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Ask HN: Etiquette of Applying for Internships at Startups
5 points by jordanscales on Dec 8, 2012 | hide | past | favorite | 3 comments
I'll be contacting various startups in the next coming months after developing a portfolio and personal website, but I do have one question.

Should I use the companies' jobs@ emails, or contact a developer directly?

In my experience, sending to jobs@ has been unfulfilling, and I've found success (small sample size) contacting developers directly. Is this rude? Do companies have the jobs@ email for a reason? In the case of a college student looking for an internship, is it appropriate?

Thanks HN.



Email seems to work fine for most places.

Of course, if the startup is 'sexy' enough, email is no good and you might have to submit a POST request instead.


Do your research, find out the name of cofounder or CEO and get their email.

Here's what I learned after emailing several CEOs that totally outclass/outrank me: they don't remember, they don't care. If they like you, they will reply or forward you to the right person. If they don't, you'll never hear from them again.

Just make sure your email copy is short and sweet.


I am not sure if my experience is typical, but I successfully landed my internship at Shopify, which was my number one choice, by emailing the CEO directly and telling him I'd like to work there.

It's only a data point of one, but it worked well enough for me. If you can't find their email online, try firstname@company.tld.




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