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Jess Adamiak is on a mission to help you communicate better. Her online Skillshare class, Stop Sending Ineffective Emails: How to Write to Get Results,
kicks off April 10th. Before dedicating her life to email evangelism,
Jess worked as an editor for The Huffington Post, American Express
Publishing, and Hearst Digital. Contact her on LinkedIn or Twitter.
If you've read an article about job searching — ever — chances are you know that 70% to 80% of positions never get advertised.
This reality is mega-frustrating when you're hunting for a new gig. You
can hit up desirable employers directly, but the "cold" email method is
rife with uncertainty. Is reaching out to someone you've never met even
worth the effort? Well, yes and no: The counterintuitive trick to
cold-emailing employers is to never send a cold email. No
matter how clear, concise or witty your message, its likelihood of
yielding the desired response — actually, any response — is low.
Employers are busy, their inboxes are packed and you're a stranger. A
stranger who is asking for something.
Don't be surprised if your note goes the way of the dryer sock.
So, how does a proactive job seeker get noticed? Take heart, you don't
have to resign yourself to staring bleary-eyed at Monster.com.
1. Identify the Decision Maker
Channel your inner detective. Who calls the hiring shots at your
dream employer? (Heads up: It is highly unlikely this person works in
the HR department). You want to talk to someone with the power to give
you, or help you get, what you want. It's often easy to figure this out
with 10 minutes of "Google-Fu";
other times you'll need to ask for help (see below). It's also smart
not to aim too high or low on the company totem pole: The CEO isn't a
good target unless she's the hiring manager (or the two of you share
mutual friends). On the other hand, shoot an inquiry to
"info@mydreamcompany.com," and you may as well have constructed an
elaborate pillow fort instead. (At least then you'd have something cool
to show for your hustle.)
2. Work Your Network for a "Warm" Lead
You have more connections than you think you do, and it's time to rally the troops. In "The Strength of Weak Ties,"
a ground-breaking paper illustrating the startling power of extended
networks, Mark S. Granovetter argues that friends-of-friends offer you
more resources than your closest buddies, because each "weak tie" acts
as a bridge to untapped social and professional groups. New people = new
opportunities.
The best part is that it doesn't take much to uncover your own
personal hidden network — spend an hour spying on your friends' LinkedIn
and Facebook connections, and you might be surprised to discover who
knows whom. (Remember, your pals don't need to be acquainted with the
decision maker — they just need to get you one step closer.)
3. Write Clearly, Briefly and Memorably
There's enough material in this section alone to fill an entire class.
But before you hit the Send button, at least make sure you've written
something you wouldn't ignore or delete. Common email pet peeves include
missing subject lines (who would bother opening those?) and messages
that go on ... and on. Send a crazy long email, and you're telling the
recipient you don't respect her time (and triggering a visceral
"do.not.want" reaction before your target even begins to read).
4. Spell Out the Next Step
Cold emailing is a bit like dating: You can scare off a promising
prospect by coming on too strong. Instead of declaring your love for
your dream company in the first email (and attaching your resume),
introduce yourself and express a sincere desire to learn more about the
job (if there is one) or department (if there isn't a specific job
posted). You'll earn bonus points by peppering your note with sentences
that demonstrate you know a thing for two about the company's operation —
say, you read a recent article about its launch in Mashable,
or you're excited by what it's doing with new product X, because Y.
Then, close with a specific call to action. Tell this person exactly
what you want, whether it's answers to your (thoughtful!) questions, or a
(very) short informational interview.
5. Follow up, Follow up, Follow up!
Okay: so it's been a week (or two), and you've heard nada? Send
another email. Many job seekers are wary of appearing pushy for good
reason: No one likes a nag. But take it from a former journalist —
there's a big difference between persistence and insistence. Follow up
in reasonable increments of time (at least a week), contribute something
new to the conversation ("Here's what I've been working on"), and use a
friendly, but not desperate, tone. Employers are grownups, which means
they'll eventually let you know if they want you to go away, usually in
the form of a polite brush-off. Until you get the red light, keep
trying.
There you have it, the "secret email sauce." If five steps for one
email looks like overkill, remember that it's ultimately more efficient
to send 10 researched and carefully written messages instead of 100
generic copy-and-paste jobs. Add this practice to your job hunting
arsenal, and you'll soon stick out from the ocean of candidates — in a
good way.
Mashable Job Board Listings
The Mashable Job Board
connects job seekers across the U.S. with unique career opportunities in
the digital space. While we publish a wide range of job listings, we
have selected a few job opportunities from the past two weeks to help
get you started. Happy hunting!
- Brand Strategist at Tumblr in New York, NY
- Social Media Marketing and Content Manager at Science Inc. in Santa Monica, Calif.
- Content Specialist at Universal Music Group in New York, NY
#Πηγή:
5 Tips for Cold-Emailing Your Dream Employer
http://mashable.com/2013/04/06/dream-employer-email/
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