Cold outreach, follow-up, and relationship-building that earns the referral.
Networking is the single biggest skill differentiator in IB recruiting. This guide covers who to reach out to, when, what to send, and how to follow up — the outreach and relationship-building that earns you the referral.
Reaching an MD isn't a copywriting problem, it's a hierarchy problem. Their reflex is to forward you down to an analyst. The fix: name the juniors you've already spoken to and ask for the view from the top — the one move that survives the hand-off.
11 min readUpdated Jun 11, 2026
Why following up five times with one banker reads as diligence, not annoyance. The three framing rules that take pressure off the professional, the cadence that comes from tracking instead of nerves, and the real line: blasting 100 PJT inboxes in one week.
11 min readUpdated Jun 11, 2026
Out of 100 finance students, only 15 network methodically — and that's who lands first rounds. The recipient-focused email vs. the generic blast, why early outreach beats everyone, and the PJT carpet-bomb that got 0 replies out of 100.
12 min readUpdated Jun 11, 2026
Networking seven to eight months early beats doing it the week the posting drops. Early timing is the only thing that lets you make the email about the person, not the job. Includes the cold email I'd actually send, plus what 100 emails to PJT in one week got me.
13 min readUpdated Jun 11, 2026
Start at the bottom, with Analysts and interns, and work up to the MD, not the other way around. Juniors hand you tested interview answers and surface the gatekeeper. At Moelis, mine was an ED who became my first interviewer. Plus the email that gets a senior to reply.
11 min readUpdated Jun 10, 2026
The 'about the job' outreach email quietly works against you. Rebuild it around the recipient instead: one real example built from a banker's deal (Cisco/Splunk) and the VC club he ran, plus why emailing five at one firm in a week gets you an angry email from a Director.
16 min readUpdated Jun 11, 2026
I emailed 100+ people at one firm in one week and got zero responses. The six networking mistakes that quietly cost IB recruits the referral, why each one backfires, and the fix for every stage — from the first cold email to the follow-up.
30 min readUpdated Jun 11, 2026
Five follow-ups won me a chat at Moelis, and the Executive Director said my doggedness was part of why he pushed me through. Blasting 100 PJT employees in one week got me zero replies. Were you forgotten, or did you burn the office? That diagnosis is the whole game.
16 min readUpdated Jun 11, 2026
The cold email is what earns the coffee chat, the referral, and the first-round invite. Why early outreach built around the recipient beats the deadline-day blast, with both emails side by side — plus the follow-up habit that puts you in the top 15% of the pool.
20 min readUpdated Jun 11, 2026
The full networking playbook for IB interviews: when to start, who to email first, the outreach that gets a reply, and how to run the conversation that earns the referral. Built from 300+ chats — plus the 60/40 split that separates a real chat from a Q&A.
62 min readUpdated Jun 11, 2026
More articles coming soon
More than feels comfortable — networking is a numbers game, especially for non-targets. The funnel is unforgiving: only a fraction of cold emails get a reply, only some replies become coffee chats, and only some chats convert to referrals. Plan for it from the top: most non-target students should be sending well into the hundreds of first-touch emails across BBs, EBs, and MMs over a cycle.
Earlier than most students think. For the sophomore-summer SA cycle — most people's first real shot — start outreach in the August or September before applications open, and earlier if your school recruits on an accelerated timeline. By December the top banks have often closed applications and run many superdays, so a late start means you're networking into doors that are already shut.
Start with analysts and associates. They have more time, they remember being in your shoes, and their referrals carry real weight in screening. MDs reply far less often, but a single warm MD introduction can short-circuit the whole process — so it's worth the occasional reach, just don't build your outreach around it.
One well-timed, specific follow-up beats five generic nudges. If a banker hasn't replied, wait about a week and send a short, polite bump that adds something — a relevant question or a reason you're reaching out now — rather than just "circling back." If they still don't respond, move on; persistence is good, but reading the room is part of the skill bankers are quietly evaluating.
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