A lot of the times we tell you to talk about your background, relate it to the employer, etc. This time, that’s not what you want to do!
Fewer than 100 words
“According to a 2008 Radicati Group study, 78% of all email sent that year was spam…For the typical user, four out of five emails should be ignored. If your name isn’t recognized by the recipient, your content needs to get to the point quickly.”
“By keeping your initial outreach under one hundred words, you’re minimizing the chances that you’ll (1) make grammatical and/or spelling mistakes or (2) accidently alienate your contact through your tone, word choice, or word count.
No mention of jobs anywhere (subject or body)
They’ll know you’re job searching and that’s OK!
Boosters want to help you, but their help is only useful if it’s given voluntarily.
The contact needs to develop a level of comfort and trust with you before they are willing to put their reputation on the line and vouch for you
Earning a booster requires an investment
Connection goes first
You need to give the contact a reason to care quickly so he or she will actually pay attention. Identifying that connection right up front maximizes your chance of getting your message read.
Generalize your interest
If the contact’s organization is not hiring he/she may still have relevant contacts to share or helpful advice to offer. This would be a super booster!
Maintain control of follow-up
You demonstrate deference to their schedules, showing you appreciate that their time is more valuable than yours.
You demonstrate the commitment to making the connection happen, which differentiates you from the vast majority of job seekers who will email once and give up if they don’t hear back.
Also gives a sense of urgency about responding to you which increases your response rate. Maintains control of the follow up allows you to systematically initiate and track your outreach with little to no decision anxiety.
To remember:
Brief: Less than 75 words
Human: Connection goes first
Subtle: Request advice & insight, not job assistance
Direct: Make your ask in the form of a question
Egoless: Over half the word count is about the contact(no ‘about me’)
Sincere: Define interest narrowly (“your experience at Company X”) and broadly (“brand management in the east coast tech space”)