Tips for Cold Calling & Emailing Investment Banks: When to Start & How to Succeed?
This post is meant for you may be struggling to get an investmentbank offer as the recruitment season wraps. We recommend you to start cold contacting companies as a last resort but with a strategic approach.
When To Cold Call/ Email?
We suggest you start your emailing process after you’ve sent off all the important applications since it can be a slower process. You’ll need a consistent 3-5 day follow-up plan to check for off-cycle internships with any of the mid-sized or boutique companies in your area. Apply to at least 50 firms to ensure you can get about 10 responses well in time even before the recruiting season is over.
Reserve the cold calls if the recruiting season is drawing to a close, internships are about to start, and you’re still waiting for an offer. Why? You could literally be interrupting (and hence annoying) your potential employer/ manager while they are in the middle of an urgent client call.
Here’s our 5-step plan for cold calling and connecting that we know works (scroll down to see if you missed any):
1️⃣ Research a list of at least 50 smaller banks/ boutique investment/ financial services firms with both emails and phone numbers. Mark down about 20 targets that may be of higher interest to find contacts on LinkedIn. The approach doesn't work with elite boutiques and BBs since they have no dearth of interns and hire through their structured programs.
2️⃣ Prepare a crisp introductory pitch of 1-2 sentences (highlight if you’re from a target school or have scored a GPA over 3.5 or at least 2:1 for UK), and relevant skills . Ask for potential roles and how you can position yourself for an interview at the firm.
3️⃣ Make the call with the objective to find and speak to someone who has some power/ say in the hiring. If you get a secretary, ask politely to speak directly with the banker. politely ask for a banker or recruiter instead. Be prepared to answer objections (no budget for hiring or not hiring currently). If you connect with a banker (associates, VPs or MD in a rare case), you’ll still need to tackle their objections. Convince them to ask for your CV.
4️⃣ Follow-up at least once a week with emails and calls. Follow the same process with the other 49 firms. It will require persistence. Share your CVs and consider every interaction with a banker as a screening or min-interview till you get a formal one.
5️⃣ Leverage LinkedIn- While this merits a separate post, do remember to send more personalised notes while sending connection requests. Leveraging common ground (shared interests in sports / teams / special clubs /alumni from the same university) will remarkably raise the response rate of your LinkedIn messages to get you intial informational interviews
It can typically take a few weeks to get a response but consistent follow up and personalisation is the key!
What special tips worked for you in the past? Comment below
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