Reach a Desk Alum, Get to the Desk Head
Sales and trading does not run one centralized analyst class like banking. Seats open desk by desk, and the desk head decides. So skip the generic recruiter path and reach the alum who sits on that exact desk.
Find your desk alum →Free · No sign-up · See results in ~10 seconds
A plain LinkedIn search buries the people who would actually help you.
It ranks by prominence, so the most-followed, most-messaged names sit on top. FindWarmIntros surfaces the coworkers who share your school or a past employer - the people most likely to reply - and hands you a ready-to-send intro.
✍️ Ready-to-send intro“Hi - we both studied at [your school]. I’d love to hear about your path to a company you are targeting before I apply…”
… plus everyone else in your network who can put in a good word.
See who can refer you in - pick your target company:
Why S&T is not banking, and why that changes who you contact
In banking, a central analyst class and a recruiting team funnel everyone through the same process, so a generic alum can point you at HR. Sales and trading works differently. A markets floor is a set of independent desks, and each desk head runs a small P&L and hires for their own seats, often off-cycle.
That means the useful contact is not a name at the bank. It is a person who sits on the specific desk you want. A credit alum cannot vouch for you on the equity derivatives desk, and the equity desk head will not act on a referral from someone they do not sit near. Target the desk, then the desk head.
The four steps from alum to desk head
The goal is a warm handoff to the person who owns the seat. Keep every step short and make helping you cost the alum almost nothing.
- Confirm the desk, not the bank. Read their current title and recent posts to verify they still sit on the exact desk you want. Rates, credit, cash equities, and structuring are different worlds with different desk heads.
- Lead with the desk, not the ask. Open with the thing you share and one specific question about their product, like how their desk handles flow versus structuring, so the reply costs 30 seconds.
- Ask for a name, not a job. Once they reply, ask who runs the desk and whether they would forward a two-line note to that desk head. You want the intro, not a favor that sounds heavy.
- Give them copy-paste words. Write the two lines they would forward: who you are, the desk you want, and why you fit. Never make an alum draft your pitch.
How FindWarmIntros does the finding part
The slow step is finding an alum who actually sits on the desk you want, since a title of trader tells you nothing about which product they trade. FindWarmIntros is a free tool that searches a target bank for people you share a school or past employer with, then ranks them so a desk match surfaces first instead of a random name at the firm.
It does the finding and ranking, and it drafts a warm opener grounded in what you share. You still do the human part: read their recent work, ask the sharp question, and request the intro to the desk head. The tool just saves you the hour of scrolling to find the right seat.