Tips for a networking trip to NYC

Hi everybody. I am heading to NYC this week to do some networking with some alumni who worked in banking from my non-target (think middle to top Big Ten). I'm excited and fortunate enough to have lined up some lunch/coffee meetings with 6 people, but I feel like I'm not talking to enough people on this trip. Is there anything that I can do in these next few days or while I am in NYC to meet more people? I've cold emailed quite a few people I saw on linkedin and only got a response from an MD at an elite boutique, but it's kind of late to do more of that.

Side question: How likely is it that I would get interviews from cold applying to places in NYC? Like I said, I go to a non-target, but fairly good school and I have >3.9 GPA, 35 ACT, off-cycle regional boutique IB internship, and extracurriculars.

Thanks for your help.

 

Did this a couple weeks ago. I carried around a resume holder and was fine. I printed tons of resumes and literally probably handed out 4-5. Everyone I met with already had a copy or the conversation really wasn't directed towards me having to hand them a resume. Even though it is "just" networking you need to make sure you have your "story" and "why banking" down. Make sure to incorporate that into conversations without sounding like a slime ball. I had a great experience and it gave me a huge leg up. Good luck and have fun.

 

Carrying a resume is good, but it's better to have a business card handy. Unless it's a formal interview when you can naturally give them your resume, it doesn't look natural if during a network/social event, you bust out your resume in the middle of a normal conversation with them. Handing out your business card is good enough (and getting one from them is even better!)...

 

Avoid this last response. Unless you are an MBA, do not hand out business cards to bankers. No professional wants to have some kid who thinks he's all that hand them a student card. You want a favor from them, you show deference and make it a point to get their card, then you follow up.

I am permanently behind on PMs, it's not personal.
 
malgu:
when you say touring banks, do you have appointments with specific bankers or are you just showing up and talking to whoever?

I'm curious too...

Also any student handing out business cards looks strange.

 

Especially with all the OWS stuff going on, there is no way you are getting into any office without your name already given to security by an employee. Even if you could get in, showing up to random banks and asking to talk to someone about a job would be a terrible idea. It's Wall Street, not Best Buy.

 

8-10 is very possible. The only issue is just getting the logistics down (e.g. back-to-back meetings).

I recommend setting your schedule up so that you can travel back and forth. Hopefully, all the meetings will be in Midtown, so it will be a bit easier to have buffer time.

 

Have concrete meetings set up and then have a list of backup people who you could call up (as you should have spoken to them relatively recently) in case someone cancels and say you're in town and are free for the next few days if they're available.

8-10 people in NYC is doable but will be exhausting and will require you getting lucky at least once or twice throughout the day. NYC is much larger than Chicago and only half of the people will be located within walking distance of you (whereas in Chicago you can walk anywhere). If you get unlucky with traffic (even subways can have traffic)/construction or just mistakingly go the wrong way you will most certainly be late for a few of the meetings.

Depending on when you want to start your day and end, I would shoot for a meeting every 1.5 hours or 1 hour if the adjacent meetings are within walking distance.

  1. Most bankers can only step out for 30 min (they're still doing you a huge favor)
  2. You can always cut it short if you have another meeting to go to (but don't cut short if you really want to work at their bank specifically or if you guys are really clicking)
  3. Senior bankers will generally be able to meet longer
  4. If they're ordering something and offer to pay for yours don't turn it down (only if they're not getting anything)

Best thing is to rank a list of your contacts from 1 to whatever by how much you want to meet with them. And then contact those guys first to schedule times and then go down the list.

I hope you have a smartphone otherwise it's going to be hard as hell to figure out exactly where you're going in the short amount of time you have between meetings. Buy a week long unlimited metro pass. It's $30 (single ride is 2.75? But even if you don't ride 10 times will be worth it for times where you have to rush through the turnstiles)

Wear dress shoes that you can walk in. Wear loafers if possible. Your feet will f'ing hurt later that night.

 

Thanks for the advice guys.

Yeah my smartphone was clutch in Chicago, will be even more so in NY.

I like your idea about ranking banks/people I want to talk to and molding my schedule around that. If I make it out to NY three times before the end of November for one day each and then go back in December for 5 days, I should be able to meet with a lot of people.

Paying is usually a little awkward, there was a blog post on here saying you should make strong effort to pay for their coffee/whatever because you appreciate them coming out and talking to you (which I agree with). But the first guy I tried that on just laughed at me and said "you don't have an income". Worked on the next couple of people though.

Thanks again for the advice, I'll have to get the ball rolling on setting up meetings. If someone does have to back out last minute I can always talk the them on the phone (not nearly as effective, but it is something) or try to hit them up on my next visit.

Thanks!

 

I did a couple of these networking trips, but with a focus on sales & trading, not banking. I went right at the end of summer in August, when the markets are historically very slow. My internship had ended and school had not started yet, so it was perfect. I went a second time on the Mon-Wed before Thanksgiving. Again, markets are slow, and classes were basically all cancelled that week, so it was the perfect time.

I did the back-to-back meetings, but tried to give myself about 30 minutes travel time between meetings when possible. Also, since I was staying in a hotel, it was a bit easier to squeeze in 8-10 people per day, because I could get 6am, per-market coffees or 9pm, after-hours drinks. Also, for sales & trading at least, definitely try to get on the floor and shadow people. You can do this during market hours instead of asking to get coffees/lunches/etc. Traders/salespeople probably can't step off the desk during the day anyway so it's your best bet. It also lets them see if you can handle shadowing and asking questions, which is pretty much what you do as a summer intern in S&T anyway. The last benefit is meeting more than just your one contact. Hopefully your contact introduces you to others on the desk.

 

I am planning a similar trip to Chicago (weekday during the school year). What I want to do is meet with at least 6 people, ideally more but like you I am unsure how to proceed and don't want to overextend.

I am sending out a couple of general emails to my main targets, hoping that they can meet anytime. After they are set in stone, I am going to ask people if they can meet at specific times like "Are you free between 2 and 3 or 10am to 11am to talk to me for a half hour on Monday the..." Hopefully I can get meetings like this, is this a good way?

If they say no I figure I can try to get a phone call out of them. You are lucky you are planning a couple different trips, hit them all lol

good luck

 

My two cents: I got more responses from people when I asked them to come over phone, than meet in person. I got the interviews irrespective and saved time, money, & energy.

"I do not think that there is any other quality so essential to success of any kind as the quality of perseverance. It overcomes almost everything, even nature."
 

Thanks for the comments guys.

Used to live in NYC (but was relatively young) so have an ok understanding of the subway system. But normally I'm just on it for fun/sightseeing so might take a cab to save time. I'll definitely have to check out that app though, thanks for that.

I have had mixed results over the phone. First time I did it it did not go so well but later I found out from a friend that the guy I talked to was kinda awkward in person so I didn't feel so bad haha.

Today I talked to a guy on the phone for over an hour who was extremely helpful, and offered to introduce me to people.

Still gonna carefully word my emails when trying to fill afternoon slots (like 2-5 pm) since it seems like those will be the toughest times to fill/no one will really want to meet then. Honestly I would still be pretty happy with a phone call if nothing else. Plan on taking a similar approach to you wsrookie, good luck in Chicago. The Loop is super manageable.

My current goal is to meet with 6 in one day so I'd like to plan on 7 in case one has to cancel.

Thanks guys!

 

I did exactly what you're planning to do. I went to New York for a week and had meetings lined up. You should account for the off chance that the person will bring you up to the office, show you around, and have you meet with other people in his team. What may be scheduled for ~30min could very well lead to 1.5 hours and if you have another meeting scheduled, it'll look bad to say youre running late or you have to cancel.

 

8-10 meets is not out of the question, but it will be exhausting & requires luck in terms of how the logistics play out & your meets not running overtime. I think 5-6 per day is a more realistic target. If the meets click well, you might get introduced to other people, or as someone above said, you might get shown around on their floor - you don't wanna rush thru any of that. I doubt anyone will meet you during their lunch hour or before 10 am, unless they already know you. As for getting around, moving crosstown (west-east) can be a pain in the ass & walking vertically up the streets (north-south) is not as bad. I would try & plan on doing midtown east (i.e. 5th Ave ~ 3rd Ave) in one stretch & midtown west (i.e. 5th Ave ~ Broadway) in another stretch, if possible. Except for rush hour, taxis are faster for getting around + you and your buddy can split the cost. Have fun

All the world's indeed a stage, And we are merely players, Performers and portrayers, Each another's audience, Outside the gilded cage - Limelight (1981)
 

My only advice (and I have not read too much of what others have said) is to space them out very well across the day. The last thing you want is a banker at GS to suggest you come up to his floor and meet other people in his group (an obvious excellent opportunity) but you have to run because you have set up a meeting in 15 minutes with a guy from UBS. Not saying this would happen, but crazier things have happened, and it is not out of the question for someone to show you the office if you really kick it off with them.

 

What is your suggestions with going about trying to set up these meetings. Some of my cold calls have been working but I am still trying to perfect my message. Any advice will help!

 

Hello, Networking is great... however, were do you get all the Bankers information? Do you randomly select people on linkdin and email them? How do you make the initial contact? Any advice would be helpful! Thanks, H

 

It's also the middle of recruiting season. The best time to do it is around February, when they don't have sixty other kids hounding them for coffee.

"Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face."
 

I went down a few times sometimes with people I knew and sometimes without; I'd avoid going with friends IMO not to be cutthroat, but I'd say you want less distractions when you're trying to network etc. That being said if you're not going out with the guys that you're networking with for drinks of something you might be wishing you had a few buddies to go out with.

As an aside, don't limit yourself to going down just once... spread them out; maybe a trip in August to break the ice and few emails over the fall semester and then a trip in December to shore up the relationship before recruiting commences.

'Before you enter... be willing to pay the price'
 
BepBep12:
I went down a few times sometimes with people I knew and sometimes without; I'd avoid going with friends IMO not to be cutthroat, but I'd say you want less distractions when you're trying to network etc. That being said if you're not going out with the guys that you're networking with for drinks of something you might be wishing you had a few buddies to go out with.

As an aside, don't limit yourself to going down just once... spread them out; maybe a trip in August to break the ice and few emails over the fall semester and then a trip in December to shore up the relationship before recruiting commences.

Well, I'm only 20 (sohpomore) so I can't go out to bars anyway, but hopefully I can order a coke or something if one of my contacts wants to have a drink. Also, what should I suggest? A meet up? A coffee? And should I meet with everyone twice? Is it going to be a little overkill? Will the guy get sick of me?

 

As a general rule I'd say that you want to begin networking and getting in front of people / staying in front of people as soon as possible. So reach out sooner rather than later, and I think a 'face to face' meeting is always more beneficial than just calling/emailing. Don't wait till December.

'Before you enter... be willing to pay the price'
 

In my limited experience I would agree. I have read threads on here about how to effectively network through email then a phone call (mainly the call). But long story short, my last contact I met with in person last week gave me a number of someone to call (who he felt was really similar to me/could help me out) and I was pumped because even though it was a phone call it could still really help. It didn’t go bad per se, but it was easily my worst connection mainly because it was over the phone. On paper we had a lot in common but other people that I met with in person were ecstatically giving me advice and suggested themselves they would forward my resume. Didn’t really get that feeling from the phone call haha. Part of that was because it was my first "networking" call too though. Still working on my approach.

But maybe if I play my cards right, I can build some connections through email and a short phone call and then email them saying “I’ll be in the city from blah blah blah…are you free to meet sometime” later this year.

Thanks for your reply.

 
Best Response
ALF.:

Still have not done much cold networking over the phone, OCR actually had some decent hits (all regional, and super early...). But I can't rely on that/pretty sure I got dinged at one place.

About to strategically update my current contacts/people I talked to in early August about my progress and about how I am applying their advice.

Recently bugged my parents about a family friend whose son "works for some bank in New York...one of the big ones, I don't remember" their words haha and they finally figured out which one it was. It could possibly be a great connection if I play my cards right, our families are relatively close friends (though we live about 3 hours apart now) and I remember going to his games (college and high school) when I was younger (he is probably 7-8+ years older than me).

I was finally able to find him on linkedin, didn't add him but was going to send him a cold email soonish.

Problem is he works at JPM and apparently they are a pain to email with the middle initial in the email.
//www.wallstreetoasis.com/forums/jpmorgan-ema...

What should I do, send an email to john.a.doe@, get a reject email, john.b.doe@, reject, etc... until I get a hit? Or try john.x.doe@ first? (idk how long he has been there)

My only concern is that my email address is going to get blocked from the JPM server after so many failed attempts.

Thanks!

If you know the family... just have your parents ask his parents what his middle name is. Otherwise start connecting with the contact from JPM you do know any have her look it up if you feel comfortable enough

 

Reason I kinda bring this up is because my honors group got a forwarded email from someone in JPM IBD offering to help us and her email had the middle initial format and I was like dammit.

I could network with her (which I plan on doing) and ask if she knows him...it would be over the phone so I have to be careful with my approach.

Probably should have just made a whole thread on how to cold email a JPM person haha

 

I think this depends on whether you're target/nontarget and your application deadlines.

I went down in December cause my school was a target (or at least resume drop) for almost all the banks I interviewed at, so timeline it was fine since they didn't take our resumes until mid January at the earliest.

However, I have friends who mentioned that their school specific application deadlines were November or so. So, it depends a lot on your personal timing.

I will say that being early can't hurt; it's not like you're going down a year early. A month or two won't make a difference as long you follow up closer to deadlines.

 

Personally, I think the end of January would be a bit late. A lot of places have formal recruiting going on now and throughout January, and while Boutiques / MM may be a bit later in the process than bigger firms, end of January seems late to be still conducting informational interviews, as most places will have already had formal interviews and extended offers by that time. If these meetings are more actual position interviews than just networking, then the timelines are more in sync. It really depends on the size of the firm though and how much their timelines line up with the general recruiting timeline.

Those are my thoughts, if I were you I'd try to either make the trip earlier, or start making more of an ask regarding their timelines and a summer placement.

 

Personally, I think the end of January would be a bit late. A lot of places have formal recruiting going on now and throughout January, and while Boutiques / MM may be a bit later in the process than bigger firms, end of January seems late to be still conducting informational interviews, as most places will have already had formal interviews and extended offers by that time. If these meetings are more actual position interviews than just networking, then the timelines are more in sync. It really depends on the size of the firm though and how much their timelines line up with the general recruiting timeline.

Those are my thoughts, if I were you I'd try to either make the trip earlier, or start making more of an ask regarding their timelines and a summer placement.

 

Personally, I think the end of January would be a bit late. A lot of places have formal recruiting going on now and throughout January, and while Boutiques / MM may be a bit later in the process than bigger firms, end of January seems late to be still conducting informational interviews, as most places will have already had formal interviews and extended offers by that time. If these meetings are more actual position interviews than just networking, then the timelines are more in sync. It really depends on the size of the firm though and how much their timelines line up with the general recruiting timeline.

Those are my thoughts, if I were you I'd try to either make the trip earlier, or start making more of an ask regarding their timelines and a summer placement.

 

Personally, I think the end of January would be a bit late. A lot of places have formal recruiting going on now and throughout January, and while Boutiques / MM may be a bit later in the process than bigger firms, end of January seems late to be still conducting informational interviews, as most places will have already had formal interviews and extended offers by that time. If these meetings are more actual position interviews than just networking, then the timelines are more in sync. It really depends on the size of the firm though and how much their timelines line up with the general recruiting timeline.

Those are my thoughts, if I were you I'd try to either make the trip earlier, or start making more of an ask regarding their timelines and a summer placement.

 

Personally, I think the end of January would be a bit late. A lot of places have formal recruiting going on now and throughout January, and while Boutiques / MM may be a bit later in the process than bigger firms, end of January seems late to be still conducting informational interviews, as most places will have already had formal interviews and extended offers by that time. If these meetings are more actual position interviews than just networking, then the timelines are more in sync. It really depends on the size of the firm though and how much their timelines line up with the general recruiting timeline.

Those are my thoughts, if I were you I'd try to either make the trip earlier, or start making more of an ask regarding their timelines and a summer placement.

 

Personally, I think the end of January would be a bit late. A lot of places have formal recruiting going on now and throughout January, and while Boutiques / MM may be a bit later in the process than bigger firms, end of January seems late to be still conducting informational interviews, as most places will have already had formal interviews and extended offers by that time. If these meetings are more actual position interviews than just networking, then the timelines are more in sync. It really depends on the size of the firm though and how much their timelines line up with the general recruiting timeline.

Those are my thoughts, if I were you I'd try to either make the trip earlier, or start making more of an ask regarding their timelines and a summer placement.

 

Personally, I think the end of January would be a bit late. A lot of places have formal recruiting going on now and throughout January, and while Boutiques / MM may be a bit later in the process than bigger firms, end of January seems late to be still conducting informational interviews, as most places will have already had formal interviews and extended offers by that time. If these meetings are more actual position interviews than just networking, then the timelines are more in sync. It really depends on the size of the firm though and how much their timelines line up with the general recruiting timeline.

Those are my thoughts, if I were you I'd try to either make the trip earlier, or start making more of an ask regarding their timelines and a summer placement.

 

Personally, I think the end of January would be a bit late. A lot of places have formal recruiting going on now and throughout January, and while Boutiques / MM may be a bit later in the process than bigger firms, end of January seems late to be still conducting informational interviews, as most places will have already had formal interviews and extended offers by that time. If these meetings are more actual position interviews than just networking, then the timelines are more in sync. It really depends on the size of the firm though and how much their timelines line up with the general recruiting timeline.

Those are my thoughts, if I were you I'd try to either make the trip earlier, or start making more of an ask regarding their timelines and a summer placement.

 

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