Getting in by who you know at a BB...

greenbullets:

I know a lot of contacts at one BB and I know two Associates very well. I also know 3 recruiters there pretty well too and they're all for front office positions. The thing is that how do I use that to get into the firm? Can I simply ask straightforwardly? I got an interview with them for summer for S&T but didn't get to superday. Does that ruin any chances of me trying it again for full time?

Are they friendly enough to sit down with me and give me advice?

I would't recommend asking out directly...use your existing knowledge of the co. to gain deeper insight into the co, culture, clients, how to strenghten your candidacy...I realize that thinking up specific, smart, insightful, attention grabbing questions for associates/partners, are always a huge problem. Maybe somebody with more experience could help out.

As Associates, they hv been through the grind, they will identify that your interest is based on landing a gig at their firm..and should remember you when it comes to recruitment time.

Also, try to distinguish your profile from the last time you applied..therefore givin them a reason to interview you again.

I too would like to know how one can leverage an existing contact (at associate/partner levels), wrt mc though.

Those that hv experience with this situation do contribute.

Great input, thank you!

From my experience, knowing people at the lower levels will help you by getting you an interview. Once you have that interview, it is up to you to demonstrate why you should be hired and ultimately to get the offer. Of course, if your contacts know that you are intelligent and hard working, having them pull for you will definitely help out a bit.

I would think that you would need to know someone at the VP/MD level for them to basically say "hire this kid" and be done with it.

yea MDs and group heads only have that power to hire you without interviews and most of them have better things to worry about

I think people tend to over-state connections. An MD can't just point at someone and say: "Hire this person!" MDs will pretty much just be able to get you interviews. It takes someone with real power to hand you a front office job. An analyst connection will pretty much only get your resume to the "read me" pile. Beyond that, it is up to your resume and interview skills.

yes, MDs can get you an interview, nothing more!

But our concern is still at a far more nascent stage!

We haven't got an interview yet, we still have to prove to the Partner that if he is going to stick his neck out for us, we'r not going to disappoint him.

Dude, are you nuts? MD's hire interns b/c they are a client's son - so there are definitely instances where an MD will hire without an interview - or that the interview will be essentially 'procedural.'

Even though it is complete BS, client's children and VP/MD's children are handed jobs. I can site at least 10 examples. The worst was a girl I'm good friends with had a family member at JPM. She only had to do one, 15 minute phone interview (which she completely screwed up) and she was given a job.

yea at my current firm but not in my group, this girl got the job because her father knew the MD of that group. and what does she do right now? scanning prospectuses and listening to her iPod at her cube!

Let me weigh in. my dad roomed in undergrad with an MD at Morgan. He basically told me that he would get me the job as an analyst. what I did was applied to other BB and did not get out of 2-3 round. but with smaller firms I was getting the offers. I took the MM. am I crazy? I don't think so. the way I look at it is: if you need a huge inside track to get something why do it, work for it' you learn more. also people will find out how you got in and no one respects you. that's my two cents and I like the decison.

Greenbullets, I would email or call your contacts (email is better in my opinion because they can reply back whenever they're free) asking to set up an informational interview. Although, don't call it an informational interview call it an informational meeting (the word interview makes them think you want/expect something from them, and although you do want something from them eventually, for now all you want is to establish a relationship). Tell them you are interested in entering IBD and want to get an inside opinion and view of the career. Just request 15-20 min during lunch or some other time that is convenient for them (although chances are it will last longer than 20 min).

Come in with a good set of questions to ask related to the field, but more importantly focus on non-business topics to establish a connection. You have to think about the fact that every person that meets an MD wants to show them they are the next superstar, so if you just talk pure wall street journal and tell them you've been building models since Tiger's been putting, they wont remember you. But if you were a star basketball player and they were a star basketball player and you can make that connection, then next time you talk to them you can drop a line about reliving the glory days at the gym the other day went you played in some intramural game. They'll remember you for that, they won't remember you for talking about where the Bear hedge funds went wrong. The way I look at it, the more useless facts you can extract about them, and then somehow connect back to you (their mom was a nurse with no business sense so they got started in finance by balancing their mom's checkbook, your mom is a nurse and you got started the same way, etc.) the better. And every time you meet them/talk to them after that, just drop one of these facts into the convo somehow, that will impress them way more than talking about the latest thing Bernanke said. Also, the way I actually let them see my potential (GPA, ECs, Experience, etc.) is by bringing a resume, and towards the end of the meeting just say, "with all of your experience and success, you obviously know what a good candidate should have, therefore, by looking at my resume what do you think I should improve on" yada yada yada. Just get them to critique your resume essentially without it coming off as "look, i'm the man, hire me!"

From here, how you leverage the relationship really depends on time. If you have a lot of time until you need a job or need to get an internship lined up, then just build rapport for as long as possible without asking for a job or internship. Then when the time comes that you need something (internship for example) just tell them that you really think this is the career for you and you think the next step is to gain some valuable experience, therefore, is there any way they could put your name in the hat for internships or do they have anyone else for you to contact about a possible internship opportunity.

In summary, just make as many small connections with the person as possible, build rapport, then when you need them to pull strings, just ask in a way that it seems like you don't really think they can help you (although you do think they can, and in reality they will), but if there's any way they could, then that would be great. Hope that helps, and if anyone disagrees with my suggestions or has some better techniques, feel free to reply. I'm always trying to improve my relationship building skills.

I have an internship for the fall semester all because I followed this to a t. Cold called a VP whose direct line number I had got from someone I knew in our career center (I asked her for every number she has, and her being the shitty career center person she is, she had like 3). Set up an info meeting, talked for about an hour, followed up with a glowing thank you letter. Emailed him a few months later just to tell him about the summer internship I got and how I couldn't have got it without his great advice. Then right before I left for the summer, I set up a meeting to talk about "getting my name thrown in the hat for anything they had for the fall," showed up at for the meeting and just chatted randomly for about 25 min. Then he asked what he could do for me, used the same line about wanting as much finance experience as possible so instead of working my current job for our business school (it was a joke job, but paid well) I wanted more finance experience. I didn't even finish my pitch and he said "Done deal, you're hired." End of story, it was that easy.

Sucker_For_Seers: My comment was more geared towards full time hiring. I know a lot of people with connections who couldn't get a thing. I even had a connection with a seasoned MD at a BB myself and it didn't even grant me an interview. Also, level of connections really matter as well. Being the son of an MD puts you in a whole different position than being the son of a friend of an MD.

Thank you guys for all of your insights.

Another problem of mine is that I know this one recruiter from a BB that gave me an interview for S&T summer analyst. I didn't make it to superday. But right after the rejection email, i called her for feedback and she said that 1) I asked the wrong questions 2) your GPA was too low (i had a 3.2 that time and she said the avg. was a 3.5 for S&T). And then i wanted to reconnect with her by sending her emails. And I also told her that I will gradutae with a higher gpa. (unfortunately, it has lowered a little). She never respond back now. I mean, i got this interview in the first place was bc I did an event with her for my school club. i guess she saw potential in me.

so my question is: how do i get her to reply back to me again and do you think I'll still have a chance for her to give me a try for full time interview? I also heard that she is now taking over for the entire undergraduate recruiting, not just s&t. Thanks. Much appreciate it.