"I'll send an SOS to the world
I'll send an SOS to the world
I hope that someone gets my
Message in a bottle."
The Police - “Message in a Bottle”
I think all recruiters have had this experience: we have a new position we need to fill, we’ve spoken with the hiring manager and their team to define the position and the attributes someone should possess to be successful in the role. Then, after hours of scouting social media profiles (LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, etc.), we have a list of people to whom we want to reach out to. This is a critical moment. Strong outreach should lead to strong ROI on all that time. But if the outreach is bad, we have wasted the time of everyone who has been involved in the process.
Here’s the problem: more often than not recruiting outreach lacks creativity and personalization.
Below are 5 of 7 InMails I received:
Hope you are doing well, I wanted to reach out to you because I came across your profile and need your help.
I just wanted to reach out because your profile looks awesome.
I came across your background and your extensive recruiting background is a terrific match.
I came across your profile and wanted to speak with you about an exciting Technical Recruiter opportunity here
I LOVED reading through your page!
The repetition is almost robotic. It is like recruiters have moved from “post-and-pray” on job boards to, as The Police say, “Hope that someone gets my message in a bottle”.
We need to stop talking to people like they are “profiles” or “pages” and talk to them like they are people. Recruiting technology has evolved a lot in the last five years. The tools are excellent but they can also make us robotic. Outreach like this treats people like commodities. People are now “pages”, “profiles” and “backgrounds”.
If you are trying to start a new relationship with someone, you cannot make them into a commodity and expect them to respond. Your message should give your reader the “why” in the very beginning.
Here are two lines from an InMail I wrote that had an 80% response rate:
Hypergrowth is NOT easy. At XXXXXXXX we have grown over 50% this year and we want to grow that much again next year and the year after.
To continue our growth XXXXX is looking for an…
Here is an excerpt from an InMail I sent (response rate: 50%):
The right software architecture paves the way for success. The wrong architecture keeps good products from becoming extraordinary.
Our software is at a crossroads. We want to move our software to the Cloud and build in Big Data and AI functionality. To do this we are creating a new architecture group and that group needs a leader.
I try to make the “why” of my outreach very clear. Why does this position exist? Why is it important to the business? The reason we should talk can be inferred, but it comes down to one word - opportunity. More simply put: the business has a need, which in turn creates opportunity. Let’s talk about opportunity This is much more effective than “being impressed” with someone’s “background” or “profile”.
At the end of “Message in a Bottle”, the singer does get a large response, but it takes over a year for those 100 billion bottles to come back. Obviously, there is some hyperbole in the number of responses, but taking a year to get any response would be disastrous for the organization. We have to stop sending out “SOS’s” and “hoping” that someone gets the message. Instead, we should reach out to people as people, give them the “why” upfront, and discuss an opportunity. This will make us successful and ensure that our time was spent wisely.
Greg Scherzo is the Senior Recruiter & Co-Founder of the Ellis Project. You can follow him on Twitter here: @GregScherzo.
Image courtesy of Raw Pixel.