[Sample Email Inside👇🏻] How to Apply For Jobs When There's No Opening

Take your destiny into your own hands!

#035

Hey 👋🏼

How’s it going with you? Work? Your physical & mental health?

Today, I hit 70% of my target to publish for 100 consecutive weeks! On July 4, 2023, I sent out the first issue of this newsletter. It’s been quite a ride hitting “publish” every week since then.

Thank you all for reading, sharing, liking & commenting.

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One of the best articles I wrote last year (going by readership stats) is this article urging you to Apply for Jobs You DON'T Qualify for. I see many candidates getting discouraged for not meeting the stated number of years or not having a certain qualification.

Why reject yourself before the recruiter rejects you?

But that’s for roles that are advertised.

How do you reach out to recruiters, founders, and other key decision-makers to pitch yourself when there is no advertised vacancy?

Cold email.

Let me explain.

There is a paradox I see in the job market. The Candidate-Opportunity Paradox. While employees are complaining about the lack of opportunities, employers are complaining about the lack of talent.

That begs the question. How do you take the initiative to position yourself in the sea of candidates especially when there is no advertised opening?

Cold email.

Granted, unsolicited emails have very low open rates. But the right email, sent to the right person can set you apart. I wrote about how to search for jobs on LinkedIn which includes a section on reaching out to recruiters like a pro.

In writing this post, I researched a couple of cold email templates and came across this one by a certain Niraj Pant who wanted an internship at Snapchat and sent a cold email to Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel. Of course, he got a response.

It worked for 3 reasons:

1. It was brief & straight-to-the point

   People are busy. Top people are even busier. Don’t beat about the bush with unnecessary greetings & “How was your weekend?”

2. It captured his experience & abilities

   Startup founders have what is called an “elevator pitch” ready. You should have an elevator pitch for your skills & experience.

What do you do? How can you describe that in 1 or 2 sentences?

3. It was sent to a key decision-maker with a specific ask

   Again, cold emails have very low open rates. Don’t waste it.

Here is a sample of the email Niraj Pant sent to Snapchat CEO.

How can you modify this to suit your next job search?

Hope it helps.

With Love,

Azodo.