如何寫“冷郵件”才讓對方不反感？
Uncubed
2017-09-12
艾利森·埃斯波西托是網絡社區Tech Ladies的負責人，她每天都會收到5至10封的“冷郵件”。
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艾利森·埃斯波西托經常會收到陌生人發來的電子郵件，平均每天有五到十封之多。很多人寫信問她，如何才能進入科技界工作，如何才能變換職業，以及咨詢自己的簡歷是不是有什么問題，等等。 埃斯波西托曾在Foursquare公司做過文案，在谷歌公司做過內容經理，現在她創辦了一家名叫Tech Ladies的公司。Tech Ladies是一個網絡社區，它一方面將女性與科技業的職位進行匹配，另一方面也對科技界的職場女性提供各種支持。雖然埃斯波西托每天日理萬機，但你要想認識她也不難，只要知道如何寫好“冷郵件”就可以。 那么，她平時愿意回復哪種“冷郵件”呢？以下是她的一些建議。 1、寫給正確的人 在谷歌工作期間，經常有人寫郵件問埃斯波西托關于如何在谷歌求職的問題。很多人想進入的部門也根本不是她所在的那個部門。她表示：“如果你想問一個在大公司工作的人，那么你問的人要盡量離你想去的部門近一些。” “在寫電子郵件之前，先做一番研究，比如你可以在領英（LinkedIn）上搜索一番，將目標定位得越準確越好。”如果你想找一個市場部門的工作，卻寫信給了一個在財務部門工作的人，結果自然可想而知。” 2、你想要什么？別說“向你請教一下”。 埃斯波西托表示：“你的問題越明確越好。有的人發郵件不說正事，先說：‘你好，在嗎？’千萬別干這種事。接到這種郵件，我只能回復：‘我能幫你什么？’這樣你就把責任拋到了你想問的那個人身上。” 郵件里最好只問一個問題。比如“下一步我該找一個什么樣的工作？請給出建議。”或者“我創辦的這家公司要想獲得初步成功，我應該去請求誰的幫助？”等等。 在提問的時候，一定不要說“向您請教一下”這種模棱兩可的話。你應該想想，如果你有機會向對方當面請教的話，你最想問的問題是什么？在郵件里直接問對方這個問題就可以了。 3、不要請對方喝咖啡 埃斯波西托表示：“經常有人發郵件給我，直白地邀請我喝咖啡。這就好比兩個人還未曾謀面，你就要邀請對方去約會一樣。”更何況埃斯波西托也根本沒有時間跟所有邀請她的人出去喝咖啡。 “要有耐心，對對方產生更多的了解，然后建立私人的聯系。如果你倆的對話進行得不錯，你可以先要求跟對方通電話。不要一開始就提喝咖啡，因為忙碌的人每天都要應對很多這樣的請求。” 4、索取的同時別忘了付出 埃斯波西托經常強調，在索取的同時千萬不能忘了付出。如果你剛剛開始工作或者創業，或者你正打算換工作，“你可能暫時沒有什么東西可以給予對方。”當埃斯波西托還是個職場新人時，每次她想認識一個陌生人，她經常會主動提出，愿意替對方做一些文字編輯方面的工作。 她也承認：“當然，很少有人有文字校對之類的工作要做。不過即便他們暫時沒有需要你替他們做的事，這也表明了你把你們之間的關系視為一種雙向的關系，而這就是一段很好的人際關系的開始。”（財富中文網） 譯者：樸成奎 |
Allison Esposito gets a lot of cold emails—between five and ten every day, she estimates. People want to know how to break into tech, how to switch careers, and what’s wrong with their resume, among other things. Allison has been a copywriter for Foursquare, a content manager at Google, and now she runs Tech Ladies, a community that connects women to tech jobs and generally supports women in tech. Her roles are impressive, but she’s approachable, she said. And so are most people. You just have to write the right cold email. Here are her tips on writing the sort of cold email she’d be eager to answer. Email the Right Person At Google, Allison got job inquiries all the time. Often for totally different departments than the one she worked in. “If you are asking someone at a very big company, try to get someone as close to the department as you can,” she said. “Do your research to get as close to the person, and do some LinkedIn (lnkd) stalking to try to make it as relevant as possible.” If you’re looking for a job in marketing and email someone in the finance department, they won’t be impressed. What Do You Want? And Don’t Say to “Pick Your Brain.” “Be as specific as possible in your ask,” Allison said. “Sometimes you get these emails that are like, ‘Hey, what’s up.'” Don’t do that. “I end up writing back with ‘what can I help you with’, which is putting the onus on the person you’re asking.” One question is best, said Allison. Do you want advice on what job to look for next? Or whom you should reach out to help get your startup off the ground? Your one question should not be “Can I pick your brain.” Way too vague. Think of the first question you’d ask them should you have the opportunity to “pick your brain” and ask that instead. Don’t Ask Them for Coffee “Something I see happen a lot is people will email me and straight up ask me for coffee,” said Allison. “That’s going straight to asking someone on a date before you meet them.” Not to mention, it would be impossible for Allison to have coffee with everyone who asks. “Wait, learn more about them, make a personal connection. And if you can get a conversation going, maybe ask for a phone call first. Don’t open with coffee because busy people get a lot of that.” Ask and Offer In the Tech Ladies community, Allison tries to keep the ask-to-offer ratio equal. If you’re just starting off in your career or changing careers, “the hard thing is that you don’t have something great to offer, yet.” When Allison was new in her career she used to offer copyediting services to people she was reaching out to cold. Sure, “it’s pretty rare that anyone needs anything proofread,” she admitted. But “even if they don’t take you up on it, it does show that you’re thinking of this as a two-way relationship,” she said. “You see this as a beginning of a great networking relationship.” |
