How to Write a Cold Email That’ll Get You a Job Lead
The following is a guest post by Laura Carter. Her bio follows.
Writing any cold email needs to be done with an objective of getting it read by your recipient. Therefore, nothing is to be left to chance right from the first sentence. Your initial sentence should trigger a desire for the reader to move on to the next sentence. That is the point.
Ideally, each line in your cold email should persuade the reader to move on and read the next one until the close of the email. Some people find emailing people not in their contacts list a very hard thing to do especially when looking to expand their job search network.
When looking for a job, the already existing network has been the focus for many. However, you will at times be compelled to send emails to contacts not covered in your network. The idea here is to fix a meeting with someone at a given company that you look forward to work for in order to help you find your way there. In this endeavor, there are two main things to tackle: the person you would consider reaching out to and developing a message that will trigger response from your recipient. These are things you must address in your efforts of writing a cold email that will get you a job lead. To get a positive response, consider doing the following:-
Get the right person’s email address
Make sure you have the email address of the most suitable person to contact. This will involve tracking down people working at your target companies. Use sources that can give you accurate information like Linked In or a reliable career office such as that of your University. The company’s website can also be a good place to get this email address. Some companies will at times list the positions and names of its members of staff and you can easily get someone in the most relevant role to contact. In a case where this is becoming a problem, try such emails as jobs@companyname.com or recruiting@companyname.com. Where names without emails are listed, try to use the first name of your target contact with the company extension such as anne@companyname.com.
Succinct Subject Line
Regardless of how good your email body may be, your email may not get opened if your subject line is wordy. It will be a complete waste of time if you don’t write a catchy subject line. It should be compelling and while you may find this obvious, many have fallen into this pit of poorly written subject lines.
A good proof is the number of emails you have not opened from your mailbox. Check their subject lines and you will tell the reason why you didn’t open them. So how do you go about this? The first thing to consider is looking at what you want and narrow it down to between 5 and 7 words. Most importantly, these words must speak to what your recipient is looking forward to. Again, make sure you clearly state what you expect in that exchange of emails. The whole idea is to cause your recipient to open your email. For example, “Simon—information source for oil-market trends!” Brevity is very vital!
Concise email body
You obviously do not want to paint a good picture at the door and disappoint with poorly written email content. This still is as important as your subject line. You can’t afford to write average content. However, you need to keep it short and precise. Follow this simple approach: make a one sentence introduction; in a short paragraph, talk about yourself and why you want to engage and then finally, enquire about the recipient’s availability.
If you feel like you have some problems with that, contact good writing service to get some help. Being specific is very crucial to give your recipient a clear picture concerning your interest in talking to them. Your interests in that particular company should be well highlighted. List concrete skills that match the company needs and in the end say how you got the information of the recipient.
Don’t make huge demands
Very important – ask small. Your recipient will be willing to respond if he or she doesn’t feel like they are compelled to make big promises in order to reply. Remember you are initiating a conversation and it will not be wise to place a lot of demands from the start. Actually, it would be much easier to get a positive response if you can ask your recipient to meet for coffee to get to learn more about your targeted company than merely asking for a job. In the end, this will lead you to a job. However, don’t be desperate to ask everything in one email. Make your recipient feel at ease to respond to you.
Present some Proof and relate with Results
It is always important to be thorough with your email and that is why some social proof of engagement may be necessary. The use of high-level stats will give you a good standing and a high chance of getting a positive response. If you have spoken to someone concerning the company or even a colleague in their company, you can state it in your pitch. This is especially true if it is for a sales job hunt. It will yield a positive reply. In this instance, you can quote an interview with a firm that your prospective employer would consider a competitor or a peer. The chance of landing in this company would drastically increase if you show proof to the HR team that you had just interviewed a competitor in the same field.
There you have it! Writing a cold email that will get you a job lead is a well calculated strategy. Get your facts right and arrange them in a manner that will please your recipient. Ask yourself if you would respond if the email was sent to you!
Laura Carter
Laura Carter is a former educator and now academic writing and higher education blogger. Laura’s passion is psychology and entrepreneurship.
Laura Carter is a former educator and now academic writing and higher education blogger at dissertation writing service. Laura’s passion is psychology and entrepreneurship.
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