Day 11: Making a career change? Here’s the exact email I used to secure an offer and transition roles in one year - steal it

A few years ago, I wanted to transition from client services to software engineering. The email below secured me a job offer to do exactly that.

It worked because:

• Reason 1: The company was hiring for both my current role and the new role.
• Reason 2: I showed I have a plan for my transition. It wouldn’t create much extra work for them.
• Reason 3: Most important, I stood out against all other candidates. While I didn't yet have experience in the new job, I excelled at my current job and got a strong referral from someone the hiring manager looks up to.

Sounds like you? Steal this email!

Hi {hiring manager},

I’ve been thinking about {new company} since we spoke in January and I really admire what you're doing — both {new company} the product which is wonderful, and also your approach to the team and company.

I'd like to be part of {new company}. Here's what I'm thinking.

Currently, I’m heading global client services at {old company} and learning to code on my own time.

I'd be interested in joining {new company} with a mix of starting with the Customer Champion role (or something similar) while gradually transitioning to the Engineering team, similar to what {employee at new company} did.

If it made sense for you folks and you wanted me onboard, my first year might look something like,

• Month 1: Learn the Customer Champion role and integrate with the team. Update and give feedback on the documentation for onboarding. Similar to {employee at new company}, take that fresh eyes approach to any potential bugs and possible UX improvements.
• Months 2-6: Do a great job as Customer Champion, including building support docs and working with engineering to build support tools, while developing technical skills on my own time.
• Months 7-9: Recruit and hire my replacement as Customer Champion in the Eastern hemisphere.
• Months 10-12: Transition onto engineering full time.

I'm flexible in the exact details — that's a rough brainstorm that I think could add value right away, while helping me learn both the customer's needs intimately as well as the technical skills to be a very productive engineer.

Is this interesting to you? Would you like to set up a call next week to discuss?

Thank you,
Chiara

P.S. I ended up not joining {new company} because I got a counter offer from {old company}.