Written by Mary Lim, Director of Programs and Innovation, CDM
- Be genuine
Tell the person you’re reaching out to why you are reaching out to them. Let them know you are a student/new to the industry.
- Be vulnerable
Don’t pretend to know things you don’t know. Ask questions if you are unclear about something.
- Share your work and/or content that is interesting to you
If you have work that you are proud of, share it. This is a great way to start a conversation with people instead of reaching out to them out of nowhere.
- Keep things lean and clean
Compose a BRIEF message. Don’t tell your life story. Your intro message shouldn’t be longer than five sentences. People are busy. Check your spelling/grammar.
- Do your research / engage with purpose / be specific
Look through the profile of the person you want to reach out to. Look up their company website if available. Refer to that in your message. (Ex. I am a student in the Master of Digital Media Program at the Centre for Digital Media (don’t use MDM and CDM – not everyone knows what that means) and I saw that your company does XR solutions in ______. I would love to learn more about this because I am working on a project on ______ and would love some insight. Would you have time for a 15-minute chat?)
- Be grateful
Always thank people for taking the time to talk to you or respond to your messages.
- Don’t take things personally
People are busy. They may not respond to you. They are not obliged to respond to you. Don’t take it personally, it’s not you; it’s them.
- Don’t pester the person
Don’t expect people to respond to you right away. Don’t send more than one follow-up message. You can try engaging with them via their posts but if they don’t respond to your message, move on.
- Connect with people you know
Make sure to connect with your program admin, instructors, guest speakers, and alumni from this program. People are connected to other people and more likely to respond if they see that you have a mutual connection.
- Don’t try to sell anything on LinkedIn