Ask HN: Is there a good remote alternative to inviting someone for a coffee?

Posted by zenlikethat on Monday October 21, 2013 @03:52PM
from the ask-hn dept.

As many of you probably know a tried and true standby for networking is to offer to buy a coffee or lunch for the party you wish to meet so that you can pick their brain, break the ice, and get to know them a little better before you blithely proposition them for career help or advice while offering nothing in return. In my opinion, a little appreciation for peoples' time can go a long way.<p>However, this is just not feasible if you're not in the same city as them. I was curious if anyone had ideas or strategies for remote alternatives. I'd like to get some recruiters for companies I'm interested on the horn, for instance, and see what they are looking for as well as warm up the lead a little bit. Just wondering if there's anything I can do while cold e-mailing to make it a bit more friendly. Thanks!

( 9 comments | 3 points | on HN )

Re:Ask HN: Is there a good remote alternative to inviting so... by pashakym on Monday October 21, 2013 @04:42PM (#6588063)

Sure, try to finds twitter/facebook/blog/video/presentation activities. And do some research about discussed topic. Then your "cold" email will be much more "worm". foe example : "Hey Jeff, I read you latest blog about BART strike and I agree that we need to increase number on car-pool lines when something like that happens in Bay Area I made a simulation that it will decrease bla bla bla... " If "Jeff" answers, you will have an amazing chance for a personal conversation.

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Re:Ask HN: Is there a good remote alternative to inviting so... by zenlikethat on Monday October 21, 2013 @05:11PM (#6588238)

I like this idea... I may not make it the exclusive purpose of my e-mail, since ultimately I'm asking for an interview, but mentioning an interesting shared topic of conversation from a tweet or blog post seems like a good idea.

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Re:Ask HN: Is there a good remote alternative to inviting so... by johnmurch on Monday October 21, 2013 @04:04PM (#6587834)

I would recommend trying to reach out to them on Twitter (if they use it). Also take a look at Noah's email - https://gist.github.com/johnmurch/7090007 and see if you can do some background/pitch for the cold email.

Also helps if you find someone in common and have them do the intro :)

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Re:Ask HN: Is there a good remote alternative to inviting so... by zenlikethat on Monday October 21, 2013 @05:00PM (#6588185)

Ah yes, I'm familiar! That guy setting the bar so high is partially why I'm interested in crafting the best e-mail possible :)

Thanks for the reply. I am trying to leverage my existing network as best I can but trying to apply to jobs in different cities (I want to move to a major one and I'm in a small college town) is making it harder to find direct connections.

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Re:Ask HN: Is there a good remote alternative to inviting so... by johnmurch on Monday October 21, 2013 @10:10PM (#6589413)

:) - If you are looking for jobs - (Self Plug) but a simple/useful tool for applying to jobs - http://bucketjobs.com/

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Re:Ask HN: Is there a good remote alternative to inviting so... by zenlikethat on Tuesday October 22, 2013 @01:03AM (#6589889)

Pretty cool! Does it do Stack Overflow Careers? And is it open source?

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Re:Ask HN: Is there a good remote alternative to inviting so... by johnmurch on Tuesday October 22, 2013 @09:00AM (#6591513)

It's not open sourced as I am debating how to either a) charge for it or b) provide more value with tools/sites to help with interview process and bank on affiliate money

It should work on any URL so as long as the job post is public, it should work :)

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Re:Ask HN: Is there a good remote alternative to inviting so... by ScottWhigham on Monday October 21, 2013 @04:03PM (#6587828)

Why not offer to make a $25 donation in their name? Seems non-committal yet interesting.

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Re:Ask HN: Is there a good remote alternative to inviting so... by zenlikethat on Monday October 21, 2013 @05:01PM (#6588189)

I don't know, seems a little like bribery to me. A coffee is maybe $3-$4 tops usually (generally a trivial cost to white collar professionals considering how much it could pay off. A donation is an interesting idea though, if they end up doing a favor worth repaying.

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