Top 9 Essential Tips on Writing Recruiting Emails

As a recruiter, holding excellent communication is imperative to successfully connecting with qualified candidates. While you may be exceptional at sourcing and interviewing potential applicants for a position, recruiting emails connect you directly to candidates.

These emails represent the company in question – it’s the first point of contact with the brand and opportunity. Without the right approach, you’re leaving knowledgeable and competent employees off the table.

Tips on Writing Recruiting Emails to Help Secure the Most Qualified Candidates:

1. Your Subject Line is Key

It doesn’t matter how amazing the body of your email is; if you’re not convincing people to open the email, it’s a wasted effort. The subject line is the first point of contact for a candidate; it serves as the gatekeeper to your emails.

Always opt for personalized subject lines with under 50 characters. Be authentic and avoid spammy words (for example, “urgent,” “re,” and “reminder.” Stay on topic and focus on the relationship you’re trying to build.

2. Avoid Sending Cold Emails

Cold emails are generic, template recruiting letters that try to appeal to the masses. Unfortunately, they read as generic templates too. Personalized emails prompt interactions six times more frequently than a generic letter.

Spend a few minutes researching your candidates before emailing them; social media sites, professional profiles, and work samples or portfolios are all fantastic starting points. Pull a few pieces of information from the profiles and drop them into the message.

3. Stop Talking Like a Robot

Personalization involves more than a few names throughout the email. Make sure you drop the super formal approach and talk to your prospective candidates in a manner you’d like to be spoken to. Conversational tones perform better than ultra-formal communication styles almost every time. The initial contact shouldn’t focus on closing the candidate; they should build a relationship with the individual.

4. Stop Information Dumping

Information dumping involves sending everything about a job in the first email, which comes across as rude and uninvited. This method will often have a recruiter sending job details, salary, hours, and duties to the individual as a manner of laying all the details out quickly.

While these are all critical pieces of the job, this method assumes the person is interested in speaking with you. Too much information on first contact is overwhelming and presumptive.

5. Think Like the Employee

People don’t want to sift through thousands of words when it comes to a potential job. It’s time-consuming and unnecessary. Instead, offer quick bits of information about the position. Research shows that emails between 75-125 words have a response rate of over 50%. Basic job details like the position can intrigue potential candidates without seeming overwhelming.

If commuting is a significant perk of the job, include commute time maps with the job details. A commute time map outlines the distance of any candidate from the job in question, which can be a significant benefit to those traveling far distances currently.

6. Break the Mold

If a candidate is looking at your email, they’re probably looking at countless other emails too. Emails that look and sound the same are likely going to blend in with all the other emails. It’s a scientific fact that overexposure to stimulation results in a numb response.

On the other hand, unexpected emails or surprise us grab attention and promote the communication process. When sending your email, say something outside of the norm; keep it attention-grabbing and upbeat while remaining personable.

7. Don’t Be Afraid to Express Yourself

Science has shown that the brain responds better to feeling than processing information. People may not remember the details of an event, but they’re going to remember how you made them feel overall. Emotions are one of the most effective ways to drive engagement with your audience.

Emotion performs better than logic-based content by double. Meaning, you have the potential to unlock higher interaction simply by focusing on the emotional response in your recruiting emails. Happiness, humor, amusement, and interest are all strong motivators for engagement.

Use emotional words that invoke a feeling over a data-filled document. Pictures, links, or information should stir an emotional response in your reader.

8. Ensure Your Emails are Responsive

Over half of all emails are currently opened on a mobile device. Creating an email template that works on desktops or PCs disqualifies half of your potential candidates from viewing if the design isn’t responsive. A responsive email will be easy-to-read with breaks throughout the text.

The subject line should remain visible from a cell phone too. Avoid substantial graphics that can become warped or can displace text on a mobile platform. Before sending out an email, send a draft email to your account. Open the email on different devices (preferably cell phone, tablet, and PC).

How does the email look?

Does the reader have to scroll left to right (a huge no-no)?

Can you see the entire subject line?

By checking these features, you’ll ensure everything is simple, easy-to-read, and accurate.

9. Don’t Be Afraid to Follow Up

After spending a few days drafting up your killer template, you send out your copy, only to be ignored by the candidate. It can be discouraging, but it’s not uncommon. Mist first-touch emails are ignored or deleted by individuals. Follow up with the candidate a few days later.

Studies show that the more frequently someone is contacted, the more likely they interact with the company, brand, or individual. Emailing a follow-up is always a good idea when trying to send first-touch contact.