So I have an invitation from the former CIO of a large Canadian Pension fund to join one of the oldest and most exclusive (by invitation only) private clubs of Toronto. It's actually called The Toronto Club, and apparently there's a lot of C-level execs of banks and large companies who are members.
My question is this: is it worth the 20K registration fee and 5K annual fee for the networking opportunity at this stage in my career? Are any of you guys in private clubs? Is it only old guys there or are there some young guys too? What are your general thoughts about this opportunity? I'm very flattered to be invited, but am having some trouble weighing the benefits against the exorbitant cost.
Do you have that much in disposable income to spend on it without worrying? I wouldn't do it if You're doing it purely for networking purposes, but I would if it's something you're genuinely interested in, with networking being a bonus of membership
Manbearpig, we should definitely meet up for some coffee when I return to TO.
The Toronto Club is fucking prestigious.
You've been? What's it like? This guy is taking me there for brunch sometime soon.
That's the thing though, what value is it if not for networking? I thought that was the whole point. That you are exposed to people you couldn't normally meet, and that is very important for a consultant where relationships drive everything.
As for the money, I can pay it, but 20K is no small change for me at this point in my life. I have about 24K saved up, and 15K is in a trading account which I would need to pull out.
I'd go for it, the guys at those clubs usually have the ability to produce a $200,000+ kind of job, if they like you.
I would go for it. You are not going to get anything close to a decent return on your money in the short term, but it will pay off big some day.
I say you go for it. As we all know the best jobs and opps are never advertised for, only given by word of mouth.
Yeah, I definitely want to do it. Do you guys think my firm would sponsor my membership fees? I mean, it's in their best interest too right?
I've been invited as guests to some of these clubs, though probably not totally on the scale of the Toronto Club. You're right to be concerned that most of the members are older, so while they're great contacts to have, they may be bit harder to relate to and will be beneficial to you in a more indirect way than say getting you an interview at their firm. So networking will take some extra effort, the rewards will probably take longer to surface, etc. You may find quite a few guys just sitting on piles of money and are more passive in their careers - like being on the boards of prominent companies but not really part of any particular firm. Just some things to keep in mind - still a great opportunity though.
Thanks for the insight! I appreciate it.
I'm not going to comment re your decision - tough one... Any chance you can thank the CIO, telling him how appreciative, but explaining your situation, asking him if he wouldn't mind your being a guest a couple times to get a feel of it...?
That's a good idea. The CIO and I are trying to schedule a brunch sometime soon. I definitely won't be making any decisions until I experience the place for myself. But then again, how much of an idea can I possibly get from one brunch?!
you should join because you'll get super motivated to make it rain when you're surrounded by ballers every day.
Are you a good networker though? If not, then I think the ROI on joining the club will be very low for you.
I would say that I'm a pretty good networker. I don't know how my networking skills would transfer over to the setting of a Private Club though. I'm trying to understand how these places operate and what goes on inside. I mean, I can't imagine walking over to a guy who's enjoying a nice dinner and interrupting him to introduce myself. If it's just a big lounge where people are mingling and smoking some cigars, I think I would do ok.
Ok I've thought about this all weekend. The more I think about it, the more I think it's a reasonable thing to request. Should I ask my firm to sponsor my membership? If need be, I can sign a contract that if I leave the firm within x year, then I will need to pay back the registration fee of 20K. Think about it, if I'm a member, then the partner I work for will be able to host dinners with clients through my membership. I'll also be able to network with important people and try to win new accounts for the firm. It's win/win, and 20K + 5K per year is NOTHING to the firm.
Guys, should I go ahead and propose this to my bosses?
I honestly think they will laugh you out of the house.
Why do you say that? Not disagreeing with you, just want to understand your reasoning.
Is apart of your job bringing in new business or talking to people at this level?
Personally I think the firm could do a lot more with 25k to drum up new business or treat clinets well, than sponsor the membership of someone's personal private club where they are not even taking clinets.
It's not the focus of my job yet, but definitely a part of my job is to try to win new business. This certainly would help. And when I'm promoted to manager next year, it will be a much bigger part of my job.
I also think that through the contacts I could potentially make at the club, if I start bringing in significant business, my promotion to partner can get seriously accelerated.
I definitely agree that your promotion schedule could be accelerated through the business you bring in from the club. But as far as getting your firm to pay for it, I doubt they would be willing to throw down that money because it represents a cash outlay now without any clear upside in the immediate term. Even senior people who are 100% selling probably couldn't get that expensed. That being said, I know nothing about the culture at your office or individual policies so I am making generalizations here.
I think you bring up some good points. I guess my thought process was that they are paying for a box at the ACC (where the leafs and raptors play), and that's like 50K per year last time I checked. The whole purpose of the box is to have some cool place to take clients. I thought this would be another thing they can use, but can only access through me. Plus, they can accompany me for dinner anytime they want and network at the club themselves. My contact checked and the four partners I told him to look up are not members.
Yeah, don't think Deloitte will sponsor. Keep us updated
They will not pay you over 50 other associates they have (along with all the managers and partners). Even if you do it in your own dime, will you have the income to hang with these guys (obviously country club membership is next, are you going to roll in with your subway pass on weekend nights)? Not to mention how much you will get hated on for trying to sell these guys by jumping the partners who are actually in charge of the account. But hey I am interested in seeing where it goes though.
But the 50 other associates and managers and partners don't have an invitation, I do. That's got to count for something. It's a pretty rare thing to get invited from what I can tell, so why not take advantage of the opportunity? I don't think I can afford it myself. It's too much money for me at this stage. I would need to put all of my savings toward it.
Honestly, if I were a manager and saw this kind of a request, I would first snicker, and then proceed to question 1.) this associate's priorities (he's supposed to be working on XYZ, not socializing with old men), and 2.) commitment to the firm (it's an unreasonable request for an associate, and leaves room to be mis-interpreted as if you're not happy at the firm).
Oh, and please don't compare your 25k membership to a 50k box at the ACC - it sounds pretentious and almost as if you think you're better than everyone else at the firm. Entertaining your client to box seats at ACC is way cooler than taking them to a lunch/dinner/receptions at the TO Club. And even if they wanted to take a client out to lunch/dinner/reception, i'm sure there are equally impressive places elsewhere. Furthermore, only you reap the direct benefits of this membership, while anyone entertaining a client reaps the benefits of a box. And the fact that you're the only one to have got invited is definitely not ground to expense it.
Here's what it comes down to - if you really want to join, cough up the dough and do so. Otherwise, no harm in waiting a few years before you can actually afford it.
Thanks LTV, this was the most useful comment for me so far. I think I'm convinced not to ask my boss to sponsor my membership. I can see why it might come off as very arrogant, although it isn't my intention. I wonder if the invitation has a deadline in terms of when I need to accept or reject it.
I agree with LTV. You stand to benefit more than your firm (in most cases). Yeah, your firm's partners can attend dinner with you, etc. but they would have to go when you planned on going or you would have to go when they planned on going...so there could be some hassle involved there.
If I were in your shoes I would be tempted to just eat the cost. If the $5k wasn't going to kill me every year, just liquidate the investment account and shell out for the initial fee. Of course, that would be assuming I've visited a couple times and liked the place. I would speak with your friend over brunch about what the benefits are, etc. and lead into asking him about joining him another time or two to get a better feel for the place, potentially doing another activity (if they are offered at the club). I know that many private clubs (although not likely as prestigious) have a membership fee for the old white guys and a separate, less savings account depleting membership fee for 'young professionals', so that might be something to try and investigate.
Regards
If you are looking at a high-end club membership on a ROI basis, I would wager you will not have a lot of success networking. People belong to those clubs because their peer group does, not because they're looking for someone to offer a solution to their company's risk management problems. Given that you'd be coming in more or less cold as far as connections other than your invitor and you'd be vastly out of place with the cohort there, any direct selling you did would probably come off fairly poorly and could easily make you look tacky. Additionally, networking for yourself as a small business proprietor is very different from the sales effort of the Big 4.
In summary: If you plan on "networking" aggressively enough to get your money's worth at this point in your career working for a huge consulting firm, you will probably not be very popular around the club house. Save your money and either join a club with people your own age or wait a few (dozen) years.
Thanks for the comment. I see your point, but keep in mind that I would show some tact in how I approach these people.
I'm sure, I just think it's better to grow both social and business connections "naturally," especially given the cash expense of joining this club.
Also make sure that your superiors are OK with this. We had someone at our firm get fired a few months back because of her regular attendance at ACG events. It wasn't that she was slacking with her work. Instead the MDs were concerned that she might not be representing the firm in the best way.
I feel that you need to tread lightly with things like this since to some of these people you will be the first contact that they will have had with the firm and greatly affects the perceptions of everyone working there. If you overstep your boundaries (as the gal at my firm did), your ass is grass.
That's another good point I didn't think of. Thanks.
manbearpig,
Hate to digress, but do you know anything about the Market Intelligence Manager - PE/HF/RE role at your firm ?
Sorry bro, don't know anything about it.
When I worked in Banking one of the analyst in my group had a Jr membership to a very exclusive Golf Club on Long Island through his family. He was a good buddy of mine, still is, he obviously had the membership before joining the firm and never intended on "networking" he just liked golf and tennis. He did however source 2 deals because of his contacts at the club, after he become known as a good golfer to the regulars. He handed his new golfing buddies contacts off to an MD, and was promoted at a very accelerated rate because of this.
I tell this story not so you'll have delusions of sourcing huge accounts, but because my buddy joined the club because he enjoyed the services it offered and already had several friends there. If you are the new guy at a club and you only know 1 person who isnt super connected, you will not meet anyone, esp as an associate. So join because you like the place, or its amenities, not because you assume you'll network.
Lol, it's a nice story. I was hoping to have similar luck, but the timing isn't right for me at the moment.
I would do it if I were you, but Im into the pretentious bullshit ha. good opportunity
Hi manbearpig,
Brand new chimp here. I'm in consulting myself, involved in bringing in new business. I found this (old) thread from 2011, as I was wondering about this exact same topic as I'm trying to find ways to grow my network. Now that it's 2022, I was wondering how this turned out for you. Did you ever end up joining The Toronto Club or any other private club eventually? What are your thoughts now? I tried to PM but apparently new chimps can't PM for 2 days after they create an account.
If you can’t / haven’t met friends or contacts who are already the successful type of person you’re looking to meet there, it won’t likely be helpful for you and just a waste of money.
It shouldn’t be hard to meet people out in whatever major metro area you’re at to flex your social skills and see if you can even meet people. People think just being in this place will open doors - you have to be able to speak to people, too. Living on your own, having access to a major city should make this easy already. Only go if you’ve exhausted the nicer clubs/lounges in town and this is a new frontier for you. Don’t go here thinking all of a sudden it will make people come up to you and start handing their business card out because you’re family all of a sudden, lmao.
Yes, I would say this is more of a new frontier. Going to nicer clubs/lounges around the city I tend to run into average, every day people who are also looking to do business development. I need to meet the buyers/decision makers and need to go to places they go.
I would always go and try and build genuine connections first. I wouldn't start selling right off the bat. If these connections so happen to lead to some deals then great. I understand that it would take a long term investment of time to slowly build these relationships.
Ratione error impedit cumque aut qui perspiciatis. Sit blanditiis consequatur recusandae blanditiis fugiat fuga. Eos est porro labore iure ut facere et. Eius sit animi doloremque est ratione.
Similique doloribus voluptatem vel dicta quae quo. Debitis consectetur qui voluptates ad autem. Soluta est similique ut molestias porro. Voluptate facilis architecto ab illo et dolorem voluptas. Voluptatem quo qui cum nemo quis molestiae. Blanditiis repellat facilis velit dolores qui eum blanditiis aut. Iste rerum impedit molestiae rerum reiciendis.
Facere ipsa nostrum amet. Nisi autem rem libero qui. Aliquam et facere harum natus voluptas.
See All Comments - 100% Free
WSO depends on everyone being able to pitch in when they know something. Unlock with your email and get bonus: 6 financial modeling lessons free ($199 value)
or Unlock with your social account...
Aspernatur dolorem sequi quo quae ex quo in. Possimus nihil at velit id.
Mollitia eum inventore voluptate sint sunt sit. Consectetur distinctio molestiae vero molestiae ea distinctio est. Asperiores fuga molestiae et reprehenderit maiores aut. Dolorem nam ex eos quidem quidem illo.
Ratione sunt quibusdam beatae sint molestiae doloribus officia. Qui aut eos odit necessitatibus voluptas tempore nostrum. Sapiente ducimus modi at et sequi nesciunt sed nesciunt. Tenetur tenetur dolorum fugit. Suscipit optio iusto iure sint. Eligendi dolorem eligendi fugiat cum sunt sit.
Quisquam minima corporis culpa voluptas voluptas. Quas voluptas eveniet reprehenderit minus autem quia accusamus aut.
Eligendi quo eveniet ducimus aspernatur. Dolor laudantium maxime labore deserunt quisquam libero. Repellat quaerat nam modi deleniti.
Omnis iure quo consectetur suscipit voluptatem beatae aliquam. Excepturi ea labore voluptatem. Est praesentium fugit nesciunt repudiandae et vero alias.