Know how to write a cold email for a job

Back then, when I was looking for a job, I signed up on several job-related websites, followed social media accounts for updates, and searched constantly on Google for job openings. As a result of this, I usually get several emails like ” You are hired”. But these emails are actually an advertisement for a course. I did check these emails for the first few months, even though I know it is an advertisement. After a year or so, I got frustrated and just blocked them.

The thing is, it’s the same for the recruiter too. The recruiter probably sees thousands of cold emails every day. Most probably, they don’t even take a look at them. They just assume it’s another person who is desperate for a job, even if you have the required talent. You may go unrecognized.

But don’t worry, I’ll tell you how to write a cold email for a job with a few tips and suggestions to capture the employer’s attention.

What is a cold email?

Before we talk about ” How to write a cold email for a job?” let’s just understand what cold email actually means?

A cold email is an email sent to a receiver without any prior contact in order to initiate a conversation. The cold email can be a sales email, job or interview requesting email, survey email, anything that requires the receiver’s attention.

Now you know what cold email means, right?. So let’s just focus on how to write a cold email for a job that will help you get noticed and heard.

How to write a cold email for a job

Here is a step-by-step guide that will help you write a cold email for your job.

1. Address the right person

Before you learn about how to write a cold email for a job, I want you to understand the importance of sending an email to the right person. There are lots of people with different job titles inside the company. They all have specific tasks to do.

The obvious person you should be looking out for is the one that hires candidates. They may come under different titles: Hiring manager, talent acquisition manager, hiring consultant, sourcing manager, and recruiter.

Go to the company’s website and look for the person with the above titles. Click on their profile and see whether they have attached an email. If they attached their email, that’s great. You have dodged the effort of finding that person’s email.

If not, check out the company’s and recruiter’s social media accounts like LinkedIn or Twitter and see whether they have linked their email.

In case you still haven’t found the email, I suggest you go to the company directly and ask them. Maybe ask a worker there or a receptionist who can give you the required details.

Also, use email finder tools like Hunter, and AeroLeads. Once you enter the company’s name and title, these sites will give you the requested email in a short time. You can also get the bulk email addresses of people for a specific job title.

2. Subject

Subject lines are crucial for writing a cold email. It’s the first thing the recruiter notices in their inbox. You need to convince the recruiter in a glance with a perfect subject to make them open up your email. It is quite difficult to come up with a great subject, but with some tips and effort, I would say you can make it possible.

My advice is that you should put yourselves in the recruiter’s shoes to come up with a great subject line. Imagine you are the recruiter in that company. What subject would make you click through? Gather all the details of the company’s current situation, projects, and everything you can get and see what the recruiter might be interested in.

But there are some basic things that you should know before you come up with a subject line.

Most recruiters use spam filters, a tool that helps to clear out most of your spam emails. You do not want to end up on that list. So don’t use any clickbait. They could permanently block you in case you mislead them.

Subject lines should be in the range of 5 to 10 words. If your subject is a bit longer, the recruiter should not be able to view the entire line. Your key details in the subject may not be viewed in that case. So keep it short.

Now that you know the things you should not do, let’s focus on what you should do.

Personalize the subject line. For example, your article about XXX inspired me.

Use mutual connections to your benefit. For example, Mr. X referred me to contact you.

Show them how you can add value to their company. Do you know you could increase your profits by 5%?

Whatever you do, just be legit and honest with your subject. Don’t spam them into viewing your email.

3. Introduction

Ok, now you made them open up your email with a great subject line. What’s next?

The next thing you should do is to gain the trust of the recruiter. You may ask, “Why do I need to gain the trust of the recruiter? “. Because, for all we know, the recruiter still thinks you are another scammer or just another ordinary candidate who is desperate. Even though you gained some trust through your subject line, it isn’t enough.

So how do I gain the complete trust of the recruiter?

Imagine you get a message from an unknown person. Your first thought would be “Who is this?” and your next question would be ” How did they get my number and what do they want?”. These will be your first thoughts, right?

It’s like that for the recruiter too. So you need to answer these questions right away. I’ll give you the questions again so you would get a better understanding.

1. Who are you?
2. How did you find the recruiter’s email ID?
3. Why are you contacting them specifically?

You need to answer the above three questions in the first para along with the right salutation like Hello Mr. X or Hiring manager of Company X to gain the trust of the recruiter. Keep the answers short with 3 or 4 sentences.

4. Skills and Qualifications

Till now, it’s great, right? You made them click through and have gained their trust, but are you qualified enough? That will be the next question that runs through their mind.

As soon as the introduction part is over, let them know about your qualification. Just your degree title, university name, percentage, and year of graduation is enough.

Some jobs don’t need a degree. In that case, it’s up to you. You can either skip that part or go through with it. Now, let’s move on to our skills and achievements.

Don’t attach every award you won and all the skills you have. Just enter the good and necessary ones. I suggest no more than a couple of your best skills and achievements because they probably don’t have enough time to go through all of your achievements.

5. Conclusion

Now, for the conclusion part, you need to do five things.

1. Request them with a clear indication of what you need – an interview, meet-up, reply, phone call.
2. Let them know that you have attached your resume and cover letter in case they need more information about you.
3. Write a thank-you note for their valuable time.
4. Conclude your mail in this way – sincerely or regards with your name and contact info.
5. Proofread your email.

After doing all the steps mentioned above, press “Send” and wait for their reply. Always be attentive in the upcoming days. Turn on your notifications, and don’t switch off your phone or put it in silent mode. Because you may get a reply at any time. You don’t want to miss the deadline in case they respond.

6. Follow-up cold email for a job

You might want to wait 3 or 4 days before you write a follow-up email. When you do, don’t just forward the same email that was sent before.

Before you send a follow-up mail, make sure to change your subject line. Because your first email’s subject line may be too weak and they probably didn’t even notice it.

It is good to reply to your first email as a follow-up. That will give the necessary details required for the recruiter in case they need it again.

Don’t write that this is a follow-up email in the content. If you say that you are following up on your first email because you didn’t get a response, the recruiter may believe that they have already rejected you even if they didn’t read your email.

To avoid this, just say again, “why are you contacting them and how can you be a valuable asset to them?”.

So now, you may ask,” How many follow-up emails should I send?”. There is no definitive answer. I suggest that you may go up to 3 to 5 times, but it’s totally up to you.

Frequent FAQ’s