Effective emails that attract great talent

2 mins, 47 secs read time

When it comes to sourcing, writing effective emails is an essential part of attracting great talent. In our Sourcing emails series, we’ll be taking an in-depth look at the different types of emails to include in your outreach campaigns to effectively engage prospects.

To help you get started with reaching top talent efficiently and effectively, we’ve compiled this list outlining the types of emails to create and the different objectives and goals for each one.

1. Introductory email

The introductory email is the initial email you send to a prospect and sets the tone for your outreach campaign. Here are some key components you can include to make an effective introduction and attract talent:

• Briefly introduce yourself and your company with an opening line like, “My name is [your first name] and I’m part of the [your team name (talent, recruiting, etc.] team at [your company].”
• Let the prospect know how you discovered them – via LinkedIn, a referral or another sourcing method.
• Since this is the first touchpoint with the prospect, your email should emphasize why you're contacting them. This is where you can zero in on important details about the open position and any relevant company background information.

2. Follow-up email

After sending the introductory email, the next one you’ll want to send is the follow-up email to provide additional value to the prospect. Follow-ups are effective for providing further context for the prospect, such as a detailed overview of the role’s responsibilities or the company blog to learn more about the company culture.

3. Nurture or re-engagement email

Since your goal is to attract talent, engaging and nurturing prospects is fundamental. Nurture or re-engagement emails can be classified as follow-up emails and provide timely information about the company or new roles to initiate conversations and keep prospects engaged. They should be interesting, relevant and entice them to join your company by including information about role responsibilities, company culture or any recent accolades or awards.

4. Breakup email

The breakup email is the final email in your outreach campaign, the one where you inform the prospect that you’ll no longer be reaching out to them. This is the type of email you send when the prospect hasn’t responded to any of your previous emails. It’s possible that the timing might be off for the prospect to pursue other opportunities, so it’s a good time to let them know they can contact you if anything changes. The most important aspect is to keep the tone positive – you never know when the prospect might circle back to you in the future!

While you probably write lots of emails every day, there’s always time to brush up on our email-writing skills to prospects – especially in our highly competitive job market. Effective emails just might make the difference for your company’s next great hire and give you an edge on the competition.

Read the full series overview, as well as each post on introductory and follow-up to nurture and breakup emails, on the Greenhouse blog.