Students
How to email someone you don’t know
Cold email is the highest-leverage skill nobody teaches at university. Most people will help a student, but only if replying costs them almost nothing.
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Five sentences, maximum.
Who you are, why them specifically, what you are asking, why it is small, thank you. Anything longer gets postponed, and postponed means never.
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Prove you did the reading in the first line.
Reference the actual thing, the talk, the paper, the product decision. One specific detail separates you from every templated message they got this week.
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Ask for something bounded.
“Twenty minutes, three questions” gets a yes. “Can I pick your brain?” is a request for an unbounded piece of someone’s life, and it gets ignored.
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Ask for advice, not a job.
Advice is flattering and cheap to give. A job is awkward and expensive. People who give you advice often become people who mention your name in rooms you are not in.
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Make the yes one word long.
Offer two concrete times, or attach the three questions so they can just reply in writing. Every decision you leave them is a reason to close the tab.
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Send it from an address that looks like a person.
Your university address is fine and often helps. A nickname address does not.
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Subject lines should describe, not sell.
“Question about your move from research to industry” beats anything with an exclamation mark. Nobody opens enthusiasm from a stranger.
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One follow-up, seven days later.
Add something instead of asking again, a line saying you read the thing they mentioned. Twice is keen. Three times is a decision you have made for them.
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Expect most of them to go nowhere.
A one-in-five reply rate is normal and fine. Ten thoughtful emails is a week of ordinary effort and usually produces two conversations you would never otherwise have had.
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Close the loop when it works.
If their advice helped, tell them. It takes ninety seconds, hardly anyone does it, and it is the single most reliable way to be remembered warmly.