I am fairly new to this site and I am looking for some advice to someone more experienced than me. A little background on myself, I am an undergrad student who has one semester left at university and I am trying to break into finance. My current goal is to get experience doing M&A and then transitioning into investment banking. I have been applying for jobs and networking over the last year and its lead to nothing. I have recently started cold emailing people I stumble across on LinkedIn or other sites. This brings me to where I am today, I reached out to an exectuive director I noticed went to the same school as I did, and asked if he’d be willing to have a phone call with me. He responded to me on the same day, agreeing to a phone call sometime next week. My question for you guys, now that I have this opportunity how do I make the most out of it? I have done a lot of research on the director and his work so what talking points should I bring up? My goal is to get a face to face meeting with him.
I didnt want to give away too much information since it would be fairly easy to track down who he is. He leads a mid market advisory team that focuses M&A advisory to soley mid market private canadian companies. His team focuses on acquistions, divestitures and raising capital. Their website claims a “diversified industry focus” with deals in every industry but resources and real estate.
The guys doesn’t have much time for bs. He may be hiring or he may not be, but he’s noted that you’ve been cold emailing ppl and he gives you props for that.
IMO you should be up front, tell him that you’re keen to break into IB, you got some experience doing xyz and you learnt a few things about xyz. But the most important thing is that you are willing to work your nuts off everyday 100hrs a week if necessary, you are keen to listen and learn. You saw that he has been to the same school as you and you thought it was a good op to get in touch and meet someone who has been there and done that.
He aint gonna want to meet you for a coffee chat, he might meet you for a 30 min interview to see if your the bright spark he wants in his team.
After that chat, try and get an opportunity to take a look around his offices…he might show you or it might be a junior. Let them have your CV and then call him back in a week’s time to see if there is an opening for you.