In recruitment, the frustration is when you don’t have the right candidate. Recruiters know this, the candidates who comes voluntarily aren’t always the right talent.

If you're met with little success after reviewing the CVs of candidates who came in responding to your job post, it is time for recruiters to shifts gears and hunt for the talent to fill the role.

The rise of LinkedIn has brought about a new way for professional to communicate and connect. While previously, recruiters may have relied on email to reach out to potential candidates, the introduction of LinkedIn has radically influenced the talent acquisition process, informing the new way for recruiters to connect with their prospective talent.

Effective Talent Acquisition Strategy: Email vs LinkedIn InMail

Research shows that LinkedIn InMails have a higher response rate than regular email, in fact three times higher. A comparison between the effectiveness of traditional emails vs. LinkedIn InMails came up when Grow, a tech company specialised in creating business intelligence (BI) software felt that their sales strategy, highly reliant on traditional emails was not enough. In an experiment to increase their efficiency, they dedicated a week sending LinkedIn InMail messages, and compared the results.

^{Source: Grow}

What they found from their experiment was that LinkedIn InMails doubled the reply rates, jumping from 3.29% to 7.38%. The more surprising of these was from the meeting-scheduled rate. Where previously, only 0.2% of people reached would agree to a meeting, when they shifted their approach to LinkedIn InMail, the meeting-scheduled rate spiked to 3.28%.

What makes LinkedIn InMail a better approach than regular emails?

The advantage LinkedIn InMails have over regular emails is that there’s a higher rate of being seen. So while candidates may receive one or two LinkedIn InMails a day, the same candidate may be receiving a lot more emails including span and other promotions, meaning LinkedIn InMails will receive a lot more weight and attention in comparison. 

Another reason LinkedIn InMail outreach attempts make for a better talent acquisition strategy is because they are hosted on a professional platform which informs the reader. With InMails, both the recruiter and potential candidate can more easily check the other person's profile, who they are, where they come from, and in turn assess how genuine their attempt to connect is. 

Aside from making the talent acquisition process more efficient, by design of the platform, recruiters can also more readily create personalised messages their candidates. According to a study by LeanPlum, personalised content has a 5.9% open rate, which non-personalised content get a 1.5% open rate, so when given the opportunity, recruiters should always personalise their talent outreach messages.
 

Talent Acquisition 101: 3 Keys to Talent Outreach

1. Be clear, don’t beat around the bush

LinkedIn InMail is not a platform for wallowing conversations. The advantage of the LinkedIn platform, which is the nature and the context for communication, can also be where most people stumble. Be professional, and get to the point.
 

2. Treat it like the elevator pitch that it is

Craft your message, make the message as concise as possible. Think about your intent and prioritise what is important. Understand that this is only the initial candidate outreach, so your goal should be to get their attention, not drown them in information that they did not ask for.

3. Make every attempt a genuine attempt

Templates are helpful when used properly. You may loosely use templates as a guideline. If you’ve been using the same template for each candidate with the exception of minor changes in the specifics, then you should rethink your talent acquisition strategy.

The impression you make with a cookie cutter message is mediocre at best. A more effective approach would be to personalise your message enough that it speaks to the candidate’s experience and expertise, but not so much that it adds to your workload. There’s a reason you reached out to one candidate and not another, center around this reason in your approach so the candidate can resonate with your message.

Upgrade Your Talent Acquisition Strategy with Professional Services

Want to quickly improve your talent acquisition process? Our consultants are trained to help you reach the best candidates, get in touch if you would like more recruitment support. You may also check out Abhishek Anand’s post on LinkedIn InMails, there he covers some of the tips mentioned above and more InMail etiquette which can help elevate your talent acquisition process.

Don’t lose any more time than you need, upgrade your talent acquisition strategy today.

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