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To the moon…Oh I mean back to earth. Sigh 😞
Is 55k as a new hire associate too low?
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Honestly office hours doesn’t sound like a bad idea to me. I wouldn’t mind that personally
could you say like hey im talking to another person about something really similar let me add you to our coffee chat?
Rising Star
You’re allowed to set limits, especially if it’s a one-way street (not really beneficial to you). Just tell them you only have time for one networking chat per week, and first available is the week of November 7.
I do small group chats every second week at a fixed time. Anyone who requests a coffee chat is told that I’d love to help, and have dedicated this time for it so that it can be protected in my busy schedule.
Feedback I’ve gotten after doing this over a year has been very positive - it’s allowed people to connect with peers and develop relationships in that way as well. One woman specifically mentioned she was surprised and happy to see me being transparent about not doing everything, but finding a way to do what is important to me in a way that works. For many junior women, setting boundaries and saying no is a difficult skill to learn.
I love this. Thank you. I don’t want to be a jerk, but even just this last week, I got 9 requests. It’s crazy - between internal Deloitte networking and LinkedIn and my network connecting me to folks …. It’s a lot.
Chief
That’s just how it is when you’re the big D
☹😭
Personally would prefer an open office hr then 1-1 chat! Gives me to ability to show you my people skills as well as technical.
Wait, dream job and Delatte fit in the same sentence together? 🤯
Rising Star
I know you meant Deloitte, but I got a good chuckle out of Delatte. Must be the French location 😂
Same here. Do office hours and have your assistant route these requests and book the time requested there. Impossible to spend 20 hours a week mentoring.
Have you tried this?
Pro
For Deloitte?
No, for my specific career path
What level are you?
SM - about 15 years into my career
I get quite a few a week and try hard to meet all of them. What level are you?
I’m at the same level and about the same YOE. I’ll be a bit bold and say you owe it to the younger folks. Share your knowledge and experience. It’s going to massively help their career.
Meet them if they make sense for you. If it is random, suggest another person/option.
Pro
So 30-60 minutes a week is too tough? Coffee calls usually take 5-10 minutes at most. Don't block 30 minutes for a coffee. Take them all, keep them short. You're going to redirect most of then to someone more appropriate anyway.
5 mins… how is that enough?
Just for a second I thought I was looking at a LinkedIn lunatics post on Reddit
Bruh. You work at Deloitte and people hitting you up?
Pro
Find another person to send the people you're less excited about to. And ditto to the point about fitting it into your schedule wherever it works. If that's a a number of weeks out so be it.
I think firms need to reinvent how they evaluate candidates. I see a lot of low quality students at my program get into good girls. Why? They can case for 30 mins better than others. They will likely get counseled out in 1.5 years.
Companies are terrible at identifying good talent. They usually can spot the top 20% well. But then after that you see a lot of questionable decisions.
Coffee chats are another useless element in the cycle. As an mba student, I can tell you that we are just doing it to check the box. Ot sure why we all have to play this game.
Good firms**
Chief
You sound important
Have a form email response that politely declines but answers the most frequently asked questions
You could also do a signup list. Just open up an Excel sheet and have them add their name. They might have to wait a few months, but it would solve the problem. Just explain you get a lot of requests & put things in context