u/Inevitable-Count3836

I studied pollinators/bees during my masters program, and tomorrow there is a huge pollinator event in the county I work in. There are going to be a lot of native plant and pollinator conservation orgs there. I’m going purely with the intent to network/try to build some connections in an attempt to get my foot into the field (I currently work a call center job).

My problem is that I’m not entirely sure how I should approach each org since it’s not a “networking” event without seeming pushy. I know one of the obvious things is just to ask how I can help the organization, but I don’t really know what I should say beyond that so I catch the interest of these orgs.
I’m going to try to research all the orgs that are listed on the website to see if any are actually hiring, or if they even *have* paid employees (some of course are just casual hobby orgs).
I’ve never been to a networking event period so I genuinely have had no training in this. Idk if you’re just supposed to be casual and hope to make a connection or be upfront about trying to advance my career.

How many of you have had success with cold emailing companies you want to work for even if they don’t have job openings available?

I got my MA for conservation biology winter of 2024 and since have only had one seasonal job. I would like to get into ecological/sustainable landscaping, or some type of educational position.

There are a lot of companies across my area and the state that are native nurseries or related, and I was planning on sending out a bunch of cold emails to ask for employment or connections because I never hear back from normal job apps anyway.
Has anyone found success in reaching out to companies on a whim? It’s not going to hurt to send emails out but I’m wondering if there’s any hope in it with this awful job market.

Btw I can’t network on Linkedin because they locked my account and customer service is non existent. That’s why I’m having to do things more direct.