Write E-mails That People Want to Read (Important If You Apply for a Job via E-mail) BY SOULAIMA GOURANI ON MARCH 26, 2012

Have you recently sent e-mails to people asking them for a favor such as reading or forwarding your

résumé? Perhaps you are one of the lucky ones who have received an e-mail in which someone asks

for your help, for example, in finding a new job.

A few days ago, an acquaintance of mine gave me a list of people he would like to contact in his search

for a new job. Due to work and family obligations, he has—like many others—neglected to nurture his

network during the last few years. This really set him off on a bad start. I gave him some very specific

advice:

The people on the list might very well find it irritating that you write to them now after not hearing

from you in four years. You need to pay attention to this in your communication.

People might find it annoying that you ask for help without first giving something.

People usually don’t want to read (long) e-mails.

So taking the above into consideration, how do you go about writing an e-mail that is not too long or too

imploring?

This is a typical e-mail:

Dear XXX,

I have, unfortunately, been laid off from my job at XYZ, and I am now seeking new challenges. If

you know anybody who can use someone like me, do not hesitate to recommend me. I have

enclosed my resume.

Kind regards,

XXX

Have you ever received such an e-mail? How did you feel when you read it?

These are what is wrong with the above e-mail:

The introduction is impersonal. The e-mail is not relevant because it does not link you up with the

person to whom you are writing. It is missing something that makes the recipient think “I must take

care of this and, therefore, I will read the entire e-mail.”

The e-mail is too short considering that you have not talked with the recipient for four years. The

recipient might end up wondering more about why you did not contact him for such a long time

rather than thinking about how he could help you.

There is no request for action. The recipient is not asked to do something specific. He is only

asked to keep his eyes and ears open, and that is rather noncommittal.

It is vague. It is naive to expect that the recipient can define the exact meaning of “If you know

anybody who can use someone like me.” First, the term “anybody” needs to be defined. Whom are

you interested in getting in contact with, which type of companies, and which industry? Second, it

is not fair to leave it to the recipient to define who “someone like me” is! Write five or more

buzzwords that the recipient can use when he introduces you to one of his contacts.

There is no contact. The e-mail does not include an invitation to reestablish the relationship. The

recipient feels a little bit abused by someone who did not bother staying in touch with him until he

really needed his help.

There is no “Thank you.” We forget to say “Thank you” to people for spending their valuable time

reading our e-mail. Even if they reply that they cannot help us, we should still say “Thank you.” If

you want people to help you, you have to be prepared to show your gratitude by saying “Thank

you” (at least three times).

I decide to delete the e-mail. Do you want to avoid this very realistic scenario? Then read on!

What’s Your Point?

We live in a period where we spend a lot of time on e-mails, meetings, planning, and various other

communication tasks. Many people receive twenty or more e-mails that they have to deal with every

day, and only after having responded to the e-mails can they start working on tasks that require them to

use their professional qualifications. This has resulted in many people suffering from e-mail phobia.

Therefore, the be-all and end-all is that your e-mails are straightforward, specific, and right to the point.

You have to grab the attention of the reader instantly, and if you don’t do that within the first line, your e-

mail will be screened out!

When you write an e-mail with the purpose of asking people to do something for you, you must state

your request in the first paragraph. Don’t go around in circles and end up having your request drown in

a sea of information, forcing the reader to be a specialist in text analysis in order to extract the meaning.

Ask yourself, “Why should they read my e-mail?” Be sure that you can give a short and to-the-point

answer. If you cannot answer the question, you can be sure that nobody else can.

Avoid getting caught in the mental spam filter!

How to Make People Read Your E-mail

You have 30 seconds to convince the recipient that he should read your e-mail. He will literally make up

his mind whether to read your e-mail in approximately half a minute! Do your e-mails pass the 30-

second test?

I can highly recommend following the “PRAC recipe” if you want people to open and read your e-mail

and then actually help you with your request.

P = Personal + R = Relevant + A = Action + C = Contact

I suggest that you write your e-mails in accordance with the PRAC method. This is how you should

structure your e-mails:

P: Personal

Be personal (often the e-mail does not even include a name). People sometimes just write a general e-

mail and send it to everybody in the network without addressing it to specific persons. That doesn’t

work, and you will just discover that people don’t respond. People like to get involved directly and

personally. If you absolutely must send out unsolicited job application e-mails, then at least don’t

structure it like everybody else does. You have to think about the person on the receiving end of your e-

mail.

R: Relevant

In this case, you are asking another person to help you by sending your résumé and recommending

you to a possible future employer. You should try to make the request relevant to the person from

whom you are asking for help by explaining why you chose to contact him or her. “I know from our days

back at XXX that you are really good at getting in touch with the right people, and since you are now

working in a really exciting industry, I am contacting you in the hope that you might want to help me find

new career challenges. Furthermore, I hope that I, in a future job, can become a good and valuable

partner to you.” If you have a funny anecdote that ties you two together, then you may also add that.

A: Action

Now you write your request. Make it short and right to the point. You can disclose that you have been

laid off, have resigned, are changing your life, or whatever your reason is for looking for a new job. Be

specific. Don’t write something like “If you know anybody who might need someone like me.” It is way

too broad and unspecific. It is better to write what type of job you are looking for. You could write

something like “In my new job function, I would like to help people with . . .”

Describe what you like to work with (value-based approach to job seeking). That makes it much easier

for the recipient to imagine the type of job that you are looking for.

C: Contact

If you are writing to a person in your network with whom you haven’t maintained contact, then you could

encourage him or her to reestablish contact. You could also recommend attending an event that you

know would interest the person in question. This is also where you say “Thank you” to the recipient for

his time, and of course, that should be done in an amiable way where you try to offer something in

return.

If you get a rejection, remember to say “Thank you” for the recipient’s time anyway!