In the Middle of a Career Change? Send This Email to Your Network

Whether you’re switching sectors or switching fields within your sector, making a major professional change is daunting. It can even feel as if you are starting from scratch. However, even after figuring out what you want to do, your next task seems just as challenging: How do you let your network know you’re looking for something new and need their help?

Jenny Blake, founder of Life After College, created a template to help career switchers craft an email to send to their networks. Here is a snippet of the email:

"Hi Friends,

I hope this email finds you well. As some of you may know, I recently decided to {NEW DIRECTION: a few words about switching jobs/fields/industry} to work with {DESCRIPTION: type of companies and/or people you’re hoping to work with}.

As I dive into the job search across the country {OR FILL IN SPECIFIC LOCATION}, I’d love it if you could keep your eyes open for people I could connect with and/or positions that might be a fit for me. Below is a bit about my background and what I’m looking for, and you can view my full resume on LinkedIn {INSERT LINK for the word LinkedIn}. These are a few of my ideal scenarios, but if anything related comes to you please keep me in mind!"

See the rest of template and instructions on how to use it on Life After College.

When making a change, it’s easy to assume our old network might not be able to help us make this transition. However, by being very specific about the kind of work we want to do and making it clear how they can help, we can leverage our network more effectively.

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by Allison Jones