As a student, one of the best things you can do for your career is cold email someone with your dream profession and ask them to discuss your career path. Their success can teach you about how to go about achieving your career goals, and their insights can help you to determine what skill you need to develop and how you should go about getting where you need to go.
Reaching out to people you don’t know is intimidating, but trust us: more people do this than you think. Do a quick Google search or take a look at a few company websites to see if you can find contact info. Once you’ve gotten a hold of the person’s email, it’s time for you to write!
- In your subject line, make sure to mention that you’re a student. For example, your subject line could read “Penn Student Looking for Advice on the Finance Industry.” Make it clear exactly what you want – but nowhere in your email should it say “I want a job” or “Can you hire me?” You should show a genuine interest in learning more, not in getting this person to give you a role that second.
- Ask for a small amount of their time: it’s very likely that if you’re going for the big guns in terms of who’s who in your industry, this person has a jam-packed schedule! Request a quick 15-minute call or meeting up for coffee.
- Follow up! Again, people are busy, so if you don’t receive a response after a week or so, it doesn’t mean the person isn’t interested! Remind them that you’re still interested in learning from them and would love to meet up if they find time in their schedule.
Fun fact: Adam Feldman, now the Senior Product Manager at Twitter, interned at Forbes.com during his freshman year of college. He told us that he once cold-called the office of Kofi Annan, Secretary-General of the U.N., who ended up writing and he who wrote a featured piece for the magazine.
The motto? Shoot for the stars! The worst that can happen is that the person says “no” or doesn’t answer. So reach out to 5 people today, and let us know how it goes! :D
