Yet Another (ex-)VC Blog

Recently I have been approached by people looking for an internship or job with our firm. We’re not hiring or looking for interns right now but a few things jumped out at me about the methods that were used to reach me.

Most people who contacted me sent a blind email having found my email address on our firm website. Also, almost everyone sent a generic cover letter that was not customized.

Now, I did read and reply to each of these inquiries, but my guess is that many VCs (and I’m speaking from experience when I was looking for a job in VC over the last year) would not answer this ‘cold call’ email.

So if I were looking for a VC job, what could I do to improve my chances of getting a meeting with the VC about potential internships or jobs? Some thoughts…

• Use LinkedIn to find someone in your network who may know the VC you’d like to reach.
• If you have no other way to reach the VC except through a blind email, take time to customize your cover letter pitch to the firm (or the person at the firm) you’re targeting.
• Talk to me about some interesting companies in spaces our firm might be interested in and offer to connect me with them.
• Don’t ask for a job or an internship – ask for advice. If you ask me if I am hiring and I’m not, I will probably say “we’re not hiring” versus if you ask me “can you talk to me about careers in VC, I want to learn” I’m more apt to engage in a dialog (and I don’t think I’m unique in that respect amongst VCs).

If you’ve had some success reaching VCs to discuss jobs or internships, what has worked for you?

If you liked this post, and are interested in careers in venture capital, think about subscribing to my mailing list. I promise not to spam you and will only send information related to venture capital jobs and careers. Please input your email address in the field (and click ‘Submit’) below if you would like to subscribe.

Related articles by Zemanta

• A Cover Letter Is Not Expendable (nytimes.com)
• Landing interviews in a tough market (infoworld.com)
• How To Use Linkedin To Get The Job You Want (thecustomercollective.com)