Cold outreach that gets replies

A lot of hiring happens before a role is posted, or alongside the public process, through people who were simply on the hiring manager's radar. Cold outreach is how you get on that radar. Done badly, it is spam. Done well, it is a short, respectful message that makes it easy for a busy person to help you.

Pick the right person

For most roles, the best target is the hiring manager or someone on the team, not the recruiter. Recruiters are managing dozens of roles; the manager is managing one and cares a great deal about filling it well. If you cannot identify the manager, a senior person on the team is the next best choice. Only write to one person per company at a time.

Keep it under 120 words

Your message will be read on a phone between meetings. If it needs scrolling, it will be saved for later and later never comes. A structure that fits comfortably:

• One line on who you are: role, level, one credential that matters for this team.
• One line on why them: something specific about the team, product or posting that you genuinely noticed.
• One line on what you have done that is relevant, ideally with a number.
• One clear, small ask: a fifteen-minute call, or whether they would be the right person to send an application to.

Make the ask easy to grant

"Would you have time for a coffee to discuss my career" is a large ask of a stranger. "Would you be open to a fifteen-minute call next week, or could you point me to whoever is hiring for this" gives them two easy ways to say yes and an easy way to pass you along. Never ask someone to review your resume in a first message. That is work, and you have not earned it yet.

Personalise honestly

Personalisation means referring to something real: a talk they gave, a product change you noticed, a post they wrote, a problem the job description mentions. It does not mean flattery. "I was impressed by your incredible journey" is noise. "I saw the team moved billing in-house last year; I did the same migration at my last company" is signal.

Follow up once, then stop

If you hear nothing after seven to ten days, send one short follow-up that adds something small: a link to relevant work, or a line about a recent announcement. If that also goes unanswered, let it go. Two messages is persistence; three is pressure. Log the outcome and move on to the next person.

Using drafts well

If you use a tool to draft outreach, treat the draft as a scaffold. Check every claim, cut anything that sounds generic and make sure the specific detail about the recipient is actually true. savara's outreach tool produces a draft from your resume and the job, but it will not send anything on your behalf; you copy it, read it one more time and send it yourself. That final read is where most of the value is.