Land an Interview for Your Dream Job
How? By sending a what's called a "cold email" or in other words, reaching out to somebody that you don't know, via email. (So, you would do this if you don't have a contact within the company.)
The idea is to do this if you 1) are a great fit for a job opening in the company and 2) really passionate about the position. What this does is make sure that your resume is, at the very least, seen.
To do this, definitely do some background digging on the company site, LinkedIn, Glassdoor, etc to find out who the best person to contact would be. If you can't find an email, try a few different combinations of what it would most likely be. For example, to reach John Doe you could try [email protected], [email protected], etc. Your email provider should notify you about the ones that don't actually reach a recipient so you know to keep trying.
But what should you write? The body of the email should do essentially what a cover letter does. Keep in mind that you are asking for something from someone who does not owe you anything, so avoid sounding entitled or arrogant. That's a solid way to land your message (and resume) in his/her trash folder.
Make sure that you show your recipient what's in it for him/her! You're super qualified and interested in the position they have open? Awesome. Make sure that is made clear. You know a bunch about their company and have ideas about a specific project? Talk about that, too!
The email should be tailored not only to the company, but to the specific person you are reaching out to. Don't go into your email blind. Check him out on LinkedIn, stalk her personal website, whatever. Add some personal touches to show that you really took the time to write this email and connect with the person you're contacting.
Just keep in mind that sometimes you'll hear back, and sometimes you won't. If they don't follow up, move on to the next opportunity!
Check out this success story about a job landed using a cold email!
(note: a lot of the info in this post came from levo.com)