If you’re recruiting for investment banking, networking is not optional. It’s the process of finding, contacting, and speaking with bankers so you can build relationships, learn how the process works, and eventually turn those relationships into interviews and offers.
That last part matters. A strong resume helps, but it doesn’t make you memorable by itself. Networking gives bankers a reason to see you as a real person rather than a line of stats: GPA, internships, school name, and a few bullet points.
And if you’re a career changer, you don’t attend a top university or business school, or you’re otherwise outside the standard recruiting path, networking may be your only realistic way into the industry.
There are three main channels: informational interviews, cold emailing, and cold calling. They’re not equal. Used correctly, they form a sequence: start with informational interviews, use cold emails when the situation calls for it, and treat cold calling as a last resort when you’re late and need traction fast.
What Investment Banking Networking Is Actually For
Investment banking networking is not about collecting LinkedIn connections or sending vague messages to anyone with Analyst or Associate in their title. It’s about creating enough familiarity and trust that a banker is willing to help you when recruiting starts.
That help can take a few forms. A banker might pass along your resume, refer you to someone else, explain how their firm’s process works, or plug you into the recruiting process directly. None of that happens automatically. You have to ask, and you have to earn the right to ask by handling the interaction professionally.
Networking is how you tip the odds in your favor before your resume lands in a pile with everyone else’s.
The biggest mistake students make is thinking networking is a one-message tactic. It’s not. It’s a process that starts months before recruiting and usually requires follow-up.
The Best Starting Point: Informational Interviews
Informational interviews are also called coffee chats or networking calls. The name doesn’t matter. The purpose is the same: get to know bankers before recruiting begins and use those relationships to win interviews.
Ideally, you should start requesting and conducting these conversations three to six months before recruiting begins. That gives you enough time to find people, reach out, follow up, schedule calls, learn from the conversations, and later make a direct ask without sounding desperate.
The Basic Coffee Chat Process
- Find names. Start with bankers on LinkedIn and your school’s alumni network. Alumni are often easier starting points because there’s already some connection, even if it’s thin.
- Find emails and facts. Once you have names, figure out their email addresses and research a few facts about them. You don’t need a biography. You just need enough context to write a specific note and ask decent questions.
- Request the conversation. Email each person and follow up two or three times if you don’t hear back. Bankers are busy, so silence does not always mean rejection.
- Set up the call. Confirm the date and time, then spend 15 to 20 minutes doing additional research beforehand. That small prep step makes you sound much sharper.
- Conduct the informational interview. Spend most of the time listening. Ask about the other person’s career and ask for tips on your own job search.
- Make a mini-ask. After the conversation, ask for something small, such as whether they can pass along your resume or refer you to someone else.
- Send updates. Keep the relationship warm. You might schedule a weekend trip or send a few email updates afterward.
- Make the real ask. When the timing is right, directly ask the person to plug you into their firm’s recruiting process.
The sequencing matters. If you ask for a job in the first 30 seconds of a coffee chat, you’re making the conversation transactional before the other person has any reason to help you. But if you wait forever and never ask for anything, you’ll also get nowhere.
The sweet spot is simple: be curious, be prepared, and eventually be direct.
When Cold Emailing Makes Sense
Cold emailing is different from informational interviewing because you ask directly about internships or jobs in the initial email. That sounds aggressive, but it can work in the right situations.
Cold emailing tends to work best if you’re an early university student, an incoming MBA student, about to graduate, or a recent graduate. It also helps if you have a target school or other brand names on your resume.
One reason cold email can work: bankers live in their inboxes. Compared with cold calling, email is less disruptive and easier for them to respond to when they have a spare minute.
How Cold Emailing Differs From Coffee Chats
- You ask directly about internships or jobs upfront. There’s no need to disguise the purpose of the email.
- On the call, you get to the point. Ask about openings. You don’t need the same mini-ask structure used in informational interviews.
- You follow up consistently. You may get a no at first, so check back every few weeks or months to see what has changed.
Cold emailing tends to work best at boutique firms that lack formal recruiting processes. It can also work at large banks, but the bar is higher. You’ll likely need to contact group heads and have a decent amount of internship experience on your resume to be effective there.
That distinction is important. A boutique may not have a polished online portal, a rigid campus schedule, or a predictable recruiting machine. If they need help and you show up with a relevant profile at the right time, a cold email can start a real conversation.
Cold Calling: Use It Only as Plan C
Cold calling is the third main channel for contacting bankers and winning interviews or offers. It can work, but it’s not the first tool I’d recommend.
It tends to be effective only for undergrads and recent grads, and it rarely works at firms bigger than boutiques. It’s also repetitive, has a low success rate, and requires you to speak well on the phone. That last part sounds basic, but many students are far more comfortable texting or emailing than handling objections live.
If nothing else has worked, it’s late, and you need a job as soon as possible, cold calling becomes more reasonable. Just understand what you’re signing up for.
The Cold Calling Process
- Build a list. Get banks or bankers in your area, along with names and contact information.
- Plan your pitch. Know what you’re going to say before you dial.
- Place the call. Be prepared to respond to objections rather than freezing after the first no.
- Follow up. Afterward, follow up at least once a week until they tell you to stop calling.
- Keep working the list. Continue contacting and following up with other firms at the same time.
Cold calling is not elegant. It’s a grind. But if you’re trying to break in at the last minute, especially with smaller firms, it can still be part of the toolkit.
The Networking Mistakes That Kill Results
Many students try networking, don’t get immediate results, and decide that networking doesn’t work. Usually, the problem is not the concept. It’s the execution.
Trying Too Hard to Impress
You don’t need to sound like a Managing Director on your first call. In fact, trying too hard can backfire. It’s often better to show some vulnerability and ask for help overcoming your weaknesses.
Bankers know you’re a student. They don’t expect you to understand everything. They do expect you to be thoughtful, coachable, and prepared.
Using the Wrong Channels
LinkedIn is useful for finding people. It’s not always the best place to correspond with them. Once you identify the right bankers, email is usually the more effective channel.
Writing Emails That Are Too Long or Too General
Bankers do not have time to read your life story. Keep emails concise and specific. If your message could be sent to 500 people without changing a word, it’s probably too generic.
Not Following Up
This is one of the easiest fixes. Bankers are busy, and messages get buried. You need to be politely persistent until you get a response.
Following up two or three times after an initial outreach is normal in this process. The same logic applies after a conversation. If someone says to keep them updated, actually do it.
Asking Bad or Awkward Questions
Don’t ask how much money they make. Don’t ask how much they work in a way that sounds like you’re trying to avoid hard work. Use the conversation to learn about their career, the firm, the recruiting process, and how you can improve your own candidacy.
Not Asking Directly for What You Want
This one hurts students who are otherwise doing things right. They schedule calls, ask polite questions, and send thank-you notes, but they never make a direct request.
If you want someone to pass along your resume, ask. If you want to be connected to recruiting, ask. If you want a referral, ask professionally and at the right moment.
Networking is not mind reading. Bankers may be willing to help, but you have to tell them what help you’re looking for.
A Practical Networking Plan for Recruiting
If you’re early, start with informational interviews. Build a list of bankers, prioritize alumni and relevant contacts, and begin outreach three to six months before recruiting. Your first goal is not to ask for a job. It’s to have useful conversations and build enough rapport that later requests feel natural.
If you’re in a situation where direct outreach makes more sense, use cold email. This is especially relevant for boutique banks, firms without formal recruiting processes, or situations where you’re close to graduation and need to ask about openings directly.
If you’re late and nothing else has worked, consider cold calling. But be honest about what it is: a Plan C. It’s repetitive, low-conversion, and uncomfortable. Still, if you need to find opportunities quickly, especially at boutiques, it can be better than waiting around and hoping an online application gets noticed.
The students who get results usually aren’t doing anything magical. They find the right people, send concise messages, follow up, prepare for calls, listen more than they talk, and ask directly when the timing is right.
That’s the playbook. Not glamorous, but effective.