In recent years, tools such as networking sites and trends in remote work have given candidates the ability to broaden their job searches and apply to multiple roles simultaneously. These advancements have also increased the number of candidates considered for a single role, which makes the overall process more competitive. If you’re currently searching for a new role, reaching out to a hiring manager directly may help you stand out.
In this blog, we outline the reasons for emailing a hiring manager directly and how to do so, and we provide email templates and examples to guide you.
Contacting a hiring manager directly can be beneficial and help you streamline your job search process. But first, make sure you have followed the employer’s application process and have checked to make sure there are no stipulations against direct contact. Contacting a hiring manager should never serve as a substitution for submitting your application through the company’s normal hiring process.
Here are a few reasons why you should consider writing an email to contact a hiring manager directly:
Depending on the role you are applying for, the organization, your background and other situational factors, there are various approaches you may take when directly communicating with a hiring manager. With this, though, there are a few essential steps you can take in writing an effective email to help make a great impression during the job application process. Here are five steps to follow as you craft your personalized message:
In order to get in touch with a hiring manager, you will need to first locate their contact information. If you don’t know the hiring manager’s name, this may be challenging, but you can sometimes find such information by seeing who posted a job listing or looking at the organization’s staff page.
Once you have their name, you may be able to find their contact information via networking channels, social media pages, an organization’s website or through general online research. After you perform your search, you can identify the best way to contact them directly—while email is always a good choice for professional communications, if you see that a hiring manager is particularly active on a networking platform, you may consider sending them a message on the platform instead. These platforms typically provide somewhat casual and low-stakes forms of contact, which may increase your chances of getting a response.
Once you have the hiring manager’s contact information, you can begin to draft your message. Start the email by greeting the hiring manager by name and continue by crafting a brief, direct and courteous message. You should include only basic information, such as details about your candidacy or applicable skills—remember, your goal in contacting a hiring manager directly shouldn’t be to start a lengthy conversation, but rather to introduce yourself professionally and express your interest in the role. Make sure you write concisely when demonstrating your enthusiasm for the role and remain friendly in your tone.
When drafting the body of your email, you should include your name and the title of the job you’re applying for. Using your email as a guide, a hiring manager should be able to easily and immediately refer to your application and materials. Not only do most hiring managers juggle various job openings and candidate contacts simultaneously, but introducing yourself is a large part of why you’re emailing them to begin with. Therefore, to avoid confusion and help the hiring manager learn your name, you should be as transparent as possible with this information.
When emailing a hiring manager after submitting your application, it’s important to be respectful of their timeline and the application process. Therefore, at this early stage in the application process, try to avoid asking for an interview or an update. Instead, you can ask to keep in touch with them and forge a professional connection.
You may do this by asking to add them as a contact on a networking platform or requesting to schedule a quick informational interview at a time that works for them. This can lead you to maintain a personal connection with the hiring manager, which may help you stand out from other candidates and give you an advantage when it comes time for interviews.
As is the case with every professional document you draft, you need to make sure you reread your email and revise it accordingly. This can help you communicate effectively and demonstrate your detail-oriented nature. First, you should read the email over and examine the text for any potential discrepancies, such as spelling, grammatical or syntax errors.
You may even consider asking a trusted friend or colleague to look over the email and offer feedback on your wording and organization. This can help give you an outside perspective on your writing and the tone you are using to communicate with the hiring manager. After correcting any errors, be thorough in your revisions and make sure to reread the email at least one more time prior to sending it.
Writing an email to a hiring manager can seem challenging at first. While you draft your message, it’s important to remember to remain concise, direct and enthusiastic in your wording. Here are two basic email templates to serve as a guide when contacting a hiring manager:
Dear [hiring manager’s name],
I hope this message finds you well. My name is [your name] and I recently applied for the [position name] role with [organization name]. I’m excited about the opportunity to be considered for this role as I believe my [skill 1] and [skill 2] would make me a great fit. Please reach out to me if you need any additional information.
I look forward to finding out more about the opportunity. In the meantime, I’d love to keep in touch—would you be able to add me to your network on [social media website]?
Best wishes,
[Your name]
Have you applied to dozens of job openings on job boards, only to hear nothing back?
It’s a common problem many of our clients face!
The issue is this:
HR or Hiring Managers receive a massive number of job applications through these job boards.
Too many of these applicants are unqualified candidates who are just “trying their luck.” And often, due to the complexity of the role, HR isn’t able to accurately identify who the highest quality candidates are.
So in this sea of countless job applications and CV submissions, how can you get yours to stand out?
Getting in touch with Hiring Managers directly and cultivating a relationship with them is your best way to get your foot in the door.
Did you notice that you won’t have to go through HR at any point in this process?
Nor do you send your CV and Cover Letter through right off the bat?
That’s the trick.
You’re bypassing all the gatekeepers to go straight to the final decision maker – the Hiring Manager.
And you’re doing it in a small, subtle way that makes it incredibly difficult for the Hiring Manager to say no.
Once you have identified the job and company, find out if you have any old friends or former colleagues who work there. Get in touch with them, and ask them to help you get a referral to the Hiring Manager.
Time and time again, we have found that this is the best way to get in touch with a new company.
Hiring Managers value referrals from existing employees very highly. It shows that the applicant is resourceful and well connected.
If you can’t get a referral, you will have to use a more long winded method to get in touch with the Hiring Manager.
If you don’t have any friends who can help, use LinkedIn to find the hiring team at the target company.
For example, if you’re interested in a social media marketing role at Australia Airlines, go to LinkedIn and search for “social media Australia Airlines”
LinkedIn will then show you a list of social media marketing executives who work at the company.
If you can’t figure out who the Hiring Manager is, try approaching a junior or mid level executive in the same team.
Don’t target senior directors as they are often too busy to reply unsolicited emails.
In this case, the right person to reach out to would be Raymond Chua, the Assistant Manager.
Email not listed on their LinkedIn profile? No problem.
To get the target executive’s email, you can use a Chrome plugin called Skrapp.
Install the Skrapp plugin on Google Chrome.
Then, sign up for an account. You’ll then get 100 free email searches a month.
Once that’s done, go back to LinkedIn.
Visit the Hiring Manager’s LinkedIn profile. With the plugin installed, you’ll be able to see a new button on the profile in Red.
Click that button to get the hiring manager’s email address.
Show the Hiring Manager that you know your stuff.
Give them some smart suggestions related to the business and your area of expertise.
Here’s a simple example:
Email Subject: Improving Instagram Engagement
I’ve been a fan of XYZ Co.’s Instagram page for a while now. The beautiful pictures always create such a sense of wanderlust in me.
Raymond, I’ve noticed that your team uses hash tags to broaden the reach of their posts.
Have you tried using Australia specific colloquial hashtags?
I’m currently managing the social media account for IKEA in Australia. I’ve found that using Australia specific hash tags get less direct engagement (due to the smaller base) but results in more overall views from users in Australia. This results in us getting a far higher percentage of our viewership from our target market (Australia) which is the KPI we look for.
Let me know if you’d like to give that a try at XYZ Co. I’d be happy to toss a few ideas out to you.
In parallel, I also heard that XYZ Co. is hiring a social media executive. Is the role still open? I’d love to hear more about it.
In the meantime, best of luck Instagram hunting!
Best regards,
Rachel
If you were the Hiring Manager, how would you feel upon receiving this email? If it were me, I’d be awfully impressed!
So impressed that I would take a phone interview (at minimum) with Rachel.
That’s why cold emails like these often result in outstanding response rates. They’re too impressive to turn down.
Now, here’s a different approach, but one that’s equally effective.
When we first thought to do this, our team tried out a more direct cold email strategy.
Together with a client, Sarah, we found the Hiring Manager’s email on LinkedIn, crafted a beautifully worded email – complete with deadlines, bold headers, and a clear CTA (call-to-action) requesting a coffee meeting with the Hiring Manager.
We spent hours crafting this email.And the result was…
0 RESPONSES from 8 emails to 8 different Hiring Managers.
And mind you, these were positions our client was highly qualified for.
When 1 person doesn’t respond, we can assume they’re busy or are having a bad day. When all 8 don’t respond, we know our strategy was wrong.
So we went back to the drawing board, and a week later, we used a simpler approach with a simple, clear email, and sent it to another 8 executives:
Dear Hiring Manager,
My name is Sarah, formerly an Investment Associate at XXXXX in London. I’m interested in the XXXX position open at your firm. Could we have a quick call to discuss 3 questions I have?
If you’re not available for a phone call, I can send over my questions via email.
A day later, my jaw dropped when Sarah updated me on the results.
7 out of 8 Hiring Managers responded to our one-liner email.RESPONSE RATE: 87.5%. That’s 7/8 people!
After they responded to our one-liner email, we then sent that same long email detailing Sarah’s accomplishments and background — and all 7 Hiring Managers agreed to grab coffee with our client.
That was a BIG deal.
And it all starts with that one-line email to the Hiring Manager.
The trick to successfully getting responses from executives is this: when asking for a large favour, don’t be upfront about it.
For example, if you need feedback on a new report from a colleague, don’t send them a 600 word email detailing all the problems you see with the report. Instead, send them a one-liner email first:
Hey, I need some feedback on my report. Can I send it to you?Almost everyone will say yes to a message like that. It seems like an easy ask.
Only when your colleague has committed to helping you, do you send over that mammoth 600 word email. Since they’ve already promised to help you out, they’ll be far more obliged to return that email with some great feedback.
So in summary – ask a small favour first, get the Hiring Manager to commit, then ask the big favour.
These simple email outreach techniques can be done by anyone – so why not give them a try yourself?
They do take some additional effort, but the results could be well worth it
Besides these, there are dozens of more job hunting strategies, best practices, and hacks every jobseeker should know.
Here are some of them – use them well!
