Toby Somerville has published the second part of his three part series on getting contract work. I covered the first part in a previous post which laid the ground work for what Toby talks about next, the, ever so vital, initial email. Again I am going to summarize on the key points that Toby makes.
The Initial Written Contact
This first email is the “teaser” email. The “get your foot in the door” introduction. Nothing more. It is not your resume or an essay on your approach to the web. Its a “would you like to know more?” introduction.
Keep the Reader in Mind
When creating your email you need to think about the person reading the email. What they looking for and what they will be asking themselves:
- Who is emailing me and why?
- What skills do they have that we might find useful now or in the future?
- What relevant experience do they have?
- How good are they? Lets see some work examples.
- How much do they expect to be paid?
- How much do they expect to be paid?
The Email Format
I recommend a text-only email, rather than HTML. For the simple reason that it is more likely to arrive looking as you intended it to look.
The Email
- keep it short and sweet
- make sure there are no typos or errors and that the links work
- get someone else to proofread and give you an honest appraisal of what they thought of the content and its tone
- personalise the email if possible
- don’t be pushy or arrogant. Be polite and professional
- get to the point
- at the start explain: who you are and what you want
- link to examples of your work
- link to an on-line resume
- ask them if it is OK to call them in a few days time to discuss
- your contact details
Test it. Test it. Test it.
Prepare the email and save a copy. Send one to yourself and make sure it works and looks good. Double check it and get someone else to check it.
Toby has done an excellent job and I recommend reading the whole article and getting the full details.
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