The importance of networking to succeed in the Fintech Industry
By Evandro Castro - 10/02/2021
Ever since I arrived at IESE in 2019 and started to get involved with the Fintech Club, I always heard that good knowledge of the industry and a strong focus on networking are essential to succeed. The reason behind it is that, unlike big companies that are already used to hire MBAs and often come on campus, Fintechs (mostly startups and scale-ups) don’t have structured programs, and also cannot determine months in advance if, when and for which role they will need to hire. It absolutely does not mean that they don’t hire – and historical data show that it’s been increasing throughout the years – it’s just a different process that we have to be aware of, and it requires a lot of personal drive and dedication.
Suddenly, I saw myself facing an enormous challenge, because according to my last performance reviews at my former job, networking was my biggest weakness, and I would need to rely on it to get a summer internship. Not only did I consider myself not good enough in networking, but I also saw it in a negative way, something like a brown-noser way of succeeding by getting advantages due to relationships. I clearly had to get used to it, and luckily the fact that Fintechs hiring happens later than other industries gave me enough time to practice.
My plan of action was simple: 1. Narrow down the recruiting focus to only Fintech startups, avoiding distraction from other processes; 2. Participate in every event organized by the club and subscribe to newsletters / podcasts to increase my knowledge about the industry and understand what type of value I could bring to them; 3. Use every opportunity to improve my networking skills, by attending treks and career fairs and talking to companies, even the ones I was just a little interested in. In the beginning it felt like everyone around was a natural networker and I was the only one putting lots of energy on it and coming back home totally drained, but I kept going and soon enough I was already getting used to it and even having some fun in the process. In the end, I got my internship at Carlo – a startup from Monaco that built a payments app for local merchants – in the last week of May. The opportunity came in the last minute, when I was almost starting to regret having narrowed down so much the recruiting focus, but it was perfectly what I was looking for, and I was totally prepared for it.
Even after it worked out, I never stopped thinking how I could turn networking into a life-long practice that I could internalize and use for my professional life as a tool to build relationships and improve chances of success. It turns out that the reason why I was not enjoying the process so much – besides the fact that I’m a little less extroverted than the MBAs’ average – was that I had the wrong mindset towards it, and I’m very grateful for the CDC for offering us a course named Networking with Impact, by professor Nicolas Constantinesco, that opened my eyes. The course is meant to change the mindset of students with networking, by presenting Adam Grant’s research and theory presented in the book Give and Take, which classifies 25% of professional as givers, meaning that they are willing to provide help without expecting something in return, and the simple process of giving already satisfies them.