What works better: Referrals or Cold Emails? Let me share 4 real-life stories of my followers and friends. (Not tagging them – not everyone is comfortable being in the public domain like I am 🙂)
- Story 1: An intern at my ex-firm, EY, was desperate to get into the Valuations team for his CA articleship. No contacts, no references. So he started guessing email IDs of people from LinkedIn and sent over 30 cold emails. One day, a Partner from another team simply forwarded it to the Valuations Partner, who forwarded it to HR, and he got in!
- Story 2: A friend of mine cold-messaged the CEO of a KPO firm. The CEO personally replied, forwarded it to HR, and she got the role.
- Story 3: One of my followers had a relative uncle supplying interiors to a management consulting firm. She asked her uncle to push her CV, and she landed the job.
- Story 4: A friend’s father, a renowned lawyer, happened to be working with a company’s board member. The CV reached the right hands and the offer followed soon after.
Moral of the story? Anything can work. A cold email, a DM, or a personal reference – it’s all about showing up and trying. Life’s too uncertain to rely on one method. But the moment you stop trying, you lose for sure.
Originally posted on LinkedIn.
