Skills / Cold outreach for work
Cold outreach for work
Reach out to businesses that never posted a job. Short, specific messages in the person's voice, sent by them. Use when they say "should I just email them", "there's no job posted but I want to work there", or want to reach someone they look up to.
Use this skill. Nothing to install.
Don't have an agent? · Raw file: skills/cold-outreach-for-work.md
Watch the first two minutes
This is how a session goes for someone about to email a stranger. Click through it.
Scripted example of a real session.
Worried it reads as spam?
It reads as spam when it could have been sent to anyone. The bar this skill holds is the opposite: the message ships only when it is specific enough that this one recipient is the only person who could have received it. Every claim in it must be true, the ask must be small, and the recipient's time gets respected: under 120 words, no attachments unless asked, one follow-up ever, public contact info only.
What you end up with
Five to ten targets, each with a true reason and one small ask, and the messages sent. Here is one that shipped.
- The subject is plain and honest. "Question from a student" beats anything clever, because it is exactly what this is.
- Specificity only this recipient could receive. Five repairs, the bottom bracket moment. If a line could go to any other shop, it gets cut.
- One small ask a stranger can grant. Part-time help, or even just an introduction. Never "give me a job".
- The easy out lowers the cost of replying. A no is allowed, so a yes gets easier.
Anatomy of a cold message
Four parts, under 120 words, all of them true:
- A Who you are, one line. Age or school is fine; honesty about being young disarms.
- B The specific true reason you wrote to this recipient. The line that proves it isn't a template.
- C The one ask, sized to what a stranger can actually grant.
- D The easy out. It costs nothing and reads as respect.
Questions people actually ask
Is this free?
The skill is free, no account, no catch. The agent you paste it into may or may not be: Gemini has the widest free tier, Copilot's free tier is enough to try it, ChatGPT and Claude free plans can also run it in a chat.
Will it send the messages for me?
No. Everything goes from your own accounts, under your own name, sent by you while the session is open. The agent drafts and workshops with you and never messages anyone as you.
Should I ask for a job or for advice?
Depends on the target. A small business gets the work ask, kept small. Someone whose career you admire gets the advice ask first: fifteen minutes of questions gets replies where "hire me" gets silence, and a chat with someone doing the work is a real prize.
How do I find their email?
Public sources only: the address on the website, the contact form, the counter of the shop. The skill will not scrape addresses or pass around personal numbers, and if no public channel exists, walking in is the honest alternative.
What if they never reply?
One follow-up about a week out, ever, and silence after that means done. That cap is a feature: it keeps you from becoming the person who emailed six times, and it points your energy at the next target.
Where to go from here
Messages out? Manage what comes back:
Something to point to helps a cold message:
Curious? Read the full skill — the exact instructions your agent gets
---
name: cold-outreach-for-work
category: get-hired
description: Reach out to businesses that never posted a job. Short, specific messages in the person's voice, sent by them. Use when they say "should I just email them", "there's no job posted but I want to work there", or want to reach someone they look up to.
---
# cold-outreach-for-work
Help someone contact strangers about work — the shop with
no posting, the studio they admire, the person whose career they
want. The bar is a handful of messages that are
short, specific, and true, sent by them before the sitting ends.
## Ground rules
- They send everything from their own accounts, under their own
name. You draft with them and never message anyone as them.
- Every claim in a message is true and every bit of specificity is
real — if the message says they admire the recipient's work, they
must be able to name what and why. No flattery templates.
- Respect the recipient's time: under 120 words, one clear small
ask, no attachments unless asked, no guilt-tripping, and a hard
cap of one follow-up per person ever. Public contact info only —
the address on the website, the shop's counter, a public
profile. No scraping, no personal numbers passed around.
## Targets and the ask
List five to ten real targets with them, each with a reason they can
say out loud — walks past it daily, uses the product, admires the
work. For each, pick the one ask, matched to what a stranger can
grant: small businesses get "do you ever take on part-time help /
could I come in and introduce myself"; admired people get "could I
ask you two questions about how you started" — advice first, since
asking a stranger for a job usually gets silence but asking for
fifteen minutes often gets a reply. Find the right channel per
target: the owner's email on the site, the contact form, or simply
walking in (that path is apply-in-person).
## Draft and workshop
Draft each message in their voice, four parts in under 120 words:
who they are in one line (student status is enough; do not tell strangers a
minor's exact age), the specific true reason for writing to this
recipient, the one ask, and an easy out ("no worries if not").
Subject line plain and honest: "question from a student" beats
anything clever. Then workshop: read it aloud, cut every line that
could be sent to anyone else, cut every word they would not say to
the person's face. The message ships when it is specific enough
that only this recipient could have received it.
## Send and track
They review and send from their account while you are together. Log each message in their
tracker (job-application-tracker builds one) with a single
follow-up date about a week out; follow-up-after-applying handles
that nudge, and silence after it means done, no exceptions. When a
reply comes: answer fast, say thanks, and take whatever was offered
seriously — a fifteen-minute chat with someone doing the work is
the actual prize, and interview-prep can rehearse it.
## Done
- Five to ten targets, each with a true reason and one small ask
- Messages under 120 words, in their voice, sent by them
- Every send logged with one follow-up date and a reply plan