1Who to write toAnalysts and associates who left your school in the last five years, at the firms you track. Use your school's alumni directory and the alumni tool on LinkedIn, on your own account, filtered by firm. Two to four names per firm is plenty. Partners and MDs come later, through the analysts.
2Pulling names with Claude in ChromeWith the alumni page open in your own Chrome, Claude in Chrome can read what is on screen and write the names, titles, and offices into a list for you. That is reading a page you are already looking at, on your own account, which is fine. Do not have it click through profiles in bulk or send connection requests for you: LinkedIn locks accounts for that. Paste the list into your notes, pick two to four people per firm, and move on.
3Finding an addressMost firms use one format, first.last or flast at the firm's domain. Confirm one address with a finder such as Apollo or Hunter on a free account, then apply the pattern to the rest. Never buy a list, and never write to a personal address.
4Writing the noteFive sentences. Who you are, how you found them, one specific question, a 15 minute ask, a thank you. No attachment and no resume on the first note. Send Tuesday to Thursday between 7 and 9 in the morning, their time zone.
5Drafting with ClaudeCopy the prompt below with your real details filled in. Claude drafts, you cut. Cut any fact you cannot back up on the call.
6The callFifteen minutes, on time, camera on. Three questions prepared, the last one being who else you should talk to. Take one note per call: the thing they said that you did not already know. Log it here the same day.
7AfterA thank you within hours. If a first note gets no reply, follow up once two weeks later, then stop. Two logged chats at a firm before it opens is the bar, and the plan counts them.
Write the noteSend it from your own email
Someone from your school at a firm you track.
Click into the note to edit it.
Paste into Claude with your real details.
Prompt for a first draft
Draft a short outreach email from me to [their first name], [their title] at [firm].
About me: [your school], class of [class year], recruiting for [path]. How I found them: [alumni directory, or who referred you]. My one question: [your one question].
Ask for 15 minutes in the next two weeks. Plain and direct. No flattery, no exclamation marks, no claims about me that are not listed above. Subject line under eight words.