I was sick of sending traditional applications. This is the email that finally got me hired.
A recent college graduate shares how she bypassed traditional, AI-saturated job application portals by sending direct, cold outreach emails to CEOs. Her success highlights the effectiveness of personalized networking over high-volume, automated job hunting.
Why it matters
It reflects the changing landscape of the job market, where candidates are increasingly disillusioned with AI-filtered hiring processes and are returning to human-centric networking.
Judy Zeng sent a cold outreach email to a CEO and ended up getting a job as a result. Judy Zeng Judy Zeng sent a cold email to the CEO of EO studios. It resulted in an internship offer. She suggests doing research on LinkedIn to learn more about a CEO's philosophy before reaching out. Zeng said luck plays a role in success, and whether the company is open to non-traditional hiring. This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Judy Zeng, a 22-year-old business development intern at global media startup EO Studios, based in San Francisco. Her identity and employment have been verified by Business Insider. This story has been edited for length and clarity. I'm a recent graduate from Northwestern University, where I studied journalism. I now work at a company called EO Studios.
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