How to write a cold email to land your next internship

In the , we showed you the importance of cold emailing and how some of the most famous people in the world created opportunities for themselves, including the creators of . In this post, we want to talk about how to do this yourself. We cover effective and practical ways to reach out to people and create job opportunities for yourself, without sounding like a jerk. These tips can help you land jobs that you didn’t think you could have. In fact, we asked 20 people how they landed their first job — a majority (15) people said it was by getting involved early and asking.

So, how do you get started?

Step 1. Make your target list

Make a list of companies and industries you are interested. Learn as much about the companies as you can. Are you interested in BlockChain? Make a list of all blockchain related companies — what the companies do, strengths, weaknesses, leaders, etc. This not only becomes your target list, but also makes you semi-intelligent about the space so when you do have a conversation with someone, you can reference useful insights.

Step 2. Get contact info

From the above list, the next step is to figure out how to contact people at these companies. You can usually do a quick LinkedIn search, checkout the About Me pages for companies, or even just guess their email address.

Here are chrome extensions that help you guess e-mail addresses:

Step 3. Reach out

Reach out. Write a nice, humble note to these people. The key is to be genuinely interested in the company, industry, and what they do. Have some thoughtful points ready, be respectful, and don’t force anything. The best way to craft your reach out is to find something interesting that that person has done and refer to that in the email. Perhaps you went to same school or perhaps they wrote some cool blog post or perhaps they worked on some cool project at company X. It doesn’t matter specifically what you pick, but find something to bring up in the e-mail. This is a great starting point to connect with someone you are reaching out to.

Below is a quick template to get you started.

Hi [manager name], I hope you don’t mind this reach out. I am currently a student at [school name], and I am super interested in learning about [company name]. Would you mind if I asked you a couple of questions? No worries at all if you are too busy. Happy to chat on the phone if it’s easier. Here is a little information about me [linkedin link]. I noticed you recently shipped [feature name]. Is there a way I can play around with it?

What’s it like to work at [company name] Looking forward to hopefully hearing from you! I am super excited about [company name]

Thanks, [your name]

Step 4. Wait & Iterate

After you reached out to a few companies / managers, here is what to watch for.You’ll get rejected. A lot. Many people will not respond. That’s not a big deal. You have nothing to lose. Don’t lose faith or motivation. It likely has nothing to do with you, your note, or message.

Be on the lookout for feedback. I bet some people will respond. Even if nothing works out, ask them how you can improve? What were they looking for? Is something not clear on your resume?

Follow up right away — if someone does take the time to respond and engage, follow up right away. The 12hr rule stands (you should respond to emails / messages within 12 hrs).

Go forth and create the jobs of your dreams. Remember, you have nothing to lose. As always, check out the resources on Career resources — Free Resume reviews, advice, and job posts. Be sure to tell us how it went.

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