The Do’s And Don’ts Of Recruitment Emails

Have you ever sent a recruitment email and felt as if you just ran a marathon? Or worse, have you ever simply hit copy and paste, changed the name of the recipient, and clicked send on recruitment emails? If you answered yes, to either of these questions, then it is time that you remove the cold emailing aspects of your recruitment efforts and instead refocus with some valuable lessons learned from email marketers.

Business Success Is Built On A Great Team

We’ve written about building a great team before, and so we now want to take a moment to discuss the email marketing lessons that can be applied to recruiting your great team. Whether you are in need of a content creator or a new sales associates, the following recruitment email do’s and don’ts could easily read as a marketing playbook for building a long lasting relationship with a customer.

Email Do’s

1. Do Your Research. — You need to be familiar with a candidate’s skills and expertise before you send them a recruitment email. Next, you need to ensure that you have a place for the candidate within your company. There is nothing worse than finding the best talent only to have to say, “we won’t have a position available for another six months.” In other words, just as you have to be in tune to the needs of your customer, so too must you be in tune with what the candidate has to offer.
2. Do Sell The Position. — We don’t have to remind you that the average working professional receives over 120 emails a day. If you are trying to attract the best talent to your team, then you need to understand that other businesses are probably trying to do the same thing. Just as your marketing department carefully crafts emails based on the perfect subject line, the ideal combination of text and images, and a motivating call to action, so too must you create your recruitment emails to entice your carefully selected candidates. To do this, you should sell the position by providing a clear overview that has candidate-specific points. In short, you need to adopt the mentality that recruitment is not about simply selling a position; it is about selling the right position at the right organization to the right candidate.
3. Do Be Personal. — This “do” goes hand in hand with the above point; your emails should be customized and personalized to the needs of the candidate. You should create a personalized message, rather than simply cutting and pasting a “cookie cutter” response. After all, the best teams are comprised of individuals who know that their employers care about their well being and so in return they care about their jobs. The more that an individual cares, the more likely it is that they will go above and beyond to deliver great service to future customers.
4. Do Measure ROI. — Take the guess work out of recruiting by taking a page from the marketing analytics playbook. The ROI of every marketing campaign is measured. From the number of clicks that an email link receives to the number of direct sales, marketers know that even the smallest piece of data can help them to better understand the needs of a customer. You should apply this logic to your recruitment emails by measuring the same types of metrics. Open rates, click through rates, follow-up emails, and of course the number of candidates who eventually were offered (and accepted) positions with your business. Through these metrics you can gain the insights that you need to adjust your future efforts, so that your dream team is not a fantasy.

Email Don’ts

1. Don’t Bombard Candidates With Too Many Emails. — If you want to get your emails blocked or sent to spam, then bombard your candidates with one too many messages. However, if you want to build a long lasting and beneficial relationship with a candidate, then you should treat them in the same way that you would a great client. In other words, by using the aforementioned metrics, as well as analyzing other key behavioral indicators, you can determine if and when you should send a follow up email to a candidate.
2. Don’t Ignore Preferences. — Building a great team is a two-way process. Your ideal candidates should be as excited about the opportunity to work with your business as you are about hiring them. In other words, don’t chase a lackluster candidate and don’t waste anyone’s time if a candidate’s listed job preferences aren’t aligned with the available position. Ignoring a candidate’s preferences is akin to trying to hammer a square peg into a round hole.
3. Don’t Ignore The Power Of Video. — Millennials are tech-savvy; they also represent the largest portion of the current workforce. In this vein, you need to appeal to your candidates communication preferences. Is your company one of the 63 percent who uses video interviews during the hiring process? If not, then you are missing out on a vital tool that can help you to narrow down your list of candidates as you build or strengthen your dream team.
4. Don’t Forget About Your Visual Brand. — Recruitment emails shouldn’t be boring. They should be vibrant representations of your brand, which means that visuals are key. Your marketing team works hard to create a certain brand look and feel that appeals to customers. You should leverage your visual brand to attract candidates who share a similar mindset with your customers in that they are also interested by your business’ visual cues.

Take A Page From Marketing To Create Stronger Recruitment Emails

If you want to transform your recruitment efforts, then you need to build high quality relationships that leverage the power of good content marketing efforts. From conducting research on the candidate to personalizing messages and leveraging the power of brand visuals, you can enhance your ability to build or strengthen your dream team. Finally, remember that recruitment is a two-way street; the best candidates are those that mirror your excitement and are ready to jump in feet first to deliver the top results in their future roles.