Sending cold emails can be nerve-wracking, but Mallory Contois credits them with launching her career.
Over her 15-year career working with startups, cold emails have helped her find jobs, make connections and launch new ventures like her popular networking community Old Girls Club.
In fact, a cold email landed Contois her current role as vice president of growth at Maven, an online learning startup – a position that was created just for her, she says, after pitching herself to the company.
Contois wasn’t always this outgoing. But when she was 25, she was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, an experience that “really changed” her mindset, she says.
“For me, going through that health crisis really just opened a new reality,” Contois says. “No one’s going to be upset at me for asking for help. The worst thing that happens is they don’t respond, or they say they can’t help me.”
Since then, she’s made a habit of sending ambitious cold emails – “scary emails,” as she calls them – to people she wants to meet and companies she wants to work with.
It’s a low-risk, high-reward endeavor, Contois says: even if they say no, you’re one step closer to actualizing your goals.
“If you send one ‘scary email’ a week for the rest of your life, I promise you’re going to have an insane career,” she says.
‘Scary emails’ are key to her success
When asking for a favor, it’s crucial to make the task “as easy as humanly possible” for the other person, Contois says.
“If you’re asking for an intro, give them something to copy and paste or to forward,” she says. “If you’re asking to be considered for a role, make sure you attach your resume and give them your email so that they can put you into an ATS [Applicant Tracking System] really easily.”
Their time is valuable, so Contois recommends keeping your message short and “skimmable.”
“It doesn’t have to cover everything, just enough to get them to respond and be like, ‘tell me more,'” she says.
She points to an example of a successful cold email she sent to a recruiter in the past:
“Hey, I know I don’t look like the right candidate for this role. If you just look at my resume, you wouldn’t even look at me twice, but here’s 4 bullet points about why I’m actually perfect for this role. Can you please forward this to the hiring manager and just let me know what they say?”
Sending that email was “really scary,” she says, but the hiring manager for the position reached out shortly after, and Contois ended up getting the job.
When it comes to creating your own opportunities, Contois echoes Wayne Gretzky’s famous philosophy: You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.
If you feel intimidated by the prospect of cold-emailing someone outside of your network, she suggests imagining the situation from the other person’s perspective.
More often than not, we’re flattered and impressed when someone reaches out to us with a thoughtful message, Contois says.
Additionally, don’t be afraid to show your excitement: “If you feel really passionate about something, there’s no sense in playing it cool,” she says.
“It’s not the people that do a lot of extra work that stand out, it’s the people that I can feel something from,” she continues.
Putting yourself out there will result in “astronomical” career growth, she says.
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