8 Recruiting Email Templates You Need to Attract Top Talent

From sourcing top talent to making a job offer, email templates are a powerful tool in the recruiter’s toolbox. Not only do templates save HR teams time, they ensure your communications are consistent and complete for every candidate.

But that’s not all email can do! As a key part of your recruitment marketing strategy, email keeps your employer brand front and center throughout the recruitment process. Every email you send to a potential candidate makes an impression.

Standing out in a crowded inbox will be increasingly important to attract top talent. Job seekers are getting more selective about the jobs they choose, with 78% of applicants saying they want validation that a position is worth pursuing. That means recruiters must convince top candidates that the job and the company will meet their high expectations.

One advantage of an automated applicant tracking system is giving all recruiters access to the same hiring workflows. But you can still get a little creative with your recruitment email templates.

How to Write a Good Recruiting Email

Start with your employer brand voice. Note that employer brand is different from corporate brand, although their tone is usually similar. In a good recruiting email, your voice — what you say and how you say it — gives candidates a glimpse into what it would be like to work for your organization.

A few ways you can elevate your recruitment emails:

• Be genuine and authentic. Almost a quarter of candidates (24%) say they are skeptical of promises companies make about job opportunities, perks, and culture. Honesty builds trust.
• Use formatting to call out key information. Just remember, styles like bullets and bold text may look different depending on the type of email the candidate uses (e.g., Gmail, Outlook, Mac Mail, etc.)
• Get more personal with video. To really differentiate yourself and your company, don’t make candidates read about the job — show and tell!

Check out Paylocity’s video features:

Customizing Your Recruitment Email Templates

You’re probably familiar with the main components in an email — subject line, greeting, body text, and signature. While they all serve an informational purpose, each is an opportunity to make an impression on a great candidate.

Subject line: Get their attention, but don’t be too enthusiastic!!! Avoid ALL CAPS and keep exclamation points to a minimum so your email doesn’t wind up in the junk folder. It’s better to be clear than clever, but you can still make your subject line interesting. Here are a few ideas get you started:

• We’re looking for an amazing [Job Role].
• [First Name], this position could be the right career move for you.
• [Company] is interested in your resume/application.

Greeting: It’s easy to overlook, but how you greet a candidate sets the tone for the rest of the email. Be respectful and true to your employer brand voice. But more important, make it personal. No one likes an email that starts, “Dear Applicant.”

Body text: What you include in your message depends on where the candidate is in the hiring process. Just like telling a story, though, a good recruiting email has three parts:

• Beginning — who are you and what can you offer?
• Middle — what does the candidate need to know to make a decision?
• End — what do you want the candidate to do next?

Signature: Certainly, your email signature should include your contact info. It can also boost your brand by adding your mission statement, a link to your careers site, or a differentiator like a “best of” award. Just don’t try to cram your entire “About Us” page at the bottom of your email!

Email Templates for Recruiters

These templates are a jumping off point — customize them to fit your company and culture. While you want to include enough information to intrigue candidates, focus on the details they need to take action. Don’t forget that a growing number of states and cities have pay transparency laws that require you to include compensation information in job postings.

1. Cold Outreach Recruitment Email

One big challenge with a cold recruiting email is getting the candidate to open it. Craft your subject line to appeal to your ideal candidates. A subject line for a sales job might sound different from a subject line for an engineer.

2. Passive Candidate Recruiting Email

A passive candidate is usually employed and not actively looking for a new job. Although a type of cold outreach, your emails to passive candidates need to quickly convince them that (a) something is missing from their career and (b) your company offers that and more.

3. Follow-up Email to First Outreach

It’s great when your cold recruitment email elicits a response. More often than not, however, you will likely have to send a follow-up email to sourced or passive candidates.

4. Invitation to Interview

You may call the candidate to schedule an interview, but it’s always good to follow-up with an email so they can refer back to the details. Provide insights that will help them prepare.

5. Keeping a Candidate Warm

The recruiting and hiring process seldom goes as quickly as a candidate would like. Don’t leave them hanging. Even if it turns out they aren’t the right fit for this particular job, you may want to keep them interested in your company for future opportunities.

6. Reaching Out to a Past Candidate

The goal of a recruitment strategy is to not only fill a current opening but also build your talent pipeline — which is the place to start your next search. In an email to a past candidate, the key is to let them know why this new opportunity is a better fit.

7. Job Offer Email

It’s common to first extend a job offer verbally to negotiate details like start date or salary. But as soon as everyone agrees, send the offer by email. You might copy the offer letter into the body of the email or send as an attachment. Include what they can expect next, but don’t forget your goal: to seal the deal.

8. Rejection Email

Unfortunately, in almost any hiring situation, there are rejections. Even if you send them in bulk, be tactful and gracious. After all, this is a pool of talent that has expressed interest in your company. For candidates who progressed through the interview process, try to offer feedback.

Managing the Recruitment Process

If email was the magic bullet that solved the talent acquisition challenge, recruiters wouldn’t have experienced a 28% increase in workload since the start of the pandemic. Obviously, the recruitment process is a bit more complicated.

Communicating effectively with potential candidates is one piece of the recruitment puzzle. Your company’s success is built on the ability to find candidates who can jump right in because they're just the right fit.

See how Paylocity’s Recruiting solution helps HR teams create a modern experience for candidates while streamlining the process from job posting to new hire.