the next generation of job matching
Hey y’all!
Mariam from Forward here 👋
In today’s edition:
⭐ HIRING A SALES and DATA ROLE FOR AN EMPLOYER PARTNER!
steal this: a 30 secs elevator pitch template (great for career fairs and interviews)
how to send a cold message on LinkedIn to increase your chances of a response
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This week’s curated job postings
⭐ COMMERCE IS OUR NEW EMPLOYER PARTNER! We are finding candidates for both roles, so if you’re interested for any, please hit REPLY on this email so we can help get you an interview
We source 20+ new early career jobs WTIH SALARY ALWAYS, updated weekly
Ask Mariam Anything (AMA) #6
Each week, I’ll answer your most burning career questions. Have a question? Ask me here.
“Is it weird to ask someone you don’t know on LinkedIn to ‘just chat’? I feel like no one is responding to my outreach these days.”
I’ve been sending cold outreach on LinkedIn for work consistently for 7+ years, and I’ve definitely noticed a drop-off on response rates with reaching out to people I don’t know. It used to be easy to at least get a “Hey! Not interested right now.” But now… crickets.
I still think cold outreach is a totally valid strategy in building a network, but here are some things to keep in mind:
Be specific about WHY you are reaching out. People side-eye a generic “hey love what you are about, would you be open to just chatting?” It comes off spammy or sales-y. But if you say:
There’s a specific post that they shared you want to talk about
You have a specific career-related question
That there is some mutual point of connection (e.g. graduated from the same school)
Start with people you can get introduced to! LinkedIn, for all its flaws, makes it easy to see who you are a “second degree connection” with (meaning, you have someone mutual on LinkedIn). Reach out to that mutual to see if you can get a direct introduction.
Be active on LinkedIn! I know it can feel uncomfortable or even cringe at times, but the more you post about topics you are passionate about, the more likely you are to generate inbounds and seem more “real” to the people you are reaching out to cold.
Overheard from a recruiter
I’m having conversations with recruiters, hiring managers, and other talent decision-makers weekly, and want to share tidbits of what I’m learning with y’all here too!
If you are attending a career fair, come with better questions than “are you hiring right now?”
If you are walking into a career fair, you are literally one of hundreds in a crowd. And especially if you are on a college campus, on paper, a lot of you will look the same. So it’s really the small things that make a big difference!
Do your research on the companies that will be featured, and come up with specific or interesting questions for those employers that demonstrate how thoughtful and thorough you are.
Have a really sharp 30-second elevator pitch on who you are. For your “dream companies”, you may even want to brainstorm something specific to them. Check out our elevator best practices toolkit for ideas!
Send a follow up email or LinkedIn message just saying thank you! No need to ask for 30 minutes (highly unlikely they can field those sorts of requests, particularly at the height of recruiting season). Just reference something specific about your conversation and let them know that you will be applying/have applied!
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Take a break
Job searching is hard work. You deserve a break. Here’s how I took time to rest and recharge this week!
Confession - this week I was not good about rest or relaxation. Life and work has been coming at me hard, but taking inspiration from my dog who never fails to remind me of the importance of a good night’s sleep.
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Thanks for showing up this week! We appreciate you. See y’all same time next week!
Mariam Matin
Connect with me on LinkedIn!