This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Judy Zeng, a 22-year-old business development intern at global media startup EO Studios, based in San Francisco. Her identity and employment have been verified by Business Insider. This story has been edited for length and clarity.
I’m a recent graduate from Northwestern University, where I studied journalism. I now work at a company called EO Studios.
As a media major, there was always a lot of stress around finding internships and jobs. With all the AI applications and AI-powered reviewers, I had a lot of disillusionment with the traditional hiring process as a senior. I sent about 30 applications but never knew if they were being seen. I felt like I could keep applying to jobs all day and not get anything.
In order to be more effective with my outreach, I figured I would try to be more strategic. Volume wasn’t my strength.
I tried an alternate method
I produced a video story for a class assignment that was about how journalists turned their cold emails into cold outreach for jobs. One Northwestern alum who had the same double major as me said he cold emailed a YouTube personality, and now he’s working as their head of content.
A lot of the people I spoke to made me feel there was an alternative to the traditional hiring process, and I was inspired by that. I felt like there was something really audacious and daring about reaching out to someone directly for a job. I never felt like I was one of those people, but I knew I had initiative, so I was like, why not try this out?
There was also an aspect of this strategy that felt like part of the job. As a journalism major, I took pride in being able to sleuth out emails and talk to the people I was interested in.
I decided to try it out. This is the message I sent the CEO of the company I currently work for:
Hi [recipient],I’m Judy Zeng, a senior at Northwestern University studying journalism and economics. I’m super passionate about tech and media, and in the past year, I founded a video production studio with 40K+ views and 50+ people featured on video. Here’s my LinkedIn profile for reference.I’ve been following EO Studio’s content and brand for a while now, and I think what you’re doing is truly exceptional. I’d love to join the team and help grow your company. Here are a few specific ways I see myself adding value:Grow out EO’s advertising and partnership infrastructure to increase revenue outside of YouTube monetization.Support the content production team by researching subjects, preparing questions, and interviewing subjects with my journalism background.Conduct quantitative research on what kinds of videos perform best on YouTube in order to inform what your next viral video looks like.Would you be open to a conversation one day in the coming weeks?I also saw that you’re looking to expand your global presence in the United States and have moved your leadership meetings to English. I’d love to add a new perspective to your team as a native of Silicon Valley with connections in the Chicago area, where I’m currently located for school.Let me know what you think!Thanks,Judy
This was the first time I tried something like this. The CEO didn’t respond at first, so I sent a quick follow-up. He then thanked me for reaching out and said he was interested in speaking. After the reply, I had a conversation with a senior member he looped in. Then I was able to meet up with the CEO in San Francisco since I was visiting the Bay Area over spring break.
In our conversation, we discussed the company, his vision, and the new media landscape. Both of my conversations with the senior member and CEO felt more like coffee chats than formal interviews. Afterward, I got a verbal offer.
Understand the company before you reach out
If you’re used to sending out mass applications, this is a different framework where you want to think carefully about the company you want to join and whether it would be a good fit.
You should take the time to really understand the company and its business needs first. I think using LinkedIn is an underrated strategy for understanding what’s going on at certain companies and reaching them.
A lot of CEOs, decision-makers, and senior-level folks post on LinkedIn about what’s going on at the company, what they’re thinking in the moment, and whether they’re hiring. They post about their philosophies and if they’re trying out new experiments.
Luck plays a role
I would definitely recommend reaching out to a CEO, but it depends on the content or the company you’re reaching out to.
This will not work out in every industry. I don’t think you could email the CEO of a consulting giant and then get a job. It has to be a company that’s OK with people disrupting traditional hierarchies or hiring pipelines. At the end of the day, a big part of success with this method is also luck.
Did you get a job through cold outreach? We want to hear from you. Contact the reporter via email at [email protected] or share your story in the comments below.
