Recruiter E-Mail Tactics: Making a Good Impression on Candidates

By Amanda Cohen on October 19, 2018

There is nothing more off-putting when it comes to an e-mail from a recruiter than a bad first impression. Whether the e-mail is a cookie-cutter e-mail sent to thousands of potential candidates, or an e-mail specifying a job description that clearly would not be a good fit for a candidate at all.

So, this brings about the question, how should you reach out to potential employee candidates in a way that grabs their attention? There is no perfect way to answer this question, but there are definitely tactics that should be used by you (recruiters) that will make a reach-out via. LinkedIn, Indeed, e-mail, etc. more appealing and more likely for a candidate to reply.

It’s easy to assume that candidates just want a job and won’t pay attention to the fine print of an e-mail, but this is partially false. Yes, people are looking to get employed, but not if it means sacrificing their happiness (aka accepting a job that has nothing to do with their career paths). This isn’t true for all people, especially recent college graduates looking for work, but it says a lot about a company in the way that they reach out to potential employees. Don’t worry though, I’m here to help. I have created a list of e-mail tactics that will 100% grab potential job candidates’ attention! Read on to decipher the “candidate e-mail code,” as I like to call it.

Image via. https://pixabay.com/en/computer-laptop-technology-office-3368242/

Personalize the E-Mail

I know that, as recruiters, you are extremely busy every single day and writing a personalized e-mail seems tedious. You may even think, candidates will just be happy that I’m reaching out to them, so why not just copy and paste my candidate e-mail from a Word document and change the name? I’m sure that you’ve received stellar replies to the cookie-cutter e-mails in the past, but I recommend avoiding them. There is nothing more off-putting than receiving an e-mail that could be recruiting anyone in the entire world. If you truly want a candidate that you spot on LinkedIn, look at his/her experiences, his/her profile, and his/her strengths and cater at least one paragraph of the e-mail to that candidate.

The majority of the e-mail, for example, the job description of what you’re hiring for, can be a copied and pasted e-mail, but show that you want this candidate and add one paragraph that pertains to him/her. That one e-mail could make the difference as to whether or not that candidate works for your company or a competing company. In addition, if you are sending out an e-mail via. LinkedIn, make sure that you give your work e-mail information at the end of the message so that there is a more direct line of communication other than LinkedIn messaging. If you are happy to give out additional contact information, I encourage you to do so. Whether that is a phone number extension, or an e-mail address, do it.

Don’t Send an E-Mail to Just Anyone

There is nothing more disheartening for a potential candidate then receiving an e-mail from a recruiter and having the candidate go to the job description and seeing that he/she does not meet the criteria to be hired by your company. I want to caution all recruiters to be aware of who you send e-mails to. There are companies that send e-mails to all upcoming graduates, even if those graduates, just by looking at his/her profile, don’t meet the job criteria and are not at all interested in what the companies do.

It’s great to reach out to potential candidates, but if you, as a recruiter, know that the person you’re reaching out to will not be a good fit at your company, it’s better not to send an e-mail than to get their hopes up and bringing them in for an interview, just to reject him/her later on. There are times where it’s impossible to find out if someone is fit for a job just by looking at his/her resumé and/or LinkedIn profile, but if the job your hiring for requires 3-5 years of experience and you are planning on sending an e-mail to a recent college graduate, maybe take a step back and see if that person, despite not having the amount of experience required, will actually be a serious consideration to fill the position.

Image via. https://pixabay.com/en/email-newsletter-marketing-online-3249062/

Humor and Being Personable Goes a Long Way

I know this may sound self-explanatory, but acting like a real person and not just a typical recruiter behind a computer screen goes a long way. Whether you throw in a joke, a funny GIF, a meme, or add a little tidbit about yourself and when you went through the job recruiting process, it will make the candidate feel closer to the company that you are recruiting for. If you’re thinking that this may be unprofessional, I encourage you to change your frame of mind.

For most jobs, with the exception of banking jobs and other suit-and-tie jobs (as I like to call them), business casual is not just a dress code, but it’s also a frame of mind. Let’s take an advertising agency, for example. The purpose of an advertising agency is to find fun and savvy ways to promote their clients’ products. If you’re a recruiter for an advertising agency, think of your company as the client you’re advertising for. You want the potential candidate to “buy into” your company, so why not approach it in a fun, creative manner.

There is no need to have a super formal e-mail if your company isn’t a super formal company. You are advertising your company as it is, not some laced-up version of it. However, when being personable in your e-mail, think of the person you are e-mailing. A meme is definitely appropriate for generation Z and millennials, but maybe not as much so for older candidates. When in doubt, a personal anecdote and/or humor is a great place to start.

Infographic by Amanda Cohen

On Facebook, when you get a friend request from someone you don’t know, you look at his/her profile to see who your mutual friends are. Recruiting is no different. It can be scary getting an e-mail from a random person, even though you are a recruiter, so if you have mutual connections with a potential candidate, use that to your advantage.

I remember receiving an e-mail from a recruiter of a company I didn’t know anything about, and I wondered if the intentions were sincere. Granted, I didn’t have mutual connections with the recruiter, but if I did I hope the recruiter would have used those connections to establish a base connection with me. In this day and age, where everything seems to be a scam and where we have to be constantly aware of e-mail aimed at hacking into our personal information, recruiters must be mindful and either use connections to show that they are the real deal, or, if they don’t have any connections, word the e-mail in a way that shows that you are actually a recruiter and not a con-artist.

Maybe I’m overly cautious, but I guarantee I’m not the only person on high alert, and as recruiters, you must take that into account when e-mailing potential hires or messaging them over LinkedIn. If you don’t have a mutual connection, maybe you went to the same college or worked at the same company as the person you are trying to hire. Any sort of connection not only shows that you really looked over your potential candidate’s credentials, but it also shows that you are trying to get to know the potential hire.

E-Mail Length: Finding the Perfect Balance

Just as you are busy, so are potential hires. No one wants to write nor read a crazy long e-mail, especially if what you end up saying could be said in two paragraphs as opposed to five paragraphs. I believe that the perfect e-mail is two paragraphs (if you really have more to say, you can add on a short third paragraph).

Here are the components your e-mail must include: (1) introductions about you and your company, (2) addressing the person and giving a few sentences about why you think him/her is the perfect candidate, (3) a brief description about the job you are hiring for paired with the link of the actual job description and the application, (4) a small personal anecdote or a humorous comment, and (5) conclusions and contact information.

This may seem like a lot, but it really isn’t. Make sure that the most important aspects of the e-mail are towards the beginning, just in case the potential candidate skims the last few sentences. If you have a lot to say about your company and the job description, use hyperlinking to your advantage. It is perfectly acceptable to say something along the lines of, “There are so many amazing things about my company that I would like to share with you, but for the sake of being concise, I have attached the link to our company’s website so that you can read up on it on your own time.” There is also no need to copy and paste the job listing: highlight a few important aspects of the position that exemplifies why you think the person you’re e-mailing would be an excellent candidate, and then say, “I’ve attached the entire job listing/application for you to look over.”

If you are looking for more information about the potential hire, add onto your e-mail saying, “If this position interests you at all, please go through the formal application process as well as sending me your e-mail, resumé, cover letter, and LinkedIn profile.” That way, you can keep the person’s candidate profile organized.

Image via. https://pixabay.com/en/correcting-proof-paper-correction-1870721/

Proofread and Proofread Again

Please proofread your e-mails before sending them. If there are tons of typos and/or grammatical errors it makes it seem like you don’t actually care about the candidate joining your company. Spellcheck isn’t enough. I’m not saying that you need ten people to look over your e-mail to make sure it’s perfect, because obviously, it’s impossible to achieve perfection, but read over two or three times just to make sure all of the kinks are sorted out and everything is spelled correctly. Make sure that you are using the correct they’re vs. their vs. there and the correct type of your vs. you’re. Sometimes, in the heat of the moment, you can forget which one is correct to use, which is why proofreading is a beautiful and easy tool in your toolbox. There isn’t much more to say about this, just make sure you don’t skip over this crucial step of the e-mail-writing process.

I may not be a recruiter myself, but I know what applicants, especially young applications, look at when they are sent an e-mail by a recruiter. I know the twists and turns an applicant’s mind takes when he/she is reading and responding to an e-mail. I know the excitement of being reached out to by a recruiter and the sadness felt when the job doesn’t work out in the candidate’s favor. I also know that you were once in our shoes before you landed your recruiting job and I encourage you to reflect upon your past experiences as candidates, not recruiters, when forming an e-mail to a potential hire. It’s easy to forget your experiences as an unemployed adult looking for a job, but try your best to remember and use that to relate to applicants and potential candidates.

In addition, you can be personable while being professional, try to strike a nice balance so that the potential candidate can relate to you and your company a little bit more. Lastly, let the candidate know that you are open for questions, comments, concerns, etc. If you truly want this person to work at your company, you will have to maintain a dialogue with him/her, so be sure to encourage him/her to reach out to you if he/she wants to. Embody your company’s values in your e-mails as well as your own personal values. I wish you all the best of luck in the recruiting process!

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