The Ultimate Hack to Landing Your Dream Job in 2024: Mastering Cold Emails

In 2024, traditional job applications just don’t cut it. Cold emails are key to job search success:

You can think of your options to apply to a job on a 2x2: reach vs effectiveness.

In the lower left, you have…

1. Apply via Job Board

• Reach: Low
• Effectiveness: Low

This is the standard way most of us want to apply to jobs. It’s the easiest. And if we’re qualified, it’s bound to work, right?

The problem is: everyone thinks that way. Every job posting on LinkedIn has 200+ applicants within a day or two. So, its effectiveness is low.

And its reach isn’t that high anymore either. LinkedIn has limited the job postings you can have for free. So it has a small fraction of the available jobs.

Moving to the lower right, you have…

2. Apply on Company Site

• Reach: High
• Effectiveness: Low

On the company website, at least you’ll see every job that’s available publicly. The reach is a lot higher than sites like LinkedIn.

But the effectiveness is still low. Any job posting out there gets hundreds of applications in this tough market.

The result is that you get a minuscule reply rate, and, more likely than not, you’re going to be ghosted.

Now, moving to the upper left, you have…

3. DM on Social

• Reach: Low
• Effectiveness: High

Most people don’t even realize this is an option, because they’re so caught up in the traditional application mindset.

But messaging hiring managers or recruiters who are active on a social media platform can be incredibly effective. You immediately stand out from the hundreds of faceless applications.

The downside is reach. Some people just aren’t active on any social media. And for some roles, it’s hard to figure out who the hiring managers or recruiters even are.

Finally, in the top right, is the holy grail…

4. Cold Email

• Reach: High
• Effectiveness: High

With cold email, you can reach out to virtually anyone, at any company. No need to rely on an active job posting. And if each email is personalized, you can get much higher response rates than a resume drop.

Yes, it takes more effort than blasting out dozens of applications. But the ROI on that time is high.

One strong cold email can lead directly to an interview at your dream company — even if they don’t have a relevant posting up.

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So if you’re serious about maximizing your job search, start incorporating cold email today.

Skip the job boards and online applications. Go directly to the decision makers.

That’s how you’ll land your dream interviews and offers.

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Ready to dive deeper into mastering cold emails and transforming your job search? Check out my full guide here.