Step 1:

– Search on LinkedIn for the company + role you wish to apply for.
– Find the names of employees working in the same/similar roles, who are senior enough to be responsible for hiring.

Pro tip: Do not look for HR in these companies – they get a LOT of these emails which they cannot respond to.

Step 2:

– Send them an email, expressing interest to work with them.
– The email NEEDS TO BE personalised.
A good test is – can the email you’re drafting be sent to someone else?. If not, you’re on the right track.
– Send the email.

Pro tip: if you cannot figure out their email address – send it to a couple of email combinations such as:

First name.last name (ankur.warikoo),
Initials (aw),
First initial.last name (awarikoo),
First name.last initial (ankurw),
First name (ankur),
Last name (warikoo)

Except the first one, keep all in BCC.

Step 3: (Hardest step)

– Send 3 cold emails to 3 different people, EVERY SINGLE DAY.
These emails should be personalised. Which means, the email could NOT have been sent to anyone else except them. 

Here is why:

– Cold emails have a response rate of 1-2%.
– Through this personalised approach, you will increase it to 8-10% (5 times better).
– But that still means sending 100 emails before you get 8-10 responses, of which 3-5 will convert to an interview, and 1-2 into an offer!

I have hired the majority of my team through cold emails, got most of my podcast guests through cold emails, worked with terrific partners because they sent me cold emails.

I can tell you one thing with conviction: it works, if you stay committed to it!