Don’t Wait For Opportunities, Create Them
BEAUTYHIRED 2024
Don’t Wait For Opportunities, Create Them
Learning how to master professional outreach can be life-changing.
I know, because it literally changed my life.
Networking with industry professionals and performing cold outreach to businesses has helped me land new roles, triple my salary, and create new B2B partnerships for my current company. It has also created personal and professional opportunities for myself that didn’t exist before.
Outreach is comprised of 3 parts:
Knowing who to reach out to
Knowing what to say
Putting yourself out there
Today we will focus on LinkedIn outreach to connect with hiring managers, founders, or recruiters in the beauty industry to land your next role.
But remember, these same principles can be used to form partnerships, collaborations, or co-branded events with other businesses. If interested in brand events & partnerships, you can read my previous newsletter here: The Power of Brand Partnerships:
Knowing who to reach out to:
The first step in outreach is identifying who you are reaching out to. What are some of your dream companies to work for? For example, maybe you’ve always wanted to work for Barbara Sturm, join the team at The Well, or explore opportunities at FACEGYM.
First, look up your ideal business on LinkedIn. Once you are on the company's brand page, select “people.” You will then be able to view all the people that work for that company. I recommend identifying the person in charge of Talent Acquisition, their in-house hiring manager or recruiter - or if they do not have either of these, the Founder or CEO.
Before you hit connect, we are going to compose our outreach message.
Knowing what to say:
LinkedIn messages only allow you to send up to 300 characters including spaces. So make sure your message is under 300 characters. Next, we want to try to fit in these 4 things:
A Little Bit About Yourself and Your Professional Career: Give a brief overview of who you are and your past professional achievements.
What You’re Looking For: Be clear about the type of role or opportunity you’re seeking.
Why You’re a Good Fit: Explain why your skills, experience, and passion make you a perfect match for the industry or the company.
Compliment: Send a compliment to show that you are interested, knowledgeable, and passionate about the brand or company.
Remember, we only have 300 characters - so let’s make it count. Here are some examples:
Isabella Desmarais - Head of People & Development at FACEGYM: “Hi Isabella, I'm a licensed esthetician with 4 years of experience in luxury facials. I’m impressed by FaceGym’s innovative approach & continued growth, and am interested in exploring opportunities within your team. Could we connect to discuss potential roles and how my skills could contribute to FaceGym’s success?”
Teri Paridon - Senior Director of Talent Acquisition at Ideal Image: “Hi Teri, I'm a dedicated nurse with 5 years of Emergency Room experience and 3 years of retail experience. I've been impressed with Ideal Image’s growth and believe my background makes me a great fit. Do you have time available this week to discuss current opportunities?”
Anne Adigwe - Global People Director at Barbara Sturm: “Hi Anne, I’m an aesthetic educator with experience in establishing treatment protocols. I admire Dr. Barbara Sturm’s innovative approach and would love to connect to discuss potential career opportunities. Do you have time available this week to discuss?”
Make sure to include your name, and always check for typos before you hit send.
Putting yourself out there:
The biggest hurdle most people face is just putting yourself out there. This can feel a bit uncomfortable at first, no one likes rejection. But as the saying goes, ‘if you don’t ask, the answer will always be no.’
Ask yourself - what do you have to lose? Worst case scenario, the hiring manager or recruiter doesn’t reply, or says they don’t have opportunities available at this time.
From a personal standpoint, reaching out to our founders at SKINNEY, even though they weren't hiring at the time, completely changed the trajectory of my career and has created professional experiences that I could never have imagined.
Professionally, some of the best members of my team were once candidates that reached out to me either on LinkedIn, or via email to inquire about roles within the company.
Oftentimes we even created roles for the right candidates, or called them back to hire them a few months later when we did have an opportunity become available.
Following Up
Lastly, if you don’t hear back right away - I always recommend following up. This is also a good rule to follow for almost any time you are trying to get anyone to do anything.
People are busy, they get 100’s of emails per day (I know I do.) Gentle reminders keep you at the forefront of their thoughts and will help you get gain a time slot on their calendar.
I hope these tips help you, and inspire you to reach out and create your own job opportunity this week.
Stay tuned for next weeks newsletter - I’ll be reviewing my favorite questions I like to ask during interviews, what answers I look for and why so you can ace your next interview.
Cheers,
Lindsay Malachowski
