3 must answer questions for a successful candidate outreach

When I started my career as a tech sourcer, one of my key roles was to generate appointments with candidates. The first challenge was getting candidates who would fit the opportunities I was advertising for. The second I had was, how exactly was I supposed to do this if the candidates had no idea who I was.?

If you are a sourcer or recruiter, my guess is you can relate to both.?

You probably have Googled stuff on how to write a cold email, or send LinkedIn messages, and watched videos on youtube. But most of those strategies don't really work. I have created this newsletter to share some of my best strategies for candidate outreach and sending LinkedIn messages.

After a trial and error and sending hundreds and thousands of candidate outreach emails and LinkedIn messages, some things work. The truth is that sending cold emails and LinkedIn are totally different, but the fundamentals are practically the same.??

So whether you're doing LinkedIn or cold email, just know these strategies shared here will work either way.

Let's get to it…

Using The 3Ws Framework

Cold emailing is more back-breaking than most communication for two reasons. You have no relationship with the candidate yet, and you lack non-verbal feedback, so you can’t modify your approach in real-time. As a result, most cold emails fail.

An effective cold email should answer three questions: Who, Why, and What.?

This tested framework separates an organized outreach from a poorly structured one. It allows you to organize the ideas for your candidate outreach and holistically set expectations, goals, and strategies.

So, here you go.

Who fits the role??

The first question you must ask yourself when you're doing any type of candidate outreach is who.

I mean…?

Who exactly do you want to reach out to?

Who exactly do you want to help?

And who exactly would be fit for the role you are promoting?

Fleshing out a precise candidate persona will help you appeal to a prospect’s specific interests and needs to deliver real value.?

To begin, identify your target industry. Which segment(s) will get the most value from the opportunity you are promoting? What’s your strategy for identifying and prioritizing targets (interest/demographic targeting)? What makes the target candidate unique?

Knowing exactly who you’re reaching out to will help you create a relevant outreach strategy catered to their pain points.

What do I provide?

So now you understand the why, but what's the value you provide?

The value could be helping them secure a better career path, higher pay, a job that allows them more time with family, etc.

But you need to understand the opportunity you’re selling, pair it with your candidate persona, and match them to the exact pain points of the candidate you are reaching out to with the right features of the job opening.?

It’s about showing the candidate you are resourceful and can help them with the solutions to their most pain points.?

Why have the call with me?

In every candidate outreach – no matter the opportunity or vertical – the candidate needs to answer three crucial questions. Why do anything? Why you? Why now??

Understanding your candidate’s “Three Whys” will help you design a process that aligns with how they want to be approached.

To create alignment, the early stages of your outreach should focus on showing them you are a knowledgeable and credible resource who can help them think through their next job choice.

To answer the “Why you” question is no small thing for the candidate. So, it's critical to build trust to help them believe you and your company are who they want to work with.?

One way you can do this is to present proof that you have delivered measurable results for previous candidates. That way, you anchor the trust.?

The “Why now” question.?

People will be like, "Oh, this sounds interesting, but let me just follow up in a month or six months down the line when I'm ready..." if you don't give them a reason to take a meeting today.?

And that's what you don't want to happen when doing a candidate outreach because, even if someone's not ready, you want to get on the phone with them to see whether or not it's a good fit.?

And if it's a good fit, you continue to build that relationship so one day in the future, when they're ready to switch jobs, you are the one they'll call.

Now you know your who, what, and why. Put that on your candidate outreach email, or your LinkedIn message, and people are going to want to respond.?

If people don't respond, you just have to figure out which part is broken, replace it, fix it, and then try again until you get the winning formula that works for a specific role.?

I hope this helps.?

Let me know in the comments some of your biggest challenges when it comes to generating appointments with candidates. I can share my experience in articles you will find helpful.

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