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I've talked to experienced recruiters and hiring managers about this. The interesting thing is that the content of the email actually doesn't matter much at all
by aristus 14y ago
I've talked to experienced recruiters and hiring managers about this. The interesting thing is that the content of the email actually doesn't matter much at all. Personalization, mentioning mutual contacts, etc helps but not a lot.
The single biggest determinant of a successful recruit is (drumroll, please) whether the candidate is currently looking for a job.
I just went back to read the recruiting email that kicked off my current job. And I quote:
"I came across your profile online and would like to chat with you about the exciting career opportunities that we have available at Facebook."
Wow. That sure sounded a lot more exciting at the time, because I was looking. And that's my point. Timing is nearly everything. Maybe you could find ways to predict when or if someone is looking, say, close to anniversaries of their current job (ie vesting cliffs) right before or after performance review time, etc.
But when the cost of a mis-timed email is essentially zero, there's no point. In a tight market like we have now, there will be a lot of smarmy, cut-n-paste junk in your inbox. Because it works.
- amorphid 14y agoAs a recruiter my data supports this. I stopped being spammy and more thoughtful in my communication with candidates. The result? More replies thanking me for being thoughtful and no increase in candidates expressing interest. I've decided that recruiting is about being in the right place at the right time and offering amazing career opportunities. Other things that make recruiting more effective: * getting out of the office and meeting candidates in person * building relationships with recruiters over time * being educated about your target audience and making conversations about meaningful content
- lifeisstillgood 14y agoTotally agree with the personal relationships - recruiters whom I have met in person, shared coffee and they still bother keeping in touch - well I have got good opportunities from them, they have got recommendations from me. The faceless emails - nah.
- mtrimpe 14y agoIt seems that someone could make a killing by building a service where you: 1) can invite a small group of recruiters who have gained your trust 2) keep an up-to-date record of what it would take for you to switch (whether it's Facebook offering a CTO position or any job that pays about the same) 3) make it easy to work with your selected recruiters to find a new job (accept/reject leads, plan job interviews, etc. etc.)
- lifeisstillgood 14y agoHow about a linked in plugin - I link to a recruiter and send a secret status update to them. It feels like there ought to be a way to do it
- berlinbrown 14y agoWhat about if the candidate just doesn't match the job position?
- rogerbinns 14y agoNote that they told you a heck of a lot in that email by mentioning Facebook. You already know about them, engineering culture, programming language, open source contributions, lots of online videos etc. Many of the non-personalized emails tell you virtually nothing useful about the company, certainly almost never the name.