With Cornell’s club recruitment season upon us, most, if not all, tables are taken for coffee chats. It’s what everyone is talking about right now, whether you’re sending the requests or receiving them.
If you’re a first-year or a sophomore, club applications may have become your number one priority, and everyone knows that if you truly want to be a competitive applicant for any club, a good coffee chat is a must. To survive this short period of time (although it may feel perpetual and grueling), I have prepared a guide that will hopefully make your club coffee chats less daunting and more successful.
1. If you are responsible for reaching out, send a polite email requesting a coffee chat.
Usually, you will be asked to reach out independently to the person you want to coffee chat with. These emails are what create first impressions, meaning that you need to be professional and polite to the person you are requesting to meet. This includes specifying the name of the club, introducing yourself in the first one to two sentences and listing specific times that you are available to meet. Do not ask for their availability, send yours. Also, be sure to send these emails during business hours (8 a.m. to 5 p.m.) and send a thank you email after your chat. Similarly, provide availability during reasonable days and hours. Think about it: Who wants to coffee chat on the weekend at 6 p.m. when you can be walking down Eddy St.?
2. Just because it’s called a coffee chat doesn’t mean you have to grab a coffee.
As I was preparing for my first ever coffee chat, I didn’t understand how I was expected to know what type of drink my coffee chatter wanted. The name, “coffee chat,” gave me the impression that I had to buy refreshments for both of us and figure out what the other person ordered. Thankfully, my resident advisor at the time told me that there was no coffee involved, meaning that I didn’t have to pay for a drink to impress the ‘interviewer.’ Notice how I placed quotation marks around the word, ‘interviewer,’ because coffee chats aren’t formal interviews. So, on that note …
3. Dress and speak like how you usually do.
Of course, you should always maintain a level of professionalism, but don’t wear a suit or bring a resume. Coffee chats are just a way for clubs to see who is interested and for students to explore their interests. In contrast to rigid, formal job interviews, these are just 15 to 30-minute conversations where you can learn more about the club member’s experience in the club and the projects, socials and resources the club offers. Don’t feel nervous and instead treat the coffee chat like any other conversation. Remember that the person you are coffee chatting is a Cornell student, not a job recruiter.
4. Be prepared to ask questions.
That being said, I highly recommend preparing three to five questions to ask during your coffee chat. Usually, you are the one responsible for asking questions to the club member you are chatting with. While some conversations may flow more easily than others, there could be a few chats where you don’t know how to add onto an answer that was given. During those moments, having a list of questions will be helpful. For example, if the club has different subgroups, you could ask, “What makes this subgroup different from the rest, and why did you choose this one specifically?”
In addition to creating small talk, clubs are known to flag your application if you don’t ask any questions. This is because the common assumption is that if you were truly passionate or interested in joining the organization, you would be curious about the students in the club and the work they have been part of. This means that if you are having your first coffee chat, you may just want to practice and prepare a little before the chat to make sure you have your questions and information down for your conversation.
5. Do background research on the club and person you’re speaking to.
It’s easy to send an email, but it’s also important to know a substantial amount of information before coffee chatting for a club. A lot of clubs on campus sound similar, but they all offer different things. If you don’t know why you are coffee chatting for a club or have little interest, the person you’re speaking with will realize and the conversation will probably go south. It’s also good to have similar interests or experience as the person you’re coffee chatting with for conversation ideas.
Ultimately, there is no right or wrong way to do a coffee chat. You have to keep in mind that just like yourself, the people you will be interacting with are also other Cornell students. Just be respectful and considerate of everyone’s time. While it is definitely easier said than done, don’t feel anxious or nervous and walk into that coffee chat with confidence, and you’ll do great.
Julia Choi is a member of the Class of 2029 in the Brooks School of Public Policy. She is a staff writer for the Lifestyle department and can be reached at jc3767@cornell.edu.
