Comment by cj
20 days ago
I also regularly get cold emails from candidates. Most often for marketing roles, rarely for technical roles.
Cold emailing definitely wont hurt your chances at the job.
But to be effective, the outreach needs to be heavily tailored and personalized. You need to make it obvious you aren’t copy and pasting the email to 20 other people.
Would you actually hire a candidate from a cold email? I did it when I was in undergrad looking for research experience. But for professional level jobs it seems so presumptuous considering how you cost 10 or 20x more than an undergraduate on work study.
You certainly wouldn't hire someone from a cold email. But if they seem like they're the kind of person who's smart and gets things done, you can certainly get them into the process.
The purpose of these emails is just go get you in the door. From there, you gotta interview well.
Why wouldn't someone ?
Presumably budget is already set for the year and employees (at the level we talk about on HN) are extremely expensive. Whereas if you were an undergrad looking for work study, an intern, lowly mail room clerk, you are almost free for the organization.
Because they need to interview! The email just gets you in the door