your school email address?
Break up that big paragraph you have into 2-3 smaller paragraphs with 2-3 sentences in each, max. Also, clean up your grammar and stop using so much fluff.
Big thing that sticks out here is the grammar. You REALLY need to get someone to read this carefully. I assume English is not your first language. Get someone to help you. I think people won't take anything else you say seriously until you fix this problem.
+1 The grammar in your email had me fuming with anger. Ok to write like that on a forum, and we all do it all the time. NOT ok to not have proof read your letter that you have sent 200 times.
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