What to do now? HELP!

So, I cold-email someone at a firm, asking if she would be able to speak about an opening in her group (business development).

I used this method to guess her email address:
- found her name via Linkedin while searching for a point of contact
- then, I found a random person at the company's email address via Google
- copied the @ structure of the random email address, but changed it to her name

I started the email with a basic introduction (i.e. I hope all is well. My name is blah blah blah, I am from blah blah blah).

Instead of responding to the content in my email, or not responding at all, this lady responds saying "My apologies but I don’t recall having met you, how did you come across my contact info?".

Maybe she took my "I hope all is well" intro to mean we know each other? The good thing is that she responded. The bad thing is that I do not know how to follow up her question. It's probably not the best idea to say "oh, I just guessed your email address".

Any suggestions?

6 Comments
 

Google her email and see what comes up and then use the least creepy one and say you got it from there.

This to all my hatin' folks seeing me getting guac right now..
 

You shouldn't tell a person you've never met "hope all is well." The opportunity is probably lost, but if you want to continue then obviously admit you haven't met and that you found her e-mail randomly.

 

I think you're reading too much into the "hope all is well" where she probably is just thinking "how did this guy get my email address" and chose to address that by saying she's never met you.

Is there an actual opening you wanted to discuss, or were you hoping that speaking to her would create an opening? If there is an actual opening, was there contact information you should have used other than guessing someone else's?

 
Best Response
CruncharooGoogle her email and see what comes up and then use the least creepy one and say you got it from there.

Way ahead of you, but unfortunately nothing comes up!

FutureLROYou shouldn't tell a person you've never met "hope all is well." The opportunity is probably lost, but if you want to continue then obviously admit you haven't met and that you found her e-mail randomly.

Point taken. However, I went on to introduce myself in the following sentence, clearly indicating that we've never met.

realdonacollinsI think you're reading too much into the "hope all is well" where she probably is just thinking "how did this guy get my email address" and chose to address that by saying she's never met you.

Is there an actual opening you wanted to discuss, or were you hoping that speaking to her would create an opening? If there is an actual opening, was there contact information you should have used other than guessing someone else's?

Yes, there is an actual opening. I found it on a job aggregator, and thought I'd have a better shot if I reached out to someone directly (as opposed to just applying online, which rarely ever works for me). There was no point of contact on the job posting. Looked up the company on Linkedin and she was one of three relevant people I could reach out to.

 

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