GUEST COMMENT: Never underestimate the importance of the networking event

PING. You look down at your phone and you have received yet another email from your university careers service inviting you to attend yet another networking event.

Networking events are so common, many students simply ignore them.

This is a bad move. Networking events are pointless if you attend and wander around aimlessly asking questions like, 'why do you like x bank', 'what do you do day-to-day', 'what is sales and trading exactly' etc.

Networking events are not for finding out the basics of the industry. They are for discussing markets knowledge and impressing the pants of the bankers who are there.

How realistic is this when there are fifteen people crowding around each banker? Whilst it is certainly not easy, it's definitely possible.

I personally managed to get a final round internship interview through one of these networking events at a top bank. When I signed up for the event, I received an email the day before informing me that the opening speech would be from the bank's Chief Risk Officer. So the night before, I spent a few hours doing some background research on him and potential

controversial topics that I could discuss.

At the actual event it was almost impossible to get a one-on-one, so I waited until there were only one or two people talking to him before I moved in. Most bankers will not go out of their way to recommend you: even after impressing them you must make the next move. So the next day I sent him a follow-up email asking whether we could meet for coffee. He agreed and from there he sent a recommendation to HR to interview me.

I have known many other people get internship interviews after impressing someone at a networking event. I have also known people get work experience shadowing a banker for a day.

What kind of things do these students say? The key is to keep it to a markets discussion. Furthermore it must be on the asset class which that banker works in.

How are you supposed to prepare without knowing which asset class the banker you will meet works in? You won't, hence you need to read about every asset class, or at least to read on equities, credit, FX and commodities. Having just a basic idea is not good enough: you should be able to have an in-depth debate with a banker on a particular asset class for at least ten minutes.

Please note that this strategy does not lead to an interview or work experience every time, but if you are persistent it will definitely pay off.

The author is an anonymous student and veteran of various networking events.