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"hey bb u want sum fuk"
I get this a lot, so figured I would put my preferences of an e-mail:
(1) Be concise. We read a ton of e-mails, yours should be a 60 second read
(2) Have something in common with the person -- the easiest is school. I went to a state University, so anytime I see someone whose got a decent background and went to my school, at the least I'll do coffee or a 15 minute call. Other ways are if you are from the same city, like the same sports team, or are a 2nd or 3rd contact of someone. The later is almost preferred - if you see someone is a 2nd/3rd contact of a friend, ask them for a warm introduction. Friends of friends is the name of the game.
(3) Be direct in your first sentences. "Hi, my name is John Doe from XYZ University. I'm a Sophmore/Junior majoring in Finance and would appreciate the opportunity to chat sometime next week about (insert team name and company).
(4) Please, please know what you're talking about. I'm in an industry group, so when I get an e-mail asking how I like working in DCM, you're either taking a stab at what I'm working on right now, or you have no clue what you're talking about.
(5) If you are interested the coveted Summer Analyst program: Please, have a resume and narrative that speaks to it. I'm not an MD, so therefore, if we develop a relationship, I can't go to bat for you because you're a cool guy or girl. Be in the IB club at school. Have a 3.4 GPA or above. Major in Finance or Accounting. Also - if you can, go work or free at any finance outlet for 6 weeks. Just having tangible experience and knowing we know you understand what having a boss is, is quite underrated.
Best of luck.
Also, here is my tier list of people to knock on e-mail doors with: (1) Personal Friends (2) High-up friends of your parents (3) High-up friends of friends (4) People who are friends of freinds (Analyst/Associate/VP level) (5) Same School (6) Same City (7) Same NFL team (I've seriously seen this work)
Adding on, I have a unique name (very uncommon but white guy name), and have used that as a foot in the door for a good convo with a VP who has the same name.
What if you don’t have anything in common? Other than both of you went to a top school (albeit different).
For E.g: Think you’re recruiting for a position in London where the person you want to reach out to went to Wharton while you yourself a UChicago / Columbia graduate. Can you say: “I reached out because I noticed you also went to school in the states”? Of course you’re reaching out because there’s no alum of your school there
Then it is really a bit of luck. Reach out in the same way as above -- concise and clear message, not verbose, etc, and hope they respond.
I usually try to still see if they have something in common with me, even if not directly, i.e. I went to school on the East Coast, find someone who did the same (even if a different school), worked at MS as a banking analyst? Find someone on the team who worked at GS/MS for their analyst stint as well. It can be tough and plenty of people won't respond. I try to follow up once about a week later if there is no response (if really pushy can follow up twice, but risk being too much). At least then they know you're taking the time to check that they responded and not blasting out emails to the entire world. Still, even with the follow up, a lot of my networking emails go unanswered, when it is a more or less "cold" email.
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