Cold Email the Hiring Manager: 5 Scripts That Actually Get Replies
Your resume is sitting in portal purgatory. The role is still open. You’re still waiting. That’s not a hiring process. It’s a lottery.
Stop begging HR for oxygen. Go straight to the person with the problem: the hiring manager.
I’ve coached 100+ people through this. The ones who email managers directly get replies in 48–72 hours. The ones who stick to “Apply” keep refreshing their inbox.
Below: what works, why it works, and the simple structure every winning email follows.
Why This Works (And Why Yours Didn’t)
Managers hire to kill pain fast
Open roles burn time, budget, and credibility. If you show that you can reduce the pain, you get a reply.
Initiative is a hiring signal
Finding the manager + doing targeted research = “this person delivers.”
Micro-commitment beats resume review
A 30-second reply > a 5-minute CV scan. Lower friction, higher response.
The 5-Line Cold Email (keep it under 100 words)
Context: “Role + team” proves you did the homework.
Credibility: 1 relevant result (metric + timeframe).
Value: 1–2 ideas tied to their roadmap/pain.
Ask: low-friction: “10–15 min next week?”
Proof: optional link (Loom, GitHub, portfolio, case study).
Rules: No attachments. No PDFs. No life story. Signal > biography.
Reply-rate context: Generic cold email benchmarks hover ~5–8% (B2B ~5.1%). The ranges you’ll see below assume hiring-manager outreach with deep research and tight personalization, not spray-and-pray.
One Script You Can Use Today (no guessing)
Script 5: The 72-Hour Chaser
Subject: Re: [Original subject]
“Following up on my note from [Day]. Still relevant?
I can send the 1-pager showing how I’d tackle [specific problem] — it’s a 2-minute skim.”
Why it works: Short. Guilt-free. Repeats value, not the whole email.
Typical lift: 20–30% of non-responders reply to this.
Sneak Peek (partial) of Script 1
Subject: Quick question about [Team Name]
“Saw you’re hiring for [Role] on [Team]. I’ve been following [product/feature] and noticed [specific observation] …”
(Reply rate for this script: 20-40% when personalized. Full script below the paywall.)
Stop here and you’ll write your own version.
Keep reading and you’ll copy-paste emails that get replies in 48 hours.