Part 3: Cold-Emailing/Messaging
(Parts 1 & 2 can be found on medium )
The final strategy for finding jobs effectively is through cold-emailing or messaging. This strategy gets you to stand out from the rest by directly getting in contact with the person in charge of hiring.
What is cold-emailing?
It’s the practice of emailing someone without any prior connection, and a well-crafted email can show a hiring manager that you are proactive about working at their company.
What is cold-messaging?
Cold-messaging is the same practice as cold-emailing but done through a messaging platform such as Linkedin messenger. This tends to be less effective due to messaging restrictions or the fact that professionals are less likely to open or respond.
In this post, we’ll break down the steps for how to craft an effective cold-email:
- Finding out who to email-
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Find a job posting that you are interested in
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Look up the company’s LinkedIn page and go to their employees page
- Within those employees, try to find someone with the title of manager or hiring manager, like this:
If you can’t find someone with that title, try adding your university as a filter to find an alumni.
- See if they have their email in their contact information on their profile
OR
- Find their email address using the hunter.io email finder: https://hunter.io/email-finder
Can’t find their email?
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Try finding another good contact option email
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Try messaging them on Linkedin
- Craft a Strong Cold-Email-
Key Tips:
- Write a compelling subject line to get them to open the email. Keep it short, include the most worthwhile and relevant details, or try personalizing it:
Samples Email Subject Lines:
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“Kaggle Champion Interested in Airbnb DS”
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“Hackathon Winner and Blue Hen interested in Robinhood” → University mascot reference
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“Former Google intern interested in FT @X”
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[Colleague name] thought we should talk.
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[Mutual connection] thinks we should talk.
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Your presentation at [Industry Event] was brilliant!
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Fellow [common hobby] wants to work with you.
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Keep the email short: a study found the ideal length of a cold email is between 50 and 125 words. Keep a high signal-to-noise ratio. Any pleasantries are unnecessary (e.g., “I hope this email finds you well").
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Mention 1-2 Accomplishments: anything worthy, link to a project, and attach your resume
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Add Urgency and Establish a Timeline: Mention if you already have an offer with a different company or a competing job offer (especially well if it's a well-known company).
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Relate Personally to the Recruiter or Company: See if you have a mutual connection, or any commonalities you can mention.
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Have a Specific Ask: Be direct and specific about what you want, like “I’d like to interview for a Data Science Internship for Summer 2023.”
- Send the Email & Following-Up Key Tips:
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Send it at the Right Time: don’t send it during the weekend or holidays. Find out the time zone and send it within business hours.
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Follow Up 2 Times: always replying directly to the same email thread.
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First follow up: after 3-4 days
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Second follow up: 4-5 days later
Sample Cold Emails:
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Sources:
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“Ace the Data Science Interview” by Nick Singh and Kevin Ho
