Contacting people

Hi guys,

I'm starting a job search after being out of the job market for awhile (traveling). I've been looking a bit for open jobs on the career sections of some of the companies I'm interested in, but I suspect that application to most companies without some sort of connection on the inside isn't going to be real productive. I have access to a pretty extensive alumni database from my alma mater so I can find people working in many of the companies I'm interested in.

But, it's not like I know them. The only connection we have is that we went to the same undergrad. So I'm wondering what you guys think is the best way to go about contacting these people.

Simply emailing them and saying 'hey, we went to the same school, I'm interested in this position, would you mind looking over my resume and passing it along to the right person' seems like a bit of a dick move, you're essentially asking someone you don't know to put himself on the line for you just because you went to the same school. On the other hand, if you email them and say 'Hey, I'm interested in talking to you about your company/position, do you have a few minutes' seems less like you're asking directly for a job, but then when you get them on the phone it ends up fake (if you've been out of school for awhile) because you already know about the industry, should know about the company, etc. This seems like kind of a waste of time on both sides plus the guy probably knows you just want a job. Option three is to see if they'll go get a coffee or something, but this doesn't work if you aren't in the same place.

So how do you guys cold contact alums? Or, for those of you working, what would get the most positive response from you?