Writing networking emails: The basic formula

How to write the first email

Crafting your subject line

You need to motivate someone to click on & open your email. To do this, make your relevance clear to them from the subject line. Depending on your connection to this person, there are a couple strategies you can take:

• Reference how you met them, e.g., conference panel
• Reference your relevance to them, e.g., same alma mater
• [best!] Reference your personal connection to them, e.g., their friend

Here are possible subject lines:

Please don’t write:

These kinds of subject lines are uninformative and do not motivate someone to click on your email. They are also unlikely to remember your specific name after meeting many people at a conference, talk, networking event, etc. Moreover, they can’t distinguish you from others if they ever go back to reread the email by searching for keywords. Depending on the size of their company, they will receive hundreds of work emails a day. (I do, at least. Yes, I hate it).

Email body

Keep your email short. In your first sentence, again make it clear why they should respond to you. Aim for about 5-8 sentences total.

Make it clear why you are reaching out. What do you want to learn from this person? Anyone can get general career advice online. Why are you specifically reaching out to this person? (If this person has written online advice or their background can be read from their LinkedIn, don’t ask them for info on things that are already available to you. You’ll likely just get a link to their prior article in their response. Before reaching out, do your online sleuthing.)

Ask for help. Make a clear request for a conversation. It’s often implied, but don’t make people guess. (I often get emails and, most often, LinkedIn messages showing relevance but it’s unclear if they merely want to connect or to schedule a networking call or maybe just to show gratitude? Honestly, this type of message is still a mystery to me.)

Explicitly state your timeline. This is the best way that someone can help you. If you’re still far off from needing a job, say that you’re seeking to learn the nuances of their research industry. If you are graduating in 3 months, definitely say that so that they can keep an eye out for jobs that are opening in that timeline.

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To paraphrase a recent conference co-panelist:

Her: “Showing your relevance, tugs at our heart strings. We see ourselves in you and want to help.”

Me: “But also describing your relevance via a personal connection (e.g., a friend) will guilt trip us into responding.”

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Here’s an example of a recent email that I received. It’s longer than what I’d normally recommend, but it worked.

There’s a lot going right in this email. To me, this person clearly shows:

• their relevance to me, i.e., the XXX event
• specific topics they would like advice on¹
• a direct “call-to-action” that they are requesting a conversation
• goal for the advice, i.e., to learn about the internship process
• timeline for that goal, i.e., applying in summer 2026
• link to personal website, so I can learn more about their research background

Email signature — yup, this is strategic, too!

Unless someone asks for your resume, it can be a little aggressive to attach your resume to a first introduction email. Also attachments aren’t always included if someone forwards your email to other people.

Instead, include links to your personal website & LinkedIn in your email signature². And make sure that it’s easy to find your resume on your website!

If someone else introduces you over email

It’s common practice to thank your original connection and move their email address to the bcc line. You can write something as simple as:

This spares your original connection from receiving all your back and forth scheduling emails. But it also shows this person that you received their email and are taking steps to connect with the person that they generously introduced you to.

Always follow-up with a “thank you” email

It’s the kind thing to do. It also reinforces their memory of you.

Pro tip: Write your thank you email right after the networking chat. That way you remember meaningful things to reference.

No need to be sentimental. Just include concrete content that shows that you were paying attention and to help them distinguish you in memory from the other people they met that day.

Asking for additional chats

Respond to the same original email thread³. Don’t start a new thread. Even if it’s been years since your last email. They might not remember you from 3 years ago, but they’ll see your thread and put confidence in the fact that clearly they seemed to have had a good conversation with you or even perhaps reviewed your review and offered a referral way back when.

If you start a new email thread, it’s like meeting someone brand new all over again. It’s just hard to remember people, even if you’ve had a genuine conversation. Zoom, GoogleMeet, Teams, and other video interactions don’t translate well into memory. Speaking from personal experience, don’t be surprised if you’ve had multiple video chats (2D interaction) and then they don’t recognize you in-person (3D interaction).

I don’t recommend LinkedIn messages for this reason. It’s not a good platform for rereading prior conversations. There’s too much scrolling needed. If you reach out over LinkedIn (sometimes that’s your only connection), I highly recommend switching to email as soon as possible.

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AI was not used to write, edit, or brainstorm this post. All mistakes and em dashes are my own.