Be it your LinkedIn community, your passive candidates or even your clients, we understand the hard work it requires to prompt engagement.
But, unfortunately, there are hundreds of emails and InMails already bombarding your clients and candidates. So, in this vast competitive sea, how do you keep your engagement rate high?
How can you manage to grab your candidate or client’s attention?
Let’s get this straight. Most recruitment agencies see an average response rate of 15-20% with cold emails. This means, on average, 2 out of 10 people will respond to your email (which is very low).
So, what’s the deal?
The most obvious thing to do is to craft better emails. But with 73% of the talent being passive, is writing better emails just enough? The answer is no.
After careful evaluation, our subject-matter experts at Recruit CRM have managed to shortlist a few essential tips and strategies for recruiters to write the best recruiting cold emails and effectively increase the response rate. At the end of the day, structuring your cold email campaigns properly is essential.
Read more: Understanding recruiting cold emails.
Write the best recruiting cold emails with these tips
Cold emails for recruiting are well and alive. Take some time to go through these points and evaluate if you’re doing it the right way. Also, make sure your emails are being delivered correctly to their inbox to have a successful campaign.
1. Is your subject line relevant?
Did you know that 35% of email recipients open emails based on the subject line alone? Yes, that’s right.
Your prospect will only open your email if you give them a good reason to do so. Unfortunately, many recruiters end up writing a perfect email body but struggle to write a catchy subject line. This ruins all the hard work!
You have to give time and effort into starting email with a good subject line, or else you’ll end up unread, or worse, marked as spam.
Take a look at these 4 factors before you start writing a subject line—
- Clarity: Is your subject line delivering the right message? Do not write subject lines that’ll act as clickbait. It ends up giving the wrong impression, and you’ll definitely get blacklisted. Adding RE: or an FWD: or writing “IMMEDIATE ACTION REQUIRED” can get your emails opened but will end up annoying the recipient forever.
- Length: The shorter your email subject lines, the better. MailChimp says, “we recommend you use no more than 9 words and 60 characters.” The sweet spot is somewhere between 2-6 words. If you write longer subject lines and your email is being read on a mobile device, the end will likely be cut off.
- Personalisation: As per HubSpot, emails that had the first name of the recipient in the subject line had higher click-through rates than the rest. If you’re looking forward to hiring staff in a certain geographical area or you have shared connections, make sure you mention that in the subject line.
- Spark curiosity without being spammy: A lot of recruiters, to get their emails opened by candidates, use subject lines such as— “Make MILLIONS with this job offer” or “Once in a lifetime opportunity.” These will make you indeed sound like scammers. The main idea here is to intrigue your recipients without giving away the meat. Flatter your clients or candidates. Use subject lines such as— “Are you our next exclusive Software Developer?” or “We have been looking for a top-tier Engineer like you.”
2. Send your emails to the right candidates & clients
Imagine doing so much work, and you end up sending it to the wrong set of people? How frustrating would that be?
Who you are emailing in the first place is crucial to understand. Emailing anyone and everyone on your list is certainly a bad idea. It’s spammy and even illegal. Also, there’s no scope for personalization.
Curate a list of relevant people to your industry and add them to your cold email marketing campaign. If possible, follow these steps—
- Firstly, source the right candidates and use a tool like Apollo to find prospective client contacts.
- Secondly, make separate lists of prospective clients and candidates whom you’re willing to email. Always use a business email address to send cold emails. This makes sure your emails will not land in spam folder.
- Lastly, set up DKIM and SPF records to prevent email spoofing before setting up your recruiting cold email campaign.
Even if you end up buying contact information, ensure you’re verifying email addresses to prevent a higher bounce rate.
3. Your research needs to be spot on
Wait. Your outreach strategy is not just limited to writing a cold email. It begins way before you start doing that.
This means you’ll have to check out their social media profiles such as Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, go through their work samples on their blogs, Medium, Dribble, GitHub or more.
One of the candidates that our team got in touch with on LinkedIn mentioned how recruiters did no homework. The emails he had been receiving never mentioned anything beyond his first name.
While we understand that automation is the way to go while dealing with a huge list of candidates or clients, but once you start sending really personalised emails, it’ll stand out from the crowd, providing you amazing business.
The ultimate trick is to go beyond what your list provides. If you’re sending out emails to candidates, find out their past work experiences, skills, career goals, education details, achievements and more. Consider using LinkedIn email finder to ensure you reach out to the right people.
Once you have all the information you need, try figuring out which of these are relevant to the email that you’re sending out. This way, you’ll end up sending a cold email that resonates with them.
Keep these 3 things in mind—
- Introduce yourself in the first few lines. Keep it short.
- Tell them from where you found them.
- Explain why you’re emailing them.
This will help your recruiting cold emails warm up your prospective clients and candidates.
4. Don’t add too much about your recruiting agency
It’s important to understand that you shouldn’t add too many details about what your recruitment agency does in the email body.
Your candidates and clients are scanning through hundreds of emails daily. Unfortunately, they don’t have the time to read a long email where half of it explains about your recruitment agency.
Filling your entire email with your agency’s history will simply affect your reply rates. It’s best to add your company name and hyperlink it to your website. Then, if they wish to learn more about your company, they can simply click on the link and read from the website.
Just stating Staffing or Recruiting agency in the body of your email will give a fair idea about your search agency.
5. Don’t forget to add the evp
EVP or Employee Value Proposition is a set of benefits that employees receive after contributing their experience and years of work to the company. EVPs are something that makes their effort towards your client company worth it.
But candidates would want to know what they’ll get in return from your client company before they sign that offer letter. So how are you different from any other recruitment agency in the market?
Here are some great benefits that could be offered to candidates—
- Gym memberships
- Personal development opportunities
- Tuition benefits
- Career counselling
- Cab credits
- Medical insurance
- Open vacation policy
- Wellness credits
You can redirect your emails to the careers page of your client, where it’s further explained in detail. If you’ve done your homework right, you would certainly know what would resonate with the candidates the most.
6. Your email tone will be the ultimate deciding factor
There’s a vast difference between “Dear Mr Wells” and “Hey John”.
An Executive Search agency looking forward to hiring C-suite executives will benefit from the first greeting. Whereas recruitment agencies looking forward to hiring for startups or Gen Z candidates will benefit from the second.
Always remember that when you’re communicating it’s not always what you say that’s important but also how you say it. Your tone of voice should be accommodating enough to let recipients open and read the entire email.
7. Keep in mind what your ultimate goal is
Your primary goal as a recruiter would be to schedule a call or a meeting with your candidates or clients. Let’s be honest. Any form of dialogue is worth more than just an email. As a primary source, emails are great, but you’ll need to have an honest dialogue for your leads to convert.
Ensure you’re mentioning clearly in the body of your email that you would be willing to hop on a call or meet for lunch to discuss the details further.
8. Don’t forget your CTA
Good recruiting cold emails will always have a call-to-action at the end.
If your prospect doesn’t understand what to do next, it’s improbable for them to take any action. So, to ensure your cold emailing efforts don’t go to waste, always remember to add a compelling CTA.
Here are some great CTAs that you could add towards the end of your cold email.
- When’s the best time to catch up with you?
- If you would love to learn more, please click here (insert a Calendly link) to schedule a meeting.
- Would you love to meet for brunch next week so that we can take this ahead?
Your ultimate goal, as mentioned previously, is to get them to schedule a call or meeting so don’t overcomplicate your CTA. Keep it brief and straightforward.
9. Connect with your prospects on Linkedin
For most recruiters, the first touchpoint where they discover their candidates and clients is generally via LinkedIn. So, why not leverage it?
Send them a connection request right away and warm up your prospect before sending a cold email. Find out mutual interests, comment on their posts, like, share and tell them you are happy to connect with them professionally.
More than often, your prospects will view your LinkedIn profile and become aware of your recruitment agency.
Thus, once your message hits their email account, you wouldn’t strike as a complete stranger.
10. Utilise your signature
Your signature can speak a lot about who you are and the values your recruitment agency believe in. For example— use your pronouns in the signature (she/her, he/him, they/them etc.) as a way of showcasing your allyship and your firm belief in diversity hiring.
Here are certain facets that you could add in your signature—
- Your company name
- Company website/ careers page
- Your pronouns
- Your designation
- Your contact number
- Your LinkedIn profile link
This way, your prospects know how to reach out to you and that they’re receiving an email from a real person and not just a bot.
11. Follow up & analyse your cold email data
It takes up to 3-5 follow-up emails sometimes before you receive a reply from your prospects. But, again, your recruitment follow-up emails don’t have to be complicated at all.
You can simply write—
Hey [First_Name],
Did you have time to go through my previous email? Is that of any interest to you?
Regards,
[Your_Signature]The main idea is to be to the point. You don’t have to mention the details yet again because your first email already does that for you.
Use your email provider to analyze the results of your email marketing campaign. A/B testing is the way to go if you’re willing to determine which subject lines or email body gives your agency the best result.
Bonus Tip: It’s not imperative to just include texts in your email body. You can go ahead and experiment with linked images, loom videos, add a short clip on your client company values, recruitment agency testimonials etc.
20+ recruiting cold email templates for your clients & candidates
These email templates have been written keeping in mind the above points.
Ready to use these templates? Just hit the ‘copy’ button and it’s all yours!
For candidates
Template 1
Subject Line: 3 reasons why [Company] is your perfect next stepping stone
Hey [First_Name],
How are you doing?
We are hiring for content writers over at [Company]. There are 3 simple reasons why this is a great fit for you.
- It is one of the fastest-growing companies in the United States.
- We have got the world’s top experienced people working here so it’s a great place to learn.
- Also is situated near restaurants where
you can enjoy your favourite food.
I would love to tell you more about your role. Do you have time tomorrow evening?
Best,
[Signature]Template 2
Subject Line: New opportunity!
Hey [First_Name],
I hope you’re doing well.
This is [Your_Name] from [Company_Name]. Our client has requested to get in touch with you regarding your current situation.
They are looking for someone just like you with an engineering background. However, they’re willing to offer a salary hike along with other perks, incentives and benefits. Would you be open to confidentiality to see what they’re willing to offer you?
To speed up the process, please provide me with a phone number or schedule a call here [insert Calendly link] whenever you’re free this week.
Best,
[Signature]Template 3
Subject line: Where did you get the idea for the [Recent Blog Post] on LinkedIn?
Hey [First_Name],
I hope you’re doing well.
I came across your beautifully written article on [Topic]. I ended up sharing it with my team and they loved it to bits. I lead recruiting at [Company]. We are interested to replace our blogs with some good and well-researched ones, something just like you’ve written.
I am looking for someone to lead our content team. Would you be interested to talk about this in the morning at around 11?
Best,
[Signature]Template 4
Subject line: Looking for the best content creator to join [Company]
Hey [First_Name],
My name is [Your_Name] and I am the CEO at [Company_Name]. I found your profile on LinkedIn while I was just reading articles. I was impressed by your profile and decided to drop a note.
It might be new to see a CEO reaching potential candidates and discussing career opportunities, but our company finds the best people and we put them together (however possible) and succeed.
We do fun activities, face challenges, and complete exciting projects. That is why I focus a lot of my personal time on recruiting potential candidates for our company.
We might have a position for you at my [Company_Name]. But we want to hear from you first to make sure that we are on the same page.
Kindly, let me know if you are interested to learn and explore with us. I will connect you with someone from our team soon.
Best,
[Signature]Template 5
Subject line: Any fun plans this week? Also, a major update
Hey [First_Name],
How are you?
I am writing to let you know that one of our clients [Company_Name] is looking forward to hiring for someone with a similar B2B Marketing background as yours. They are leaders in the Digital Marketing space and are valued at more than $10 billion!
They are growing at an organised pace too. Are you willing to look into what they have to offer for you? If not, is there something else that would interest you?
I am happy to answer all your questions. Just give me a call at [Phone_Number] or drop me yours.
On that note, any fun holiday plans coming up for you? I’m off to Yellowstone National Park for the weekend.
Best,
[Signature]Template 6
Subject line: Coffee with me and [Connection]?
Hey [First_Name],
I am [Your_Name], a recruiter at [Company_Name]. We are hiring for the [Job_Role]. I have been going through my network and found out you to be the best candidate.
I also found out that [Connection] is a close friend of yours – he suggested that you as a candidate would be a great fit.
Would you be interested to grab a coffee and take it further? I will make sure [Connection] comes along as well.
Best,
[Signature]Template 7
Subject line: Impressed by your design style
Hey [First_Name],
How are you doing?
I just looked through your [Recent Projects] and have been impressed by the way you portray your ideas and approach. We are looking to add a lead designer to our team, and it seems that you are a perfect fit for us.
Would be great to speak this week? Let me know the best time and how to reach you.
Looking forward to your reply and the kind of role you want to approach.
Best,
[Signature]Template 8
Subject line: Advice…
Hey [First_Name],
Our entire team loved the work on your recent video trending at number 1 on YouTube [Insert Details].
Any chance you would love to come in and share information about your work in detail with our team?
They would really appreciate it…
Best,
[Signature]Template 9
Subject line: I can see why everyone loves your work…
Hey [First_Name],
I have to say that [Company] is impressed with your work. I have spoken to some of my friends in London and everyone has been praising you. I put in a little research and got to know why!
I thought you would be a perfect fit for our marketing team at [Company]. We have a good number of working freaks who live, work, and enjoy coffee.
Do you have time for a quick chat on Saturday at 11 am to explore more?
Best,
[Signature]Template 10
Subject line: Just got off the phone with [Connection]
Hey [First_Name],
We are hiring for [Job_Role] over at [Company]. So, we have been looking for the same within our network.
I just got off the phone with [Connection]- all he talked about was your work and how I had to talk to you.
So how about it? Are you interested? We are looking for a passionate candidate and I am pretty sure you would be perfect.
How about a call tomorrow at 12, if you are free?
Best,
[Signature]Template 11
Subject line: Want to grab a meal?
Hey [First_Name],
I am [Your_Name] and I head recruiting at [Company].
We are actually hiring for the role of a [Job_Role] at the moment.
I really admire your work. Would you be open to having a quick chat to talk about what we have for you?
Best,
[Your_Name]Template 12
Subject line: 10 things to do in 2021
Hey [First_Name],
Spotted your recent post on LinkedIn. I think I haven’t managed those things you have mentioned yet. Also, career change didn’t make it in your list, but I think you will be perfect for [Job_Role] that we are hiring for at [Company_Name].
I would love to tell you a little more. Do you have some time tomorrow around 2-4 in the afternoon?
Best,
[Signature]Template 13
Subject: An opportunity you don’t want to miss!
Hi [First_Name],
Your experience working at [Current_Company] makes you a great fit for the [Job_Title] role at [New_Company_Name] headquarters in New York.
If you’re interested in exploring this opportunity and learning more about the compensation, benefits & culture, reply to this email with your phone number and the time you’d like me to call you.
Look forward to hearing from you!
Best,
[Signature]Template 14
Subject: I came across your blogs on Medium
Hi [First_Name],
I hope you’re doing really well. I recently came across your article on [Blog_Topic] and I must say it was an interesting and fresh take on recruiting.
Our team members loved reading it too. On that note let me tell you that we’re looking forward to expanding our team here at [Company_Name]. We need a recruiter just like you.
Can you meet me for coffee or brunch tomorrow? Also, it would be great if you could send me your updated resume.
Best,
[Signature]Template 15
Subject line: Will you be in town next week?
Dear [First_Name],
How are you doing?
My name is [Your_Name] and I head up recruiting at [Your_Comp
any_Name]. Our client company is looking for a Director of Sales and I believe you’re the best person for this job since you’ve got 10 years of experience working at [Company_Name].
I went through your LinkedIn profile yesterday and I must say we have shared interest in playing squash. If you’re in town next week, do you want to play a round? How fun would that be! We can take this discussion further after the match.
Looking forward to hearing from you soon.
Best,
[Signature]For clients
Template 1
Subject line: Beautiful careers page; I can help with the unfilled roles!
Hi [First_Name],
I was sifting through your company careers page, excellent job on the page, by the way, it looks very slick, and I found quite a few open technical roles.
At [Company_Name], we specialise in hiring front-end engineers.
We’ve worked with [Clients], and I think we’d be able to offer you a lot of value, in terms of money and service.
I have a few candidates that I think would be perfect for [Job_Name]. Would you mind if I send the details over?
I am looking forward to hearing from you soon.
Best,
[Signature]Template 2
Subject Line: My plan to fill your open roles
Hey [First_Name],
I have a terrific plan that I can explain to you in the next 10 minutes, which can help [contact_company_name] fill all your open roles.
I recently used a similar idea to help our client [contact_company_name] build a world-class sales team.
[First_Name], let’s schedule a quick 10-minute call so I can share this plan with you.When works best for you?
Best,
[Signature]Template 3
Subject Line: Lowest cost staffing solution in [City_Name]
Hey [First_Name],
This is a completely cold email but I wanted to introduce myself first. This is [Your_Name] and I head recruiting at [Your_Company_Name].
I came across your company and saw that you have a few openings in Engineering for which we have candidates. My team would love to assist you in finding the right quality candidates.
With a [X%] hiring fee, we guarantee the lowest cost staffing solution in [City_Name].
Feel free to connect with us right away if you wish to fill up your open positions soon.
Best,
[Signature]Template 4
Subject Line: Rockstar marketers for [Company_Name]
Hey [First_Name],
I am a big fan of what you’re doing over at [Company_Name].
I saw that you have a few marketing roles that have been open for over six weeks. I have ten rockstar marketers that would be perfect – do you mind if I send them your way?
Also, when’s the best time to connect with you over a call to discuss future staffing needs?
Best,
[Signature]Template 5
Subject Line: We can help you fill some empty BD roles…
Hi [First_Name]
We’ve noticed that [Company_Name] has seen significant growth in the last quarter. At [Your_Agency], we specialise in recruiting top class sales talent for major B2B firms.
Here are some of the firms where we have placed great sales leaders:
- Salesforce
- Oracle
- Nutanix
- Siemens, and so on.
We have archives of recognising top sales talent, resulting in 75% of our placements hitting 125% of the quota in their first year.
I would love to have a chat with you to learn more about your recruiting strategies for this quarter and discern how we can help you build your A-plus team.
Do let me know if you’d be up for a quick chat tomorrow at, say, 5 pm?
Kind regards,
[Signature]Template 6
Subject line: I would love to grab some coffee & talk about your open positions
Hi [First_Name],
I hope you’re doing well.
This is [Your_Name] and I am a recruiter working with [Company_Name]. I know we don’t know one another but I’d love to change that.
I discovered your profile via LinkedIn and wanted to connect right away. I would love to chat with you about the growth we are having at [Company_Name] and how we can help you hire quality candidates for your open positions.
Whether you have staffing needs right now or in the future, we would want to be the person you turn to.
Could you make time for a cup of coffee or lunch later this week?
Best,
[Signature]Template 7
Subject line: Check out our candidate pool for [Job_Position] pros
Hi [First_Name],
How are you doing?
Guess what? The candidate pool you hire [Job_Position] from will have a huge effect on your business and revenue for a long time. We are sourcing them now! You can visit this link [Insert_Link] to access tonnes of candidates already on the list.
My name is [First_Name] and I am the Founder of [Company_Name]. We focus on sourcing [Job_Position] professionals every day and every hour.
Can we connect on some profiles?
Looking forward to a reply.
Best,
[Signature]Template 8
Subject line: Have a close look at these candidates!
Dear [First_Name],
I hope you’re doing well.
This pipeline of candidates [Insert_Link] is on the move. I just came across that [Client_Company_Name] is hiring for [Job_Position]. I would love to get your team’s name involved in this process.
What do you think?
Regards,
[Signature]Template 9
Subject line: Love your company story + a proposal
Hi [First_Name],
I hope you’re doing well.
I came across your [Client_Company_Name] story while I was doing some research. I absolutely love how passionate you’ve been while creating this company. Your [Website_Name] reviews are amazing too. It shows how enthusiastic you and your team have been for the past couple of years.
While surfing your website, I also came across that you’re deciding to scale up the [Job_Position] team. I have a few candidates in the pipeline who would be an ideal fit for your company.
Do you mind hopping on a Zoom call next week?
Best,
[Signature]Template 10
Subject line: I have recruiting plans for [Client_Company_Name]
Dear [First_Name],
I hope you’re doing well.
I just came across a press release on [Website_Name] that talked about the phenomenal growth [Client_Company_Name] has had in the last quarter. At our [Your_Company_Name] we are known for recruiting top-class candidates in the [Job_Position] sector. We have recently hired for renowned companies such as [Provide_Company_Names].
I want to speak to you about the open positions that you have and help you build a first-class team that will lead you to have immense growth.
Are you free at 5:30 pm next Monday?
Best,
[Signature]Loved our email templates? Share it on your social media platforms and let the recruiters in your connection use these too.
