Before you contact anyone, it’s important to have your goals clearly in mind.  Are you making contact in order to apply for a job – in response to an ad, maybe, or to inquire about possibilities within an organization?  Or are you making contact to obtain information (on hiring practices, career paths in a particular field, etc.)?  The letters or emails you send will be different in each case.  

For each contact, you must ask yourself the question: what do I want to get out of a conversation with this person?  You want to be honest and clear in your communication, and you don’t want to waste time – either theirs or yours.

As mentioned, there will always be two possible reasons for contacting someone during a job search, whether that someone is a personal contact, or a blind internet ad.  You will either be contacting someone for

*  a job

*  or for information

Or possibly a combination of both.

If you are contacting the person for a job, you will have to plan your conversation carefully, and decide beforehand:

*  how you will describe yourself – particularly your strengths and skills

*  how you will describe why you are interested in the job

 If you are contacting the person for information, you will have to decide:

*  how you will describe yourself – particularly your strengths and skills

*  what questions you would like to ask

Before contacting anyone – either a personal contact, or a job posted on the internet – it’s important to think about the above, and make some notes.  Just jot down ideas, in your own words.  When you think about your skills, try to be specific, and jot down some examples (e.g.: good as part of a team; helped teach co-workers new computer program).