In last week's 3-2-1 Newsletter, Atomic Habits author James Clear recommended the use of cold emails.

What are cold emails? The Indeed article How To Write Effective Cold Emails for Jobs provides a succinct definition of this form of business communication:

Cold emails are introductory emails that you send to someone you do not know to create a connection for business or networking opportunities.

They can be used to request an informational interview, to connect with someone in an organization you'd like to work for, or to indicate your availability for a new employment opportunity.

In his newsletter, Clear states:

You can cold email nearly anyone, but nearly everyone overlooks how powerful it can be. Sending one email each week that feels like a stretch can change your life. Will you get turned down? Sure, most of the time. But you only need one to pay off for something amazing to happen. Take your time, write a thoughtful message, and muster the courage to press Send.

I often recommend to people looking for a new job that they consider sending cold emails. I received many during my time as an executive in the Canadian Public Service and often forwarded them on to my managers for consideration or follow-up, as they deemed appropriate. As an executive, I was always scanning the environment for possible new hires to fill vacancies resulting from natural attrition. So rather than see cold emails as an annoyance, I saw them as a potential gift, identifying people who were interested in bringing their skills to my team.

Of course, I didn’t appreciate—nor act on—all cold emails I received. Ones that sounded like a form message sent to dozens of people with zero attempt to target them to the recipient irked me. Similarly, poorly written emails—characterized by bad grammar, long-windedness or poor attention to detail—were an immediate turnoff.

What impressed me most were messages that sounded like they were written by a real person, someone I could see myself talking to at a networking event or bringing into my organization.

And I saw the results of cold emails. Sometimes my team would hire people who had reached out to us. Other times, people to whom I had suggested the idea of cold emails found jobs as a result. These new opportunities were often entry-level jobs or deployments at level as opposed to promotions. Nevertheless, they were a way to get one's foot in the door or to change teams when one's current job was no longer a good fit.

The Indeed article offers five suggestions for writing a cold email:

The article also provides a helpful cold email template as well as three examples that could provide further guidance.

Indeed recommends doing research on company websites or business social media platforms (such as LinkedIn) to identify people to cold email. My own advice is this: don't be shy about emailing a senior person in an organization, such as an assistant deputy minister, vice-president or director general. Such individuals often have a longer term perspective and larger team than mid-level managers and may have previously had a positive experience with hiring a great person whose candidacy had begun with a cold email.

In the first few sentences, tell the recipient who you are and why you're contacting them. Indicate where you're currently working (or, if not working, what stage you are in your career) and why you're interested in working for them or finding out more about their organization. Keep your message short—aim for an email that can fit on a computer screen without scrolling—and be sure to proofread it before pressing send. And make your email subject line clear and appealing, for example, "marketing professional seeking opportunity to apply and expand skills."

After indicating your interest in applying your talents in the recipient's organization, you could ask for 15 minutes to conduct an informational interview. As I explained in my post Informational interview, such a meeting is an opportunity to talk to someone in a field, company or department that interests you. It's a useful strategy for people entering the job market or looking to change careers. The key elements of an informational interview are these:

Think of this as a 15-3-1 strategy. Of course, if the conversation goes well, you can send more than one follow-up email, particularly if your motivation is to give back to the senior person in the form of thanks, gratitude for the help they provided or information they can use.

Use the recipient's name to start your message. Demonstrate that you've taken the time to learn about them, such as by referencing some of their noteworthy work or areas of shared interest. Suggest ways that you may be able to solve a problem for them, such as bringing a rare skill set to their team.

Indeed suggests: "If you receive no response a week after you sent your email, then it is acceptable to send a short follow-up email." Recognize, however, that your recipient may have taken action that you are not aware of. Accordingly, you could say, "Hi Ms. Doe. This is a quick follow-up to say that I would still welcome the opportunity to have a brief chat with you, recognizing that you are very busy. If you have already forwarded my email to your team, I thank you for doing so." If they hadn't forwarded your email, your follow-up message may be just the nudge they need to do so.

Sending cold emails, alone, is not a sufficient strategy for finding a new job. It doesn't take the place of other employment-seeking activities, such as developing an effective CV that captures your experience and skills, applying to jobs, telling people you know that you're looking for a new opportunity, networking and more networking, doing informational interviews with friends and acquaintances, volunteering to increase your experience and exposure, and just generally polishing coconuts. Still, it's worth including cold emails in your toolbox. Take a leap and get your foot in the door.