In short
A cold email is a first message to someone who does not know you. An informational interview is the short conversation you ask for in it: twenty minutes, your questions, and no request at the end. It is how people ordinarily find out what a kind of work is really like, and how most later introductions begin. You ask in a few sentences, you keep the call short, you listen more than you talk, and you say thank you the same day.
Who to write to
Start near. Graduates of your college, people two or three years into the work, a friend's older sibling, a speaker from a campus event. Someone a couple of years ahead of you remembers what you need to know, and is far more likely to reply than a senior executive.
Your career office or alumni office can often give you a list of graduates who have said they are glad to hear from students. Those are the easiest people to write to, because they already agreed.
How to write the first message
Keep it under 120 words. Three or four sentences do the work.
- Who you are, in a line. Your name, your college, your year and what you study.
- Why them, in a line. Name something specific: a talk they gave, a piece they wrote, a project at their organization, the fact that they studied where you do. Specific is what separates a note someone answers from one they delete.
- The ask, small and plain. Fifteen or twenty minutes by phone or video, at their convenience.
- A way out. "If now is not a good time, I understand."
Leave off a résumé, a list of questions, and any mention of openings. A first message that asks for a conversation is easy to say yes to. One that asks for a favor is easy to ignore.
The subject line should say who you are and what it is about: Second-year student with a question about urban planning, not Hello and not URGENT. Do not use a template without changing it: people can tell. The templates here leave blanks for the parts only you can fill.
If you have a name but no email address, look at the person's organization page or published work before guessing. If you cannot find an address, a short connection note on a professional network is the next best thing. Keep that to a few lines too.
If there is no reply
Silence is rarely a no. People are busy and inboxes are long. Send one follow-up about a week later, in the same thread, shorter than the first, and with a way out. There is a follow-up template. After that, write to someone else. A third message to the same person costs you more than it gains.
Before the conversation
Spend twenty minutes reading what is public about the person and their organization. Then write five questions you could not have answered by reading. Good ones:
- What does an ordinary week look like?
- What did you not expect about this work?
- What do people who do well in their first year have in common?
- What would you read or learn if you were starting now?
- Who else do you think I should talk to?
The last question is the one that makes the next conversation possible.
During the call
Be on time. Say again, in one sentence, why you asked them. Ask your questions, and take notes. Watch the clock yourself, and offer to stop at the time you agreed; they may choose to go on.
Do not ask for an internship or a referral in a first conversation. If they offer to help, thank them and ask what would be useful to them in return, even if the answer is "nothing." Where you meet matters too: phone, video, or a public place in the daytime, such as a campus building or a café. You owe nobody a private meeting.
After
Send a thank-you note the same day. Name one thing they said that you are going to act on. See the thank-you template. If they suggested a person or a book, follow it up, and tell them a few weeks later what happened. That second note is what turns one conversation into an acquaintance.
Write down who you spoke to, when, and what you said you would do. The tracker in the Workbench has a place for it.
When it goes badly
Sometimes a person is rushed, or unhelpful, or just a poor fit. That is about them and the hour, not about you. Thank them anyway, take what is useful, and write to the next person on your list. Nobody keeps score, and the next conversation starts fresh.
Also true: you are allowed to stop a conversation that makes you uncomfortable. If anyone presses for personal details, a private meeting, or anything that feels wrong, end it politely, keep what they sent, and tell your career office.