My first internship does not trace back to a job application. It traces back to a cold LinkedIn message I rewrote four times and almost didn’t send.
When I arrived in the US, I had exactly zero contacts in the actuarial profession. No family friend at an insurer. No alumni pipeline that knew my name. What I had was a list of people whose careers I admired and the uncomfortable knowledge that the worst outcome of a polite message is silence, which is exactly what I already had.
The structure that got replies
After a lot of ignored messages and a few generous replies, a pattern emerged. The messages that worked had four parts, in this order:
- One line of who I am. “I’m a first-year actuarial science student at Valpo, originally from Zimbabwe.” Done. Nobody needs your resume in paragraph form.
- One line of why them specifically. Not flattery. Evidence you did homework. “I saw you moved from pricing into predictive analytics, which is the path I’m curious about.”
- One specific, answerable question. This is where most messages die. “Can I pick your brain?” is work you’re assigning them. “Did you take SRM before or after your first modeling role, and would you repeat that order?” takes ninety seconds to answer.
- An easy exit. “No pressure at all if you’re busy, even a one-line answer helps.” People say yes more when no is comfortable.
Four sentences. Anything longer is a request for labor, not a conversation.
What to never do
Don’t ask for a job in message one. The people who could refer you will do it after they’ve decided you’re worth their reputation, usually two or three interactions in. Asking immediately converts you from “promising student” to “transaction.”
Don’t send the same message to forty people. Recruiters and actuaries talk. Also, templated messages read as templated; the “why them” line can’t be faked at scale.
Don’t disappear after the answer. The follow-up is the network. Three months later: “You suggested I take FM first. I passed it last week. Thank you.” That message costs you nothing and it’s the one they remember.
How mentorship actually starts
Here’s the part nobody told me: you don’t ask someone to be your mentor. Mentorship isn’t a title conferred in message one; it’s what a relationship gets called in hindsight. Every mentor I’ve had started as a specific question, became a follow-up, became a habit.
Some of the people who answered my early messages reviewed my resume. One ran a mock interview with me the week before the real one. Another made the internal referral that became my first internship. None of them agreed to “be my mentor.” All of them became one.
Your homework
This week, send three messages using the structure above. Alumni of your school in actuarial roles first, the shared thread doubles reply rates. Then people at companies you actually want, in roles two to five years ahead of you.
Two of the three will probably say nothing. That’s the base rate; it isn’t about you. The third might change your trajectory, mine did.
Ubuntu: I am because we are. My network exists because strangers answered. Now I answer. Someday, so will you.