After graduating from school, finding your first job (or a new job) might be a tough task. As an athlete with no professional working experience right out of college, it took me about three months to find a part time job after my summer internship ended… and that felt like forever!
When I decided to look for a job in a new industry, I realized that I needed to be strategic in my approach. Applying blindly wasn’t working for me, and I had a ton of questions about transitioning from my role in professional sports into the world of college athletics.
One technique I used was asking for informational interviews. An informational interview is a meeting you set up to learn about the real-life experience of someone working in an organization or company. These meetings are great because they can be short, like 15-20 minutes, and you can learn about the day-to-day tasks of somebody in the role. Best of all, you can also get a behind the scenes look at the type of work you could enjoy or not enjoy doing when speaking to someone directly.
Before you scroll down the template, here are a few things to keep in mind when crafting your email:
- Address the recipient by name. When reaching out to someone, especially somebody you don’t know, make sure you find your recipient’s name and address them as “Mr.”, “Ms.” “Mrs.”, etc.
- Mention you’re an athlete. Even if you’re working in an industry outside of sports, it is usually a plus to mention you’re an athlete. If you’re a recent grad, share a fact about yourself that will help your email stand out.
- Customize your letter. Let your recipient know that you’ve done your homework by including their title and the name of the company in the email.
- Share your intentions. Don’t just ask for a meeting. Let the recipient know why you want to meet. Being intentional from the jump will help the recipient know you have specific questions and aren’t going to waste their time.
- Be brief. Your email should be as short as possible. When you have your information interview, use that meeting to share more about yourself.
Here is an example and template you can copy and past for your outreach!
Informational Interview Email Example:
Dear Ms. Smith,
I hope all is well. My name is Jay and I’m a student-athlete at Central Connecticut State University. I‘m a senior on the Women’s Basketball team and I found your information on LinkedIn. I was hoping to learn more about your role as the Director of Athletics at Pace University. I was hoping to schedule a 15-minute informational interview to obtain your advice on how to launch my career in athletics.
Please let me know if you have time to meet in a few weeks, or if I should reach out in the future when your schedule opens up. I look forward to connecting!
Best,
Jay Abrams
DI Student-Athlete
Cell: (xxx)xxx-xxxx
Informational Interview Email Template:
Dear Mr./Ms./Mrs. ________________,
I hope all is well. My name is ___________ and I’m a student-athlete at _____________________________. I‘m a senior on the _____________________ team and I found your information on ___________. I was hoping to learn more about your role as _________________________ at ________________________. I was hoping to schedule a 15-minute informational interview to obtain your advice on how to launch my career in ____________________.
Please let me know if you have time to meet in a few weeks, or if I should reach out in the future when your schedule opens up. I look forward to connecting!
Best,
Your name
Your title
Your cell