Cold Outreach & Networking During the Job Search
During your first units of Lambda School an entire sprint is devoted to career readiness. One of the module topics is networking, and it aims to teach you how to:
- Identify people, communities, events, or other opportunities to build a professional network
- Create a networking plan to strengthen relationships and network sustainably over time
- Keep professional network informed of progress through Lambda School and evolving career goals
During the job search, the goal of networking is to reach out to new contacts who can help further job search goals. These contacts are after "cold contacts".
Cold Outreach
If we break cold outreach into a step-by-step process it would flow something like this:
- Before or after submitting an application, identify 1-3 professionals to reach out to at the company to express interest in opportunities.
- Send a message to express interest and request an informational interview with the individual via LinkedIn, email, Twitter, or other available communication methods.
- If you hear back and the individual is willing to connect, confirm a day and time to conduct an informational interview. OR If you have yet to hear back after 3 business days, follow-up.
Once you send off a message in step two, there are a variety of responses you may receive. Sometimes an individual will forward you along to someone who may be of better assistance, other times your message may be overlooked with no reply, and its possible (best case scenario) your request for a chat becomes an invitation to interview. Let's teach you how to get messages out so you can deal with the response step.
1. Identify Professionals to Contact
For every job you apply for you'll want to find at least one professional, if not 2-3, to follow-up with at the company you applied at or will be applying to. This shouldn't be any professional- be strategic about who you reach out to.
The goal of outreach is to bring attention to your candidacy for a role by reaching out to:
Hiring Professionals- These individuals fulfill recruitment or human resource type functions focused on sourcing talent for a company. They often have titles like...
- Technical Recruiter
- Any variation of titling with the word "Recruiter" "Recruiting" or "Recruitment"
- Talent Lead or Talent Acquisition
- Hiring Manager
- Staffing Specialist or Staffing Manager
OR
Industry Professionals- Individuals who work in a role that shares the title or expertise of the role you're applying for. Titling will vary by company, so start with a search for individuals with the same title you're applying for.
- Data science title keyword examples: Data Scientist, Data Analyst, Machine Learning Engineer, Data Visualization Specialist, Data Engineer, Business Analyst, Business Intelligence Analyst
- Web title keyword examples: Front-end, back-end, web, mobile, full stack, software engineer, web programmer, responsive web, web applications, solutions engineer, sales engineer
How do I find contact information for these professionals?
Many of you will use LinkedIn to research and identify professionals to contact. While use of LinkedIn is encouraged, email can yield a better response rate because it's more direct. Here's how you find the contact information for professionals:
Option 1) LinkedIn Type a company's name in LinkedIn's search bar to see their company page, then click the "People" tab to see who works there. From there use LinkedIn's filters and key words to discover professionals you can connect with. You do not need the Premium version of LinkedIn to do this! When you find someone you want to message, you'll click "connect" and "add a note".
Option 2) Hunter.io or ClearBit Connect The aforementioned products are email finders. Some companies or professionals may have they contact information easily accessible on their website or LinkedIn page. If not, use Hunter.io or ClearBit to find the emails for professionals you've identified work at the company.
2. Contact the Professionals
Regardless of the platform you use to contact a professional, keep your communication concise and to the point by...
- Staying close to or under 75 words or 300 characters
- Asking a question to solicit a response (for example, request an informational chat)
- Identifying a connection or commonality, as applicable
When you receive an unsolicited communication from an individual, the first thing you're probably wondering is, why are you contacting me? This is the question you need to answer when sending cold outreach messages. Below are some examples of concise cold outreach messages that hit the points outlined above.
Again, the goal of cold outreach is to try to connect with individuals at companies you're applying to. Such an action helps bring attention to your candidacy for the role. Use the message templates below, or explore more in our cold outreach 101 notion doc.
Message to a hiring professional
If you're reaching out pre-application:
Hi [NAME], I'm [your name] a [your title]. While researching open roles at [company name] I noticed you’re a [recruiter//talent title] for them. If you’re available this week, I’d love to share how my skills with [mention skills from job description] fit the open [role title] role. Can we schedule a time to connect? I'd appreciate your insights.
If you're reach out post-application:
Hi [NAME], I'm [your name] a [your title]. While researching [company name] I noticed you’re a [recruiter//talent title] for them. If you have availability, I’d love to chat about how my skills with [mention skills from job description] match the open [role title] role I applied for. Can we schedule a time to connect?
Message to an industry professional
If you're reaching out pre-application:
Hi [NAME], I'm [your name], a fellow [your title]. While researching [company name] I noticed you're a [their title] for them. Are you open to chatting about your own [developer//data science] career and at [company name]? I'm interested in the [role title] role, so I'd love your insights before applying.
If you're reach out post-application:
Hi [NAME], I'm [your name], a fellow [your title]. While researching [company name] I noticed you're a [their title] for them. Are you open to chatting about your own [developer//data science] career? I recently applied for the [role title], so I'd love your insights.
3. Follow-up or React to Their Reply
Once you send off a message in step two, there are a few different scenarios you may find yourself in.
Here are a few of the most likely situations...
No Reply ➡️ Follow-up
You sent off a message to a recruiter or professional but haven’t heard back after 3-5 business days. Time to follow-up! Though it may feel awkward, it’s best to try at least one follow-up in case the individual has simply forgotten to reply or missed your message. In this situation there you could...
Follow-up by acknowledging the previous message
Hi name, I wanted to follow up on my message from last week as I’m hoping we can connect. I remain excited about my application for the [role title] role. Is this week more convenient for you to chat about…[insert what you’re reaching out about]? Let me know if so.
Follow-up without acknowledging the first communication attempt. It’s possible they accidentally overlooked the communication or never got it.
For a professional with your same expertise:
Hi [name], I’m name, a fellow [data scientist//web developer]! Would you be open to taking a few minutes to chat with me about your experience working at [company name]? Your insights would be appreciated as I’m in the process of applying for the open [role title].
For a recruiter or talent professional:
Hi [name], I’m name, a [data scientist//web developer]! I noticed you help hire talent for [company name]. Would you be open to taking a few minutes to chat about open opportunities? Your insights would be appreciated as I’m in the process of applying for the open [role title].
After at least one attempt, it's OKAY if you don't hear back. This is a normal- an average response rate for cold applications and outreach is 10-30%. Take comfort in the fact fellow job seekers experience this same scenario for their outreach messages.
Open to an Informational Chat
You heard back and the individual is open to chatting with you? What next? Well, now it's on you to take some leadership in following through with the chat you requested (or whatever else you requested).
As an active job seeker, the purpose of an informational interview is to gain insight or advice that can help you as you apply for open roles. In your initial networking lesson you learned about informational interviews for the purpose of building relationships. As an active job seeker, you need to focus your questions so that they help you produce some next steps for your search.
For a break down of how to fulfill an informational interview, check out this notion document.
Accepted my LinkedIn Connection Request With No Response
This is a great scenario! As a connection to this person, you can now click through to see their contact information. Follow-up to thank them for their connection request via one of the contact methods they list. An email is a great way to do this, with a message like...
Thanks for accepting my LinkedIn connection request! I think I'd be a great fit for the [role title] role, and would love to learn a bit more about the position. Your advice and insights would be incredibly helpful. Do you have time for a quick phone call in the coming week?
Other Scenarios
If you find yourself unsure of how to handle a cold outreach scenario, pop by #career_help office hours with a career coach to get live support as you figure out how to handle interactions with potential employers or connections.
