How to Network Your Way Into Finance as a Female – Without Getting Hit On or Getting In Your Own Way

There shouldn’t have to be a separate article on networking for women.

Women who want to work in finance need to develop their stories, cold call, and be diligent in following up – just like men who want to break in.

But women still encounter gender-related obstacles on their path to breaking into finance – some of which you can prepare for and work your way through, and others which may require arming yourself to defend against crazy male bankers.

The Complete Guide to Cold Calling Your Way Into Investment Banking

Internship recruiting is over.

And you made a valiant effort, securing 10 interviews with everyone from boutiques to bulge bracket banks – but you didn’t land the offer.

And now you only have a few months before your non-existent summer internship begins.

With recruiting finished, your last, best chance of breaking in is to cold call your way into Wall Street.

But will that even work?

Should you bother going all-out and calling hundreds of firms?

And if you do take the leap, how do you cold call your way in successfully without getting slapped with a restraining order for being too aggressive?

How to Prepare for Investment Banking Summer Internship Recruiting

While I’ve written lots of summer internship tutorials, most of them focus on what to do once you’re actually working, or how to prepare for the internship.

Even back in the dark ages (in Internet time, 2-3 years ago) one of the most asked questions here was “OK, but how do I get a summer internship in the first place?”

And since then I’ve gotten many more questions on the timing for summer internship recruiting, how it’s different from full-time recruiting, what to focus on, and what happens when – so let’s get to it.