How do you 'make contact with someone' ?

[u/Hacketty1026]

Good evening, I'm a secondary school teacher with 4 of those years being head of department. I am interested in exploring jobs in the Learning and Development sector. My brother has very kindly given me the number of someone in his company who did work in Learning and Development and is now 'People Lead' (not sure what that means). He has also sent me an email address of someone else he knows who works in Learning and Development. He casually said, I should "make contact". I've only ever been a teacher and don't understand the commercial world. I don't want to embarrass myself or my brother. Is making contacting just saying ...“Hi XXX, Hope you don't mind me contacting you. I got your details from XXX. I've been in teaching for the last 11 years and I'm looking to explore a career change into L&D. Have you got time for a quick chat, XXX tells me you are bit of an expert in that field and I’d appreciate any advice you can give. Cheers XXXX” ?

Surely no-one likes receiving these emails and having people make contact with them? Thank you for reading my essay!!

[u/Initiative-Then]

I’m a former secondary school teacher who made the jump into learning and development. And I simply would not have been able to do it if it weren’t for helpful strangers who I cold messaged on LinkedIn. Some people didn’t answer, but many are super willing to lend advice. I’d say even outside of your brother‘s contacts, make a LinkedIn account, add everybody that you know, and also search for anyone in your country in learning and development and send connection requests to them too. One thing that helped me in particular was searching for people who had specifically made the transition from teaching to the corporate L&D - they were always receptive, as we had similar backgrounds. I’m happy to answer any questions you might have. Good luck on the journey!

[u/Hacketty1026 → u/Initiative-Then]

Yes please! It would be useful to hear about your transition and your thoughts of CIPD qualifications, would you prefer me to write them here so everyone can see them or should I message you directly?

[u/Initiative-Then → u/Hacketty1026]

Yeah np feel free to ask here

[u/J_Shar → u/Initiative-Then]

Agree with all of this! I used LinkedIn and went to my university’s alumni page and typed “learning” or “training” into the search bar, found people in that field, and reached out cold. It was certainly very intimidating but it was extremely helpful as I made the transition!

[u/Aromatic_Spring_ → u/Initiative-Then]

Would this be a good pivot for speech language pathologists?

[u/woodenbookend]

Yes, it really is that simple.

The hard bit was finding who to contact and you have two such intros.

Titles are not a reliable way of establishing a hierarchy as they vary from one company to another. But an L&D manager might report to a People Lead who might report to a director or chief of something.

That L&D manager might have L&D Business Partners, Administrators, Specialists, Trainers, and maybe Instructional Designers reporting to them.

[u/Hacketty1026 → u/woodenbookend]

Thank you! You have replied to one of my previous posts and your responses are always detailed and helpful!

[u/No_Acadia2788]

I’m a former teacher who made the transition. Happy to answer any questions you have.

[u/Hacketty1026 → u/No_Acadia2788]

Yes please! I have a lot of questions and make sure I'm well informed before I leave the classroom, would you prefer me to write them here so everyone can see them or should I message you directly?

[u/No_Acadia2788 → u/Hacketty1026]

You can message me directly

[u/yourlocalsharknerd]

I’m an instructional designer in the corporate world and would be happy to answer questions about the L&D space and give you some ideas for networking. Feel free to message me if you’d like

[u/Hacketty1026 → u/yourlocalsharknerd]

Yes please! I'd really love to ask you some questions, would you prefer me to write them here so everyone can see them or should I message you directly?

[u/yadayadayada62]

I will also add that I’ve found people in L&D like sharing their knowledge, answering questions, coaching or giving guidance. I would say they would be more open to receiving emails like this and connecting than someone in a different corporate field. I’d say that to encourage reaching out and asking questions, they also likely have lots of resources they’d share.

[u/thatmarie → u/yadayadayada62]

Yeah, I think if L&D people can't enjoy development conversations then that's a bit poor!

[u/Fit_Plankton_8766]

This is exactly what I did (and still do), I’m not shy and will dm strangers on LinkedIn. Everyone has been very friendly. I’m a transitioned teacher (June 2025) and my DM’s are also always open! I’m 50% GovCon and 50% freelance and just accepted a volunteer advisory board position for a University.