“A Cold Email Got Me My Job” 

“Everyone says networking is the route to success,” writes Olivia Reingold in The Free Press. “But I’ve always been a strong believer that any door can open if you score the right invitation. My advice? Don’t ever ask to ‘pick’ someone’s brain. The trick is to get inside their brain. Start by googling them, or rereading or relistening to their work. Why do you like it? Tell them that. Make them know they matter.”

I made essentially the same argument many years ago in my book Automatic Wealth for Grads.

Here’s the gist of some of what I said in the chapter about how to write a great job application letter:

The most important thing you need to realize about getting a job is this: The people who will be reading your letter are not really interested in you.

If they’re not interested in you, then what are they interested in?

I’ll tell you: They’re interested in themselves.

Think of getting a job as a direct-marketing challenge. The direct marketer knows that, to make a sale, everything he writes must be focused on the prospect’s problems and how much better his life will be after he’s bought the product.

When seeking a job, the prospect is the person you want to work for and you are the product.

So, the number one job of any sales pitch to that prospect (a letter, phone call, or personal meeting) is NOT to sell yourself as smart and well educated, but as someone smart and knowledgeable enough to solve his problems.

And to do that, you have to do a good deal of research. To begin with, you should research the industry to understand its problems and challenges. Then research the company itself and find out everything you possibly can about it. Is it growing, in limbo, or losing revenue? What are the main factors affecting that? And then, finally, dig up what you can about the person you are going to be working for. What kind of boss is he?

If your first effort is a letter, make it as specific and personalized as you possibly can. Don’t make it sound like you’ve been snooping around, but make it clear that you (1) understand how the business works, (2) have some idea of what the primary challenges are in terms of profit growth, and (3) are interested in helping this particular person accomplish more with less stress because you will be there to take responsibility for whatever he needs.

   Click here to read Olivia’s article.

And if you’d like a copy of Automatic Wealth for Grads – for yourself or as a gift to a young person just starting out – you can order it directly from us. List price is $22.95. But for readers of this blog, the price is $15 (which includes free shipping).

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