By Don Goldstein

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In my last post, I talked about the basics of email etiquette and identified different types of job search email. As a follow-up, I want to discuss different types of networking email and suggest some wording for these messages. Again, please don’t copy the examples below word for word because email messages need to be tailored to the specific situation and should reflect your own writing style.

Networking Initial Email

LinkedIn Connection

Let’s say you are exploring a new professional area of interest. You’ve exhausted your online research, and now you would like to speak to an insider who is working in the field that you are interested in. You’ve gone on LinkedIn and used the alumni tool to identify a GC alum who is doing the type of job that you would like to be doing. How do you reach out to that person? What do you write?

You could use the default LinkedIn invite: “I’d like to add you to my professional network on LinkedIn” with the idea that, once you’re in each other’s network, you can now message them to ask for an informational interview. That may work, but many people will not accept an invite from someone they don’t know. A better way would be to customize your invite while staying within LinkedIn’s 299-character limit.

Here is an actual invite that I received a few weeks ago:

I ran across your profile as I was searching for a career professional. I am looking to change career paths and I am very interested in becoming a career advisor. Would you mind connecting so that I could ask you about your experience with career advising?

I accepted this invite and two days later we had an hour-long conversation by phone.

Contact Email

Now, let’s assume you already have the target person’s email address. You could word the email as follows:

Dear Ms. _______,

My name is ______. I am a PhD candidate in Sociology at the CUNY Graduate Center. My friend and your former colleague, _______, suggested that I reach out to you so that I could learn more about the field of political and public polling. Would it be possible to have a half hour conversation by phone or Skype at your convenience so that I could ask you some questions and seek your advice on how to get into this field?

Sincerely,
___________

Follow-Up Email

Let’s say that you emailed a request for an informational interview and never received a reply. You certainly have nothing to lose by trying one more time. Maybe the person was going to answer and then got busy or distracted and forgot all about it. Maybe it was a really busy time and they missed your email altogether. I would wait for at least ten days and then send a follow-up like this one:

About two weeks ago, I reached out to you at the suggestion of _______ asking about the possibility of speaking with you about your career experience in political and public polling. I know that you must be very busy but if you could spare the time, I would be very appreciative.

If you don’t receive a reply to your follow-up, just drop it and move on.

Thank You Email

Any time someone helps you with your job search, you need to send them a thank you email. It’s polite and no one will help you again if you don’t show appreciation. You certainly need to thank the person who granted you their time and wisdom in an informational interview, but you should thank the person who referred you to that individual as well. The subject line can be as simple as “Thank You.” Here is a suggested sample:

Thank you for taking the time to meet with me yesterday. I really enjoyed it and I learned so much. The more I heard about your experience, the greater my interest became in the field. Right after we finished, I reviewed the website that you recommended and I gained a clearer understanding of the job titles and the structure of the industry. Also, thank you for referring me to ______. I have already reached out to her and we set up a time to talk next week.

I really appreciate your help. I will keep you updated on my progress and hope to stay in touch.