Are Sourcers Now The New Candidate Outreach Super Stars?

Outreach #1: I found your profile online.

Outreach #2: Would you or anyone that you might know be interested?

The first outreach may give an impression of a dating proposition and the second may seem like asking for a referral without even building a relationship.

The common thread: Bland and lackluster efforts.

In the marketplace, sourcers who are a little more creative than the average Joe or Jill, end up writing better subject lines and body content to at least get a prospect to read and increase the odds of getting a response.

However, a few forward-thinking organizations hire marketing specialists with campaign management and copywriting skills to be part of the recruiting team to improve engagement and position the organization as a preferred place for the talent to flow in.

Here are some of the observations and techniques that you can utilize to improve engagement:

Keep in mind the golden rule of marketing – 5/15

5 being “5 words or less” in the subject line of your messaging.

15 being “Recipient being able to understand the content in 15 seconds or less”.

Subject Lines and body content

Since most of the emails or messages are seen on mobile devices, be aware of the limitations of screen size. Minimize the scrolling for the recipient (A single-screen view test is a good benchmark to have).

Employ subject line testing tools like coschedule.com, sendcheckit.com, subjectline.com, to figure out the optimum number of characters, and subject line preferences to get the maximum opens and responses.

Some examples are:

Using the prospect’s name or their current company name in the subject line
Looking for our next Node.js expert in Warsaw – Fully remote.
ETL Developer (Informatica) – Chennai – Fully Remote
Journey from Boolean to Talent Advisory

Utilize Activecampaign, Automizy, Encharge etc. to generate free subject line ideas.

Email body content has to be personalized. Here are some examples of what NOT to do:

I am looking for an exceptional developer with Python skills (adjective laced)
Hope the summer was good. I just went to Hawaii and it was a great vacation (Too much personal information and trying too hard to connect)
We are looking for Sr. Engineering manager. We have fabulous catered lunches prepared by famous chefs, unlimited snacks, snooker tables to chill out (More reference to perks rather than the job).

Email deliverability

Before starting an Email outreach, it is essential to ensure that the email addresses you may have for contacts is a valid and functioning emails.

Following are a few free tools to check whether it’s a valid email address:

This reduces the chances of email bouncing and saves your precious time.

How to go about creating a reasonable outreach message

Research a candidate’s Linkedin / Twitter profiles at a minimum and review their posts or if they have delivered a webinar or a seminar or they just attended a conference in the recent past that you found interesting. (Subject-specific only and commend them – Who does not like appreciation even if it’s from an unknown person)

Sending just one outreach message (you are lucky if a prospect responds to it) without at least 2 follow-ups is a recipe for failure. For every follow-up message, do try to include new pieces of information about your company. Some examples are:

Series C Funding – $100M
Company Awards (Great place to work, Forbes – Best Employers for Diversity)
Top 10 Military Spouse-Friendly Employers (Applicable to US firms)
Working Mother: Top 100 Companies List
Latina Style 50 – The Top 50 Best companies for Latinas to work in US
Glassdoor rating
Press releases
A short bio of the leader of the department

Do A/B testing to ascertain which type of messaging resonates better with prospects and fine-tune it to get maximum response rate.

Check out these message examples you can potentially review for inspiration and to get your creativity going:

Linkedin outreach example #1 (Keep in mind the 300 characters limit)

I am recruiting for “SRE specialist” for Byron Health, a Boston-based product firm that develops solutions for Drug Trial management systems, consent and authorization systems, etc.

Your background working for X, and Y would be a great fit. I would love to discuss this role further with you. Would this Monday at 6 PM be a great time to chat about your future goals and how this role might fit into it?

Thanks, Emily (Ph No)

Linkedin outreach example #2

I noticed that you have presented at the AWS conference and that is the type of background we are seeking for Byron Health, a US-based product firm developing drug trials, authentication systems etc.

When would be a good time to schedule a brief 5-minute call to discuss further details?

Thanks, Emily (Ph. No)

Linkedin outreach example #3

I noticed on Linkedin that you worked with Sandy at Amero. Sandy said that you would be an excellent fit for a program manager role (Handling up to a $50M program budget) that we currently have open.

I want to schedule a call with you to learn more about your experience and career aspirations. What day and time works best for you?

Thanks, Emily (Ph. No)

Email content: 1st example

Dear Brian,

I noticed that your background as a Data Scientist working for companies like A , B , C would be a great fit for Teslix in California, which is looking to build a data analytics platform supporting millions of users.

The tech stack you would be working on X, Y, Z

When would be a good time to schedule a brief call to discuss further details?

Thanks, and look forward to connecting with you.

Janet

Talent Acquisition Executive

Ph No:

Email content: 2nd example

Dear Stephen,

I hope you are well. I notice that you recently started a new position at Intelo, so I know you may probably not be looking right now, but you might know someone who could be potentially interested in this great opportunity at Qualcomo.

I would be happy to share with you about the opportunity we are hiring for, and see if you may know any great candidates who could be interested. Can we have a brief call tomorrow?

Thanks, and looking forward to connecting with you.

Janet

Talent Acquisition Executive

Ph. No:

Email content: 3rd example

Dear Seema,

I hope you are well. I read your blog posts about content marketing tools and techniques and shared them with the marketing team and they could apply some of the methods and the results were good.

We are looking for a content marketer and would love to talk to you about your experience. Are you available for an introductory call later this week? Do let us know your preferred day and time.

Thanks, and looking forward to connecting with you.

Janet

Talent Acquisition Executive

Ph No:

Hope you enjoyed these tips!