At the Global HR & Recruitment Forum last year, @Karen Azulay gave a speech entitled “Why potential candidates will read your email first.” During her speech, one statement has stuck with me: what if now we’re not fighting for people who will have an interview with us; we’re fighting for people’s attention, to get them to open our messages.
During times of high demand for tech talent, it is estimated that a mid-level full-stack engineer may receive 10 to 20 recruiter outreaches per week. Unfortunately, many of these messages are mass outreach emails that are unlikely to be opened.
All recruiters know these rules and tips on how to write LinkedIn outreach messages: that it is important to personalize your message, to provide value to the person you are reaching out to and blah-blah-blah. But what if everyone writes messages using these rules? Don’t they become the same then?
So I started to think how I can stand out within the group of recruiters who’re standing out. I wanted to try something strange and original. Once I had a conversation with a friend of mine about the dating scene in Tel Aviv and a brilliant idea came to me during that conversation: what if I use pick-up lines instead of boring cliches?
I picked up the funniest lines and adopted it to my open positions. That’s what I got:
- Your name is not WiFi, but why do I have such a strong feeling to make a connection on LinkedIn? Right! I have a perfect job for you, can you give me 1 min to pitch it?
Original: Is your name wifi? Because I sure am feeling a strong connection between us.
- Your name is not Google, but why does your experience have everything I’m looking for? The best …? Give me 1 min to pitch….
Original: Is your name Google? Because you have everything I’m looking for.
- Are you a magician? Because every time your LinkedIn profile pops up, everything else disappears! So, I think you’re the only one who is the best for…
Original: Are you a magician? Because every time I see you, everyone else disappears.
- You must be the answer to my prayers. Because there’s no one better to be….
Original: You must be the answer to my prayers. Because there’s no one here but you and me.
- Do you believe in the job offer from the first message, or should I send you the second one? Well, I’m not a stalker, I promise, but did I win 1 min to pitch…
Original: Do you believe in love at first sight, or should I walk by again?
- Guess what would be better than replying to me back on LinkedIn? Accepting a short call where I can tell you more about…
Original: Guess what would be better than a text back? An invitation to dinner
- Your experience is so amazing, that it made me forget my opening line! Would you accept my invitation to connect and give me the second chance to pitch…? No kidding next time!
Original: You’re so beautiful that you made me forget my pickup line
The results turned out to be stunning:
- First of all, it was fun! Motivation to send these messages along with funny job descriptions is high because you see and believe that you do something special as a recruiter. But also it was fun because of the reaction of people, you could see they smiled at you (and they wrote about it, that you made their day or week or life 🙂 )
- The numbers!
- Acceptance and response rate was 72%! It is at least 20-40% higher than average!
- One more important factor to consider in the recruitment process is response time. It is essential to get a response from candidates as quickly as possible, even if it is a rejection, so that you can manage and adjust your hiring strategy. Have you noticed how long you have been waiting for responses from candidates on LinkedIn? It is important to have a timely response in order to effectively close the position and move forward with the recruitment process.
In my experience, response times can vary, with some taking a few months and others averaging around 5 days. It is important to maintain efficient communication and a timely recruitment process in order to close positions efficiently and maintain a good reputation as an employer.
During my experiment using pick-up lines, 73,5% of participants responded on the same day, while the rest 17% responded within 2-3 days.
3. Personal feedback and talks about the future of robot proof recruiters, hunting, messages and outreaches, job descriptions and interviews:
I hope that recruiters and sourcers will have enjoyable and engaging conversations with candidates. I’d like to end with a message from one of the candidates that inspired me to write this article: “Keep writing those kinds of messages that people cannot ignore and nobody will ghost you.”
Remember, recruitment is not just about meeting key performance indicators and making hires, it’s also about building relationships and creating a positive experience for candidates during the process. Even a small gesture, like a smile, can make a difference.
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