Most people spend all their energy on the first line.
The hook or the opener, trying to fit everything that’s relevant to their profile with the role.
One of my clients had a different theory.
20+ years in enterprise IT and quietly considering a move. We built a simple system together to find a role that fits, identify 3-5 people connected to it, and sending a short message. Same structure every time.
The second line never changed:
"I've spent 20+ years in enterprise IT infrastructure and service delivery with tier-1 firms globally, considering my next move!"
That's it. One sentence. No pitch deck. No resume attached.
Here's what happened:
A Director of Application Security responded, flagged the role, and said they'd pass the resume to the hiring team.
A Recruitment Specialist responded the same day. "Yes we're growing. You interested?"
A hiring contact at a third organization responded within 15 hours with two specific windows to jump on a call.
Same message. Three companies. Three conversations started.
So how do you build a second line that actually works?
Three pieces in my eyes:
Be specific about where you've been - pull out the part of your career that matters to the role you're going after, and quantify it where you can.
Connect it to them - if they're hiring for something specific, your second line should make it obvious why you're relevant without saying it outright.
Use "considering" language - you're not job hunting, you're evaluating your next move. That's a completely different energy, and hiring managers feel it.
Also, you’re going to get people who accept your request and don’t respond… make sure to follow up with these folks!
One question for your career this week:
Who accepted your connection request but you haven’t followed up with yet?
Before you leave (quick note to self)…
I got lunch with someone from LinkedIn this past week. Didn’t know Aaron, he ended up being a super cool dude and changed the tone of my day. Note to self… do that more often.
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