Tillyard Guides

Ask for a short conversation

You would like twenty minutes with someone who does work you are curious about.

Not for this: You are asking for an opening or a referral. Wait until after the conversation.

With scripts off, copy the text on the right and replace each {blank} yourself.

About you

Your college

e.g. Lakeside College

Your year

e.g. second-year student

What you study

e.g. public health

Your full name

e.g. Amara Okafor

About them

Their field or kind of work

e.g. public health

Their name, as you would say it

e.g. Dr. Lin Zhou

How you found them

e.g. the alumni directory

One specific thing about them or their work

e.g. your talk on school lunch programs

Your email

Subject: {my_school} student with a question about {their_field}

Dear {their_name},

I am a {my_year} at {my_school} studying {my_field}. I found you through {how_found}, and {specific_thing} made me want to ask how you got from college to the work you do now.

Would you have fifteen or twenty minutes for a phone or video call in the next few weeks? I can fit around your schedule.

Thank you for considering it.

{my_name}

What you type here stays in your browser. Tillyard does not send the email for you. The mail link has no recipient: add that yourself.

Do

Name one specific thing they did or wrote.
Keep it to four sentences.
Send it on a weekday morning.

Do not

Attach a résumé.
Ask about openings.
Send the same note to ten people at one organization.

No reply? Wait about 7 days, then send one follow-up.