自動郵件 Follow Up 系統
讓 GPT 幫你寫 Follow Up 信件
找工作除了得花心思和人資來回通信，也得寄信給不少公司員工 ( cold outreach ) ，看看能不能不用和 1000 人以上的申請者競爭。但是寄信有寄信的巧思。就如第一次約會後的潛規則是不能在二十四小時傳給約會對象訊息，如果寄了信的一天後就 Follow Up，會讓收信人感覺過度飢渴，但是如果隔了五天才 Follow Up，在血流成河美國就業市場的競爭下，這個職位早就被填滿了。
除了時機點掐算困難，更要命的是，寫 Follow Up 郵件的精髓不再內容的鏗鏘有力，詞藻的華美精緻，而在於態度的端莊優雅。畢竟 Follow Up 的宗旨只有一個：「欸，大哥大姐，你已經很久沒有回我了喔，有空記得會一下。」要怎麼這簡單直白的訊息優雅的包裝，就已經不再是工作，根本是藝術創作了。仔細想想，都已經找不到工作了，大部分的人不是焦慮的十萬火急，就是對不回覆的人資感到氣急攻心，沒想到寄出去的信，還得佯裝輕盈，像是帶白手套的英國女皇，輕端起杯，優雅得體的啜一口茶，寫的點到為止，寫的不卑不亢，讓收件者覺得你游刃有餘，也太強人所難了吧！
更何況我英文又不好，平常錯字就很多，總是在這種正經的郵件把別人的名字寫錯。還會常常忘記回覆，再叫我寫下去，不要說我，我看收件人的大約大去之期也不遠矣。於是我就想說，這種麻煩事，叫 GPT 幫我寫就好了吧？於是我就和同學花了兩天結合 GPT 做了郵件 Follow Up 自動撰寫系統。這個系統長這樣：
可以在想要 Follow Up 的信上面加一個 Follow Up 的標籤
只要隔了黃金三天沒有收到收信者的回覆，GPT 就會自動讀取之前往來的郵件內容，依照來往內容幫你寫一封 Follow Up 的信。
這封 Follow Up 信會自動送進你的郵箱，你可以自己增修再寄給收件人。
原本只是自己用了方便，但沒想到同學們大家都想要，乾脆就放在 Linkedin 上跟大家分享，沒想到不到一天就有 1500+ 的人看了影片，也有很多不認識的人留言，看來大家都是同是天涯淪落人，倒霉的在 Linkedin 相識吧哈哈。
Finding a job not only requires effort and communication with HR, but also involves sending emails to various company employees (cold outreach) to see if it’s possible to avoid competing with over a thousand other applicants all the time. However, there’s an art to sending these emails. Just like the unwritten rule of not messaging your date within 24 hours after the first date, following up on an email one day after sending it would make the recipient feel desperate. On the other hand, if you wait five days to follow up, in the fiercely competitive job market of the United States, the position would likely have been filled already.
Apart from the difficulty of timing, the real challenge lies in the essence of writing a follow-up email. It’s no longer about the eloquence and refinement of the content or the choice of words, but rather about maintaining a dignified and elegant attitude. After all, the purpose of a follow-up is simply to say, “Hey, it’s been a while since you responded to me. If you have time, please remember to get back to me.” How to package this simple and straightforward message with elegance has become more than just a task; it’s practically an art form. When you think about it, most people are either extremely anxious because they can’t find a job or frustrated because the HR personnel don’t reply. It’s unexpected that even in the emails we send, we have to pretend to be light-hearted, like the Queen of England wearing white gloves, delicately lifting a cup, sipping tea with grace, writing just enough without being servile or overbearing. It’s quite a difficult task to make the recipient feel that you’re effortlessly capable.
Moreover, my English isn’t good, and I often make spelling mistakes. I even tend to misspell people’s names in these formal emails. I also frequently forget to reply. If you ask me to continue writing, the recipient and my approximate date of departure will be quite close indeed. So, I thought, why not let GPT help me with this troublesome task? That’s why I pretended to be a tech entrepreneur and, together with my classmates, spent two days developing an automated Follow Up email writing system using GPT. This system looks like this:
An Email label to filter recruiters vs non-recruiters
For labeled emails that haven’t been replied to for three days, a GPT draft a follow-email based on your prior conversation.
The draft sends it to your inbox to remind you to follow up, and you can customize it yourself before sending it.
Originally, I only used it for my own convenience, but I didn’t expect that all my classmates would want it too. So, I decided to share it on LinkedIn with everyone who was unemployed. To my surprise, within a few hours, many people had viewed it, and there were also numerous comments from people I didn’t know. It seems like we’re all in the same boat, facing the challenges of unemployment. Haha!
This is the 32th post from my 60-day writing challenges. I was inspired by Tung Nguyen, a friend who is a famous blogger. He overcame the fear of creation through mass-producing blogs and eventually found his own niche audiences.