Contacting Alumni after screener or after callback? Forum

[Anonymous User]

I have seen many people recommend not cold emailing alumni at firms until you at least have a callback. Is this the credited response? or have people had luck with different timelines?

[Anonymous User]

i did it before screeners. idk if it helped or not.

[Anonymous User]

What would said email look like after a cb, but pre-offer?

[saffronleaf]

What would said email look like after a cb, but pre-offer?

I'm wondering the same thing.

I thought of sending an email saying something along the lines of...

Dear X,

I am Y and I go to school Z. I received a callback to Firm A and I am strongly interested in working for Firm A. I was wondering if you could provide some information regarding the firm, particularly with respect to B, C, and D. Also, any advice with respect to the callback interviews would be greatly appreciated.

Regards,
Y


Does that sound...OK?

[Anonymous User]

Sorry that reads poorly. I meant AFTER you find out you got a callback.

[Anonymous User]

bump for thoughts on contacting alumni after mass-mailing.

Also on contacting alumni in the post-cb waiting period.

[hoos89]

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[Anonymous User]

bump for thoughts on contacting alumni after mass-mailing.

Also on contacting alumni in the post-cb waiting period.

I've found contacting alumni after mass-mail to be reasonably fruitful. I sent 15 e-mails and got about 5 responses. 1 of those just said "Contact X to set up an interview," and the other 4 were phone conversations closer to informational interviews. The level of candor was pretty nice, actually (e.g. "My firm doesn't really hire many summers from our school; here's how I got in..."). One of those conversations also led to an interview.

Would you be willing to share the bare bone outline of those emails??

[hoos89]

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[Anonymous User]

bump for thoughts on contacting alumni after mass-mailing.

Also on contacting alumni in the post-cb waiting period.

I contacted alumni before screener, after screener, and after cb.

Before screener and after screener was just to ask them about their experience at the firm, etc. This was incredibly helpful. Esp. btwn the screener and callback phase. I got lucky in that one of the alum's I contacted btwn screener and callback phase is a senior associate for one of the partner's that interviewed me, and put in a good word for me before my interview.

Post-CB I just reached out to the alumni I had already contacted before the cb saying thanks again for speaking w/ me, I enjoyed visiting the firm and meeting w/ XYZ and I'll let you know where I end up. I don't know how helpful that is, but it's nice because they've already invested time in you by speaking with you before your cb, so least you can do is update them.

Each cb I got was from a firm that I had reached out to someone.

[Anonymous User]

idk, I tried this before screeners and most people I spoke to kept hinting that the screener is the time to ask questions about the firm, and if i want to get to know firms better that happens at the cb stage. they seemed kind of weirded out that i was asking questions before the screener

[hoos89]

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[Anonymous User]

I had contacted someone way pre-screener (early summer through networking) and followed up with them after the screener but before the CB asking to meet him again. His reply was that he'd love to meet with me after, but that it would be inappropriate before the CB.

Just an fyi