Your Recruiting Message Sucks. Here’s Why.

Y’ALL I CAN’T THIS WEEK.

I’m week four into an epic new job. I’m finally starting to figure out what I’m going to be doing here (and it’s soooooo exciting!!!!!) but I’m also super sick which is just making me cranky. Enter this week’s AMA Friday – check out the video here –

So! Turns out I am 100% that bitch who gets all judgy and whatnot when people spam me. Who would have thought? I know a lot of you are wondering just what is WRONG with me, that I get all annoyed by a perfectly reasonable (!!) inmail (INMAUL) that I could just simply ignore, or perhaps respond with a polite “no thank you”.

I could. But I won’t.

Here’s why it matters. Every shit message y’all send that shows absolutely no regard for the person on the receiving end makes it harder for the rest of us. Now, a lot of the time many of us will say “that’s ok! It makes me look better by comparison! Keep being awful!” which is certainly one way to look at it. However, it doesn’t do anything to combat that sinking feeling prospects get when faced with one more stupid outreach from a recruiter. They are opening our missives (if at all) with dread, not anticipation.

But Aaaammmmyyyyy….. I HAVE to send 8 billion messages to get enough candidates in the pipeline!!!! Oh really? Do you REALLY? I say NO but that’s a post for another time. Let’s start slow. Here are THREE THINGS I want you to think about before sending that next message. And for any victims of these messages, feel free to use this as a marker of whether or not the recruiter deserves a response!

1. The message is clearly targeted to ME
This is not a hard one, y’all. Get my name right, for starters. Give me some indication of WHY I made your list. Don’t give me that lame shit about “I saw your profile and you’d be perfect for”. Not falling for it. Tell me what specifically makes me interesting to you.

2. Make it PERSONAL
I talk a lot about emotional currency – basically, tap into something that will get my (the prospect’s) attention! What can you glean from my profile that would grab me? I know this is easier said than done for a lot of prospects, but honestly – someone like me makes it too easy. Yoga pants. Dogs. Pinot Grigio. I am a simple woman. Tell me you like my YouTube videos and I’m yours.

3. Give me a CALL TO ACTION
Something I can move on. Maybe it’s an invite to call you directly on your personal cell after hours. Maybe it’s a link to a really kick ass article about whatever it is your company is working on. Remember, you’re just trying to get me connected for the next step (usually a recruiter phone screen) so give me something to work with here.

That’s it! This is not rocket science. This is simply taking FIVE MINUTES to respectfully craft a message that respects the other person’s time. It’s really that easy. Now if you STILL don’t believe me, let me share a cautionary tale of my own.

Many years ago I was working for a very small company and just starting to dabble in tech. We had this cool new tool called LINKEDIN RECRUITER where we could send messages to people without being connected to them! Groundbreaking! So I’m happily sourcing away for an IT manager of some sort, and I find myself a nice long list of people who could do this job. I write a quick little inmail (INMAUL) and fire it off to 20 people. At the same company. With roughly the same titles.

Guess what happened. No really. Just guess.

One of these high level / big tech smart guys called me. That’s right, he picked up the phone, looked up my company’s phone number, and had the receptionist connect him to my desk. Imagine my horror when he says “Amy, I’m calling to give you a little advice“.

Here’s what happened y’all. My message went to a bunch of people, at the same time, who all knew each other. They worked on similar teams and probably crossed paths often. One happened to mention a shitty message he got (FROM ME) and another said, “hey” and a third said “but” and the rest is history.

That’s right, these folks all got together, shared the messages, and had a good laugh at my expense. One fella was kind enough to call me and tell me about it. Now – he was SO KIND. He didn’t yell at me or berate me. He DID tell me that I’d get a lot more positive responses if I treated each person like an individual and reached out accordingly.

He was right.

I don’t remember much about that conversation, to be honest. Couldn’t tell you the guy’s name, or even his specific title. I do remember he worked for a VERY large well known Seattle based tech company that shall remain unnamed. 🙂 I DEFINITELY remember the very valuable lesson I learned that day about the importance of personalization and really being thoughtful and deliberate in my messaging.

I’ve made a lot of mistakes since then and will make a lot more. Sending bulk messages is not one of them.