When cold emailing, attach resume or no?

If you have a good resume, I could see positives, as they may open it up and be impressed or is this a bad assumption (b/c no one opens random attachments)?

Option 2: Don't attach, try to build a relationship and wait for them to ask.

May be a dumb question, thanks for any input

14 Comments
 
Best Response

Don't include your resume in the first e-mail. They already know you want a job there if you're emailing them. You don't need to have anything about breaking in on the first e-mail. Instead, write about how you want to learn their take on their part of the industry or talk about something you have in common like going to the same school or something like that.

 

I know people who have had success doing it both ways. I think it really just depends on the person receiving it. A lot of times, the recipient is just too busy and won't even have time to write you back asking for your resume, so it would have been better to send it a long in the initial email, but other times, you may be coming off as too aggressive if you send it in the initial email. There just isn't really any right or wrong answer here. In my opinion, I would do a little A/B testing and try both out.

 

Yes, attach it. You don't need to shove it in their face; I usually just put "Please find attached my resume for further review. I look forward to hearing from you soon" at the end of my emails.

Currently: future neurologist, current psychotherapist Previously: investor relations (top consulting firm), M&A consulting (Big 4), M&A banking (MM)
 

and does the answer change if you're not a student while cold emailing? I mean, if you're already working and plan to cold email people at other firms, does attaching your CV have a risk of it winding back at your own firm in some way?

I suppose most people would be sensitive and treat such emails in confidence, but ppl know each other in the industry. Has anyone had an experience of their manager finding out about their cold emails?

 
archieandrews33and does the answer change if you're not a student while cold emailing? I mean, if you're already working and plan to cold email people at other firms, does attaching your CV have a risk of it winding back at your own firm in some way?

I suppose most people would be sensitive and treat such emails in confidence, but ppl know each other in the industry. Has anyone had an experience of their manager finding out about their cold emails?

Still attach it unless you're contractually forbidden to recruit elsewhere.. Even if you don't, the person on the end could do a quick Google meta-search to find your Linkedin profile, etc. Regardless, the person on the other end also can't do much for you if they don't know anything about you.
 

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