The Hidden Power of the Cold Email

Back in May 2018, I was a sophomore in high school who was getting overwhelmed with summative’s and final projects for all of my eight courses.

One of those courses was career studies. Anyone who has graduated from the Ontario public high school system knows that every student needs to take career studies in order to graduate high school. It was a class where students started thinking about life after secondary school and began creating a clear plan for it. And for our final summative, we had to choose our ideal career and do a presentation for the class about the job. At the time, I wanted to be a production accountant— someone who worked as an accountant particularly in the entertainment field. My teacher wanted everyone to have a primary resource— which to her meant, a professional already working in the field. My classmates had family friends or their own family members with their desired careers. Me? I knew nobody.

Are you out of your mind? Now how exactly do you want me to do that, Miss? Email a bunch of random strangers and hope one of them responds to me? Do you want me to fail?

Had I wanted to go to the principal’s office, by all means, I would have expressed my concerns to her. I opted to keep my mouth shut.

Nonetheless, I went to the Directors Guild of Canada website and found a couple of production accountants, and carefully crafted an email and sent about ten of them in hopes of getting at least one response for my careers summative. It worked. Nathalie Laporte, a freelance production accountant, graciously responded to my email and answered my questions needed for my careers summative. I still have the email chain to remind me that it’s worth taking a shot.

Since then, cold-emailing and a bit of luck have gotten me job-shadowing opportunities with Cineplex Magazine and informational interviews with media executives from Corus Entertainment and Sinking Ship Entertainment.

Still not convinced?

Here are three legitimate benefits of cold emailing: 

1) Build your confidence

I’m going to hand it to you straight— it takes a lot of guts and courage to email a working professional, especially given the possibility they won’t respond at all. But I swear, when you get that one response after ten emails sent, boy, does it feel good. And after that, nothing can stop you as your self-confidence starts to slowly increase bit by bit. All it takes is one response. As Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez once said, “For every ten rejections you get one acceptance.”

2) Practice writing professional emails

One day, you’re going into the real world, and you’re going to have a real job. That job might require you to send emails to professionals much more senior than you and expect top-notch quality from all employees, down to perfect grammar in your email. Cold emails are the perfect way to hone your email writing skills before you graduate from university and enter the workforce.

3) Expand your network

My dad used to say to me (and still does, if I’m being honest) that “it’s not what you know, it’s who you know.” I never understood as a kid how connections would be more valuable than the content I had learned at school, but now I do. He was right. You can graduate with a 4.0 CGPA, but if you haven’t built a reliable network, you’re more likely to be at a disadvantage compared to those who have. Build a strong network of professionals, and your connections can refer you to someone else for a job, or at the very least, share some of their wisdom with you.

So now you may be thinking, “Alright, you’ve convinced me. How do I start?”

First, make a list of companies you want to work or intern for one day. Got it? Good. Now, if the company has a contact page, go there first to see if they have more than just their main email. If they do, then you’re in luck. On Corus’s homepage, they have multiple emails of people who work there. Pick a person that has a career you’d perhaps want to pursue one day and from there, craft your perfect email! LinkedIn is also another way to do this. Introduce who you are and what you want from them, and what you can offer on your behalf. For example, you may ask them for a 20-minute informational interview and in return, you might offer word-of-mouth on their TV show they’re working on. If you have nothing to offer in return, that’s ok! As long as you’re genuine and have the eagerness and humility to learn, that’s enough.

Just some general advice to keep in mind:

1.  “Keep [your email] short, easy, and actionable,” as Tucker Max writes in the Harvard Business Review. Although it may not seem like it, the majority of people really do want to help. But in order to get some help, you have to make it easy for them to read your email. Also, though it may sound tempting, do not ramble. Finally, articulate one clear objective you want them to get from you. 

2.  Like I said before, not everyone will respond. That’s the reality of it. For ten emails I’ve sent out, I’ve gotten back one response, two if I’m lucky. But don’t let that discourage you. Keep going! One person can really make a world of difference.

3. Remember always to say thank you! Thank them for their time and watch out for grammatical errors. This may sound obvious, but every error looks bad to the receiver and leaves an unwanted impression for them even before they can finish their email.

 So go on and shoot your shot. In all seriousness, what have you got to lose? Good luck!