A Professional Email

[blueerica]

I need to send out an email to a contact I have for CBS Outdoor in Utah. I'm really interested in working for them, for a variety of reasons, and hope I can score something within a short time of getting out there.

It dawned on me last night that in all the chaos of the last few weeks, I forgot to get a jump on it. So now I'm stuck with a week until I get to Utah - I'll be there for a week and a half. I'd like to send an email, but am wondering what I should say in the title that would make her open it and would leave a good impression.

The contents are somewhat obvious to me, but I plan to introduce myself, tell her that I'm living in southern California, graduating at the end of the year and am planning to move at the start of 2008. Not resume-style, but enough to give her the basics with a sense that I have good communication skills. Unfortunately, if she doesn't open it, I'm left with nothing.

So, I guess I'm looking for a good subject line. Any ideas? Or perhaps I shouldn't even do that at all. Maybe I should make a phone call at the beginning of next week? Or would that be too intrusive?

Unfortunately, I won't have a chance like this to be out in Utah during the week, so I can't do this closer to the time I am actually moving out there, and I want to leave a good impression for when I am out there, as well as getting a more personal view of how the market is in Utah. Your opinions are incredibly valuable to me, so any input you may have would be greatly appreciated.

I'm just so nervous about trying to find a job at this age, fresh out of college and so far from just about everyone I know except J. I've also been looking at a number of other opportunities, and am concerned that my inability to be out there will hurt my cause. Should I just wait until I move out there to start applying? There's no immediate financial need for me to have to work for probably the first month...

*beg*

[blueerica]

Oh yes, and if it wasn't clear, the desired result is a chance to meet up with someone, in person.

[Chernabog]

It never, ever hurts you to put out your feelers early. You don't want to be in the position where you're desperate for a job a month down the line and you're forced to take any old thing that comes your way. So do this now while you have some wiggle room to pick and choose.

As for the subject line, I would think that "Current Employment Inquiry at CBS Outdoor" would suffice. Just don't stick "READ ME!!!!" or "PLZ READ ME!!!!" or "OMGZ OPEN THIS EMAIL R0xxOr!" or anything of that nature.

Who is the contact? Is it a friend of a friend? Then you might want to put "(contact from <insert friend name here>)" in the subject line, i.e. "Employment Inquiry at CBS (contact via Jane Doe)" as the subject line. You should also have the person give that contact a "heads up" so that they expect the mail.

If you don't hear back with that one email then send a followup email at least a week or two later (or call via telephone at that point). The last thing you want to be is a pest.

If it is just a contact that you heard about thru the grapevine (or read about) then try email twice or so, but in the interim send your resume via snail mail. Snail mail resumes (or faxed resumes) always get a better response than emailed ones. Also you can control how a faxed/mailed resume looks. What looks nice on your computer may look like crap on theirs -- so if you ARE going to send an emailed resume, then make it a PDF file first. There are free PDF converters over the web if you dont have Adobe Acrobat's ability to do so.

OK I hope some of that helps!! Best of luck to you -- remember to be persistent and don't give up at the first sign of defeat (which happens OFTEN to every job seeker... do NOT expect others to act professionally, but you need to conduct yourself professionally no matter what).

[Prudence]

Why not call it "informational interview"? That's what they tell us to do for networking. It's meeting people face-to-face - people who are in the field you hope to be in. It's not a "real" interview, and rules are that you NEVER offer your resume (although it wouldn't hurt to have one handy should they ask) or act like you expect to work THERE, just that you are trying to get a feel for what the industry/area are like. Like a ride-along in a cop car.

In theory, this is supposed to help get the word out about you, too. So you go on "informational interviews" now, and then when someone's buddy needs a new hire the someone says "you know, I talked to this person who is moving up here in a month...."

I'd probably call the email something like "[Field] student requesting informational interview". And then, to make it more open-ended and not "do it right now to fit my schedule", you can say that the soonest you will be in the area happens to be in a week, but you are also available [time in future] or by phone. (The idea is that you're trying to tell them the soonest you can make it, if they want to get it out of the way, but that you're not insisting that they fit you in on a moment's notice.) Ask if they would be willing to meet for coffee to talk about what it's like to do that kind of work (or whatever).

[Chernabog]

Originally Posted by Prudence

Why not call it "informational interview"? That's what they tell us to do for networking. It's meeting people face-to-face - people who are in the field you hope to be in. It's not a "real" interview, and rules are that you NEVER offer your resume (although it wouldn't hurt to have one handy should they ask) or act like you expect to work THERE, just that you are trying to get a feel for what the industry/area are like. Like a ride-along in a cop car.

This is great advice -- as far as the sending resume thing is concerned, I'd venture to guess that it is dependent on how specific your job search is. If it is just a "lets chat and see if I'd fit in with anything there" type of inquiry, then have a version of your resume on hand and there may not be a need to send it in advance. If it is a specific type of job you're wanting there, and want to chat with them then hopefully you'll have your resume tailored to that type of job in advance.... I'm not sure sending it would hurt you in that instance.

If you chat on the phone with this person they may ASK to send a copy of your resume too, so be sure to send one ASAP.

Oh, and the followup email (or voice mail) should be a "I sent you an email on XXX day regarding employment opportunities/information regarding your company and I was wondering if you received it. Please call me back whenever you have a moment at XX number, thank you so much!"

[Morrigoon]

How about: "In the area next week, would like to discuss your opening for <positition>"

[Kevy Baby]

I wouldn't try to be too obvious (such as "PLEASE READ") as this will increase the likelihood of getting overlooked. Just title it something obvious and simple such as "Introductory Email from Erica X".

What I would do is to call up and get her voice (presumably, they wouldn't put you directly through to the person) and leave a VERY brief message with your full name and phone number saying that you are sending an introductory email and you wanted to make sure that it got through to her. Say your name and phone number at the beginning and the end of the voice mail. The total length of the voice mail should be less than 10 seconds.

[blueerica]

Oddly, and I'm still sending the email off because it could be great and contacts are always good, their Salt Lake City division isn't looking so interesting any more. I'm wondering if its just because they haven't developed it, or... ? But they don't offer as many services in their Salt Lake City offices. I am still interested in finding out more, but I think I took some pressure off by looking at the reality of the Salt Lake situation.

The odd thing is, Salt Lake City and the surrounding areas are growing faster than ever, and not in a backwards hick sort of way. There's a lot of development and it looks like a time to expand, possibly a good time to be a marketing major in that market.

[Morrigoon]

What Kevy said.

[blueerica]

Well, guys, here's the low-down.

I did a little bit of handy dandy research, and by the process of intuition and using "Best Guess" I've come to realize that they may not have an actual office. They seem to have one person in Utah handling the accounts there (not sure about Jrs or assistants), with another rep in.... Pennsylvania.

I still want to meet this lady. Might be an interesting perspective on what SLC is and is not ready for.

Oh, yeah, and I sent the email a little bit ago, and got a vacation response from her. She's back on Monday, so I'll shoot off another email to her then. Hopefully, she won't be slammed the week after she gets back!