

Ask HN: Is there a good remote alternative to inviting someone for a coffee? - zenlikethat

As many of you probably know a tried and true standby for networking is to offer to buy a coffee or lunch for the party you wish to meet so that you can pick their brain, break the ice, and get to know them a little better before you blithely proposition them for career help or advice while offering nothing in return.  In my opinion, a little appreciation for peoples&#x27; time can go a long way.&lt;p&gt;However, this is just not feasible if you&#x27;re not in the same city as them.  I was curious if anyone had ideas or strategies for remote alternatives.  I&#x27;d like to get some recruiters for companies I&#x27;m interested on the horn, for instance, and see what they are looking for as well as warm up the lead a little bit.  Just wondering if there&#x27;s anything I can do while cold e-mailing to make it a bit more friendly.  Thanks!
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pashakym
Sure, try to finds twitter/facebook/blog/video/presentation activities. And do
some research about discussed topic. Then your "cold" email will be much more
"worm". foe example : "Hey Jeff, I read you latest blog about BART strike and
I agree that we need to increase number on car-pool lines when something like
that happens in Bay Area I made a simulation that it will decrease bla bla
bla... " If "Jeff" answers, you will have an amazing chance for a personal
conversation.

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zenlikethat
I like this idea... I may not make it the exclusive purpose of my e-mail,
since ultimately I'm asking for an interview, but mentioning an interesting
shared topic of conversation from a tweet or blog post seems like a good idea.

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johnmurch
I would recommend trying to reach out to them on Twitter (if they use it).
Also take a look at Noah's email -
[https://gist.github.com/johnmurch/7090007](https://gist.github.com/johnmurch/7090007)
and see if you can do some background/pitch for the cold email.

Also helps if you find someone in common and have them do the intro :)

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zenlikethat
Ah yes, I'm familiar! That guy setting the bar so high is partially why I'm
interested in crafting the best e-mail possible :)

Thanks for the reply. I am trying to leverage my existing network as best I
can but trying to apply to jobs in different cities (I want to move to a major
one and I'm in a small college town) is making it harder to find direct
connections.

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johnmurch
:) - If you are looking for jobs - (Self Plug) but a simple/useful tool for
applying to jobs - [http://bucketjobs.com/](http://bucketjobs.com/)

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zenlikethat
Pretty cool! Does it do Stack Overflow Careers? And is it open source?

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johnmurch
It's not open sourced as I am debating how to either a) charge for it or b)
provide more value with tools/sites to help with interview process and bank on
affiliate money

It should work on any URL so as long as the job post is public, it should work
:)

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ScottWhigham
Why not offer to make a $25 donation in their name? Seems non-committal yet
interesting.

~~~
zenlikethat
I don't know, seems a little like bribery to me. A coffee is maybe $3-$4 tops
usually (generally a trivial cost to white collar professionals considering
how much it could pay off. A donation is an interesting idea though, if they
end up doing a favor worth repaying.

