5 direct response techniques for highly personalized candidate outreach

Years ago, you could get away with prioritizing quantity over quality. 

Things are a little different now. Your emails are in competition with a ton of others for your prospect's attention in their inbox. 

Do you know what this means? 

Poor quality emails won’t get a read or response.

And that means two things for your campaigns:

1. Your emails must be candidate-centric and directly related to the value you can provide them if they follow through with your desired action. If candidates can’t tell why the opportunity you bring matters to them, they won’t respond.

2. Your emails must be hyper-targeted to specific audiences with personalized messages that speak to their pain points. Not all candidates you are reaching out to want the same thing. A personalized message will move them to reply.

I'll show you 5 direct response techniques with examples to help you write personalized emails that get more responses in this blog.

Most importantly, you'll cultivate positive relationships with candidates and grow your talent pipeline.

It’s actually quite simple to do this, and you're probably already doing it. But, as with anything, there is always room for improvement.

The truth is, some candidates are skittish when it comes to recruiters. They may see the benefits of the opportunity you shared with them and understand how these can fulfill their needs, yet remain hesitant. 

Direct-response copy helps them overcome this fear by employing logical & emotional triggers, so they finally take action.

It does so by having:

• Powerful headlines to capture the attention
• Benefit-driven copy to build desire
• Enticing offer prospects can’t refuse
• Clear, compelling Call-To-Action (CTA)

An example that comes to mind is this ad from Robot Food. 

Robot-Food’s ad aims to get the attention of designers and goes ahead to call them out. The headline grips them from the get-go. 

The benefit-driven copy keeps them reading and glides their eyeballs to the very end…

…where the CTA tells them to do one thing- send a brief portfolio and CV!

Guess what they would feel like doing?

If you need to get a response, a direct-response copy is a way to go.

Now let’s get to the main reason you are here:

The 5 Direct response techniques for personalized candidates outreach with examples

Say you've done your research on the candidate.

Before you start writing, you need to figure out what strategy will best express your message and connect with candidates.

See how you can do this below.

Insider knowledge. 

This approach promises to reveal insider knowledge about changes in the industry you are recruiting for, in this case, tech, that will negatively affect your reader. 

The key is that your big news must threaten the status quo of your reader. And the opportunity you promise is a solution.

Empathy. 

This strategy contains a built-in “same as you” message. 

If you do it perfectly, you may be able to establish a strong rapport. Oversell it, and you risk turning the candidate off.

The goal is to show that you understand the problems your readers face daily.

You want to describe these issues as they are likely to play out in the minds of your prospects, agitate the situation, and then offer a solution. Adopt a friendly or even soothing tone to get it right. 

Just be careful not to come across as arrogant.

Honesty. 

It's about my tenth year in recruitment. And I can say I’ve seen the BS detector for candidates go off the roof. 

There can be no better way to win trust than to be disarmingly honest about the role. 

I have found this approach to be a refreshing change of pace, especially now that candidates have become jaded by over-the-top recruitment pitches.

Relationships built on trust, respect, and mutual commitments are crucial to getting responses from candidates and placing them.

It probably won’t happen in your first or second email. But make sure to let candidates know what to expect from the role. 

Then tell your prospects how a possible "turn off" can be positive for them. One of the best examples I can think of is an ad written in 1900 by explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton:

Common enemy.

Establishing that you and the candidate are "in this together" is one of the most effective ways to build rapport. 

The common enemy is an effective strategy for doing this because it shifts the focus away from you, the recruiter, and toward the shared enemy. 

You can earn candidates' trust simply by disliking the same things.   

Check out the email below to see how this recruiter did it. 

Employee testimonial/review 

This strategy establishes your company's credibility by demonstrating that they live up to promises as expected.

It's best if your testimonial comes from your employees. 

According to a Bright Local Survey, job candidates will read 10 reviews before finding a company trustworthy. This means that adding these reviews to your email might play a critical role in helping you get a response. 

Make the testimonial the headline, then weave the success story throughout your copy.

Here is a simple way to do it while keeping it brief. 

 There you go. 

Five direct response strategies you can apply to your candidate outreach. 

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