For recruiters and sourcers, cold email outreach represents a big part of their work day.
Needless to say, recruiting email templates that drive more responses are always appreciated.
There are a few important things to keep in good check to increase the outreach impact when hunting talent... or looking for a job.
Besides three cold recruiting email templates, we're also going to share two more for those who are in job pursuit at the moment.
Not only that, but I'll talk about how I met Guillaume and ended up working in lemlist too. Yes indeed, it was after a cold email.
Before I started writing the article, I got in touch with a few recruiters to understand things from their perspective. Now, I’d like to extend my gratitude to all of them who unselfishly helped me create this.
As for me, I do have a solid experience communicating and being pitched by various recruiters. I also did my recruiting outreach work at almost all the companies I worked at.
With that said, I want you to keep in mind that what you’re about to read is a mix of different experiences on how to recruit people.
First, let’s understand the state of play.
Outreach as a strategy offers multiple channels that can be used to attract talent. Email, LinkedIn, groups and communities, other Social Media networks, cold calling... these usually come to people's mind.
Of course, everything depends on the part of the world you live in, the industry, job type etc. For the majority of us, we can agree that email and LinkedIn are probably the two most common methods.
As far as the hiring strategy process goes, it operates something like this:
One of the biggest roadblocks recruiters face is the same as with any other cold email outreach professional.
Response rate.
When you look at the reasons why, it's quite obvious.
People are being over contacted by recruiters. Both on email and LinkedIn. It’s a crowded space.
Aligned with that comes the fact that 21% of millennials changed jobs two years ago, according to Gallup. They also stated that this is more than three times the number of non-millennials who did the same.
Whether we’re talking about developers, marketers, salespeople or HR managers, people are frequently changing jobs because of many reasons.
The most concerning stat Gallup reported was that 71% of millennials are not engaged at work or aren't connected with the company.
We can debate these stats and be skeptical about them, but you can’t hide the fact that people are job-hopping more than they did before.
If you’re chasing talented people that can bring results, all these market conditions are making it harder to attract them.
Which in turn makes the recruiter’s job more challenging.
Hence, the response rate is the toughest challenge to crack. Whoever can give the best tactic to "how to write a recruiting email templates", wins.
We have to also state that those sloppy recruiters that offer you jobs on LinkedIn, you reply that you're interested and then they say to send a CV and apply, are not helping.
These sloppy outreach efforts are suffocating the market and making us not want to respond.
That’s why personalization is your best option.
But, there’s also another KEY task you absolutely have to do before you press send. Your outreach success depends on it.
That's precisely what we're going to talk about next. 👇
If you ever read any of my articles about cold email outreach, you know that in 90% of them I repeat the same sentence I’m about to write once again.
Research is the most important piece of the puzzle. You simply cannot expect a double-digit reply rate without a proper research.
Good research allows you to do cool things with your cold emails and craft an amazing recruiting email templates:
Data, data, data, we cannot make bricks without clay, see what I’m saying?
The better your research, the more eye-catching your cold email will be.
However, if you neglect the research, this can happen:
Without good research, there would be no personalization. Never let that leave the back of your head. 😉
If you read all the way and didn’t just scroll to the templates section, I salute you.
But even if you haven’t, I still hope you’ll like and find value in what I’m about to present.
Let’s crack on.
Last year, we launched the first version of our Wanted Recruiting Cold Email Template.
Today, I’m excited to introduce the second version.
Subject line: Have you seen this {{jobPosition}}?
Hey {{firstName}},
I'm Vuk, Head of Growth at lemlist. We're currently on a lookout for {{jobPosition}}.
We keep seeing this name. Do you happen to know him/her?
All kidding aside, we'd really like to meet you, have a talk and see if continuing your career at lemlist sounds interesting.
Let me know what you think,
Vuk
As you can see, this email is pretty straightforward. I'm leveraging the coolness of personalized images and basically inviting people for an interview.
The personalized image can make things really personal, while I'd also be adding some links in the last sentence of the email.
Every single piece of text on the image can be unique for every candidate. It's just depends on how deep with personalization you want to go. To do this, just have a separate column in your .csv file and add that tag onto the image.
Another dope thing you can do to automatically put HER or HIM (gender classification), you can leverage the liquid syntax feature in lemlist.
Once the candidate clicks on the button, I can have a cool dynamic landing page in lemlist with a semi- or fully personalized video to greet the person and show them more details about the job.
I can even embed a Typeform if I need to gather additional info or just put Calendly to book an interview.
I think this is the email I’d like to receive if some company out there wanted me to join them.
I admit though, it’s a little bit subjective and personal. But, hopefully, it will send some good vibes your way.
Subject line: {{companyName}} wants you {{firstName}}
Hi {{firstName}},
I'm Vuk, Chief Recruiter at {{companyName}}.
We're looking for a {{jobPosition}} to join our team full-time. Your profile looks not only interesting, but I'd like to invite you over for an interview.
{{iceBreaker}}
Here's everything you need to know:
- {{quickDescription}}
- {{contractType}}
- {{Salary}}
- {{startingDate}}
Let me know if you're interested,
Vuk
I'm honestly tired of secretive stuff with recruiter pitches. And I already know I need to pass some interviews first. But, I'd appreciate a transparent approach.
In the {{iceBreaker}} tag you can add a column to your .csv file and have a personalized sentence for each candidate.
This email will work best if a company they can relate to is hiring, so that you can leverage this style of writing and subject line.
One cold recruiting email template has to have video print over it. Here's one of such!
Subject line: We're looking for a {{jobPosition}}
Hey {{firstName}},
My name is Vuk and I'm a recruiter from lemlist.
We're looking for a 🔥 {{jobPosition}} to join our team. Full-time gig, properly paid.
I think you might be the one. If interested, I made a quick video for you where I'll give you the details you need.
Let me know your thoughts,
Vuk
You can also add a smooth dynamic landing page here as well. Simply link an image to lead the way to that page.
Here's a quick preview with a few labels so you know what's what here and why we call it a DYNAMIC landing page.
Recruiting email templates don’t have to be just for recruiters. People who are job hunting can play with them too.
If you’re looking for a job, what’s stopping you from sending a personalized cold email to your potential boss or colleague.
A lot can happen through our inboxes. In fact, that’s how I started working at lemlist.
Before I share two cold email templates that you can use for your needs, allow me to tell you a quick story about how Guillaume and I met.
It was summer 2018 and I was grinding at another startup at that time. Now, just to be clear, I loved that place and I’ve given it 2.5 years of my life.
But, I felt like they weren’t using me the right way. Meaning, due to the business specifics, Marketing wasn’t as creative and wide-spread as I would have liked it to be.
And since I was able to finish my daily tasks fast, I had time to do a little bit of freelance work on the side.
Bearing in mind I owned a solid contract at Shyft, I had all the patience of this world to find a project and team I liked. My potential next step or just a fun project.
I started browsing the internet, optimizing my LinkedIn and Facebook feeds, connecting with people and screening various Facebook groups.
One day, my friend Ognjen whom I’d like to give a huge shout out for being my big marketing bro, wrote something on LinkedIn. He listed 10 folks who he thought the entrepreneurship world should keep an eye on.
I checked out all of them. One was this French dude who went by the name of Guillaume Moubeche.
Email outreach was something I did throughout my entire career, so the interest was already there. The next thing I know, I’m analyzing their company, their team, what they did and what moves are they making today.
Wanted to make sure we share the some marketing mindset.
I liked everything. From those smooth personalization features to the way they were building lemlist family community and their brand.
I also noticed there were Guillaume and two tech guys - Vianney and Francois. No marketing people, so the timing was perfect as I felt they were gaining momentum.
Needless to say, I’ve decided to make my case. And what better way to pitch a cold email tool founder than to send him or her a cold email.
Here’s how it looked.
Once he read it, Guillaume invited me for an interview.
We started talking and agreed to do a project together. It was a test drive. Both for him to check the quality of my work and for me to see if I liked the lemlist vibe.
It went well and I joined as a freelancer. I even ended up going to Paris three months later to meet the team in person. They offered me the chance to join full-time as Head of Growth in March 2019.
And here we are.
But everything started with good, patient research and personalized recruiting email template.
Just like any other quality outreach campaign.
Oh, I still owe you two recruiting email templates to help you send a cold email to recruiter.
Number one looks like this...
Subject line: To {{companyName}} with ❤️
Hi {{companyName}} team,
This email might sound a little unorthodox, but bear with me. :)
Going to be honest from the start and say I would absolutely love an opportunity to join your team.
I'm aware this email is out of the blue in your inbox, but just so you know I mean every word I wrote, here's a quick video I made for you.
Or click here to open it.
Hope to hear from you,
Vuk
The main thing to remember is that if I was sending this kind of an email, the video has to be super representative and convince them I deserve a shot.
To make personalized image more eye-catching and to drive more clicks, I'm adding a dynamic logo on it.
In specific cases, I believe this can be a valid strategy. Especially if you don’t have meaningful experience to brag about, but you’re confident in your work ethic and your delivery.
And that’s precisely what this email is about. You sacrifice short-term transactions for a bigger monthly check a few weeks or months later.
If you work out the math, your bills and your rent, it can be a powerful strategy. One that I used more than once... with lemlist as well. 😉
That being said, I do invite you to join me in blazing ⚡️ and 😡 in the face of all the people who are underpaying and exploiting their employees and interns.
Here’s the template...
Subject line: For {{firstName}} the 💪
Hey {{firstName}},
I'm a longtime fan of {{companyName}} {{firstName}}. Just so you know it's not a shallow line, {{Proof}}.
Have a question to ask. Is there an opportunity for a young marketer to join your team? Here's how it could work...
Oh, and I'll start for free. That way, you can assess my delivery with a peace of mind and, if the results are there, we can talk business.
I'm going to outwork anyone if you give me this opportunity {{firstName}}. Really mean that!
Hope to hear from you.
Nothing but the best,
Vuk
You might need to do some editing on this recruiting email template to make it more you, because it's critical to be authentic.
Keep in mind that {{Proof}} tag is a sentence you should use to demonstrate your motivation to join and evidence you're in fact a true fan of the company or the person.
For instance, if I was job hunting at Inter Milan football club, I could send a photo of young me in the black and blue jersey.
⚠️ MIND THE RULE: To be able to dynamically personalize images like in the examples above, you need an account on lemlist. But don't worry, you can test drive it for free. The whole thing, no credit card required.
Recruiting email outreach strategy and recruiting email templates, at least to me, requires the same mindset as any other.
Meaningful personalization.
Not just because it boosts our response and conversion rates, but because makes our approach feel unique and human. It allows the person reading the email to understand we've put some effort in it and that we're genuinely interested in them.
Hopefully, the recruiting email templates in this article, as well as the ones you're going to create in the future, will help improve the game we play.Remember that it's just the beginning, though - you may need best employee engagement software and hard work to make your recruitees happy and motivated.
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