The best way to write a cold message to a recruiter on LinkedIn is to be concise, customize your message, and provide value. Aim for 4-5 sentences that introduce yourself, explain why you’re reaching out, and include something unique about their company or role. Personalize each message with the recruiter’s name and company and tie your background and skills to the job requirements. Offer to send over your resume or set up a phone call rather than asking them to take the next step. Follow up if you don’t hear back after 1-2 weeks.
Do Your Research on the Company and Role
Before reaching out to a recruiter, learn as much as you can about the company they work for and the specific roles they hire for. Read through the company’s About page, mission statement, and recent news to understand their values and priorities. Look at open job descriptions to identify must-have qualifications and responsibilities.
This allows you to tailor your message and show you’ve done your homework. For example, if the role requires SQL and statistical analysis skills, highlightrelevant coursework or projects on your resume. Research helps you speak to shared interests and get on a recruiter’s radar for positions that match your background.
Keep Your Message Brief
Since recruiters are busy, keep your cold outreach short, direct, and to the point. You want to intrigue them enough to look at your profile or resume, not provide your full work history upfront. Write 4-5 concise sentences that cover:
- A warm greeting with the recruiter’s name
- Why you’re reaching out and where you found them
- Your background/experience relevant to their openings
- An offer to send your resume and/or connect further
For example:
“Hi Jane, I hope you’re doing well! I found your profile while researching open product manager roles at XYZ Company. With 5 years of digital product experience and a track record of increasing user engagement, I think I could be a great fit. I’d love to send over my resume or set up a quick call to discuss any PM opportunities. Let me know if you’re open to connecting further!”
Personalize Each Message
While you can develop a standard template, make sure to customize each cold message for the specific recruiter and company. Include their first and last name so you come across warm yet professional. Call out why you’re interested in opportunities at that particular organization based on values, culture, or work they’re doing.
Personalized messages have much higher response rates because they show you respe ct the recruiter’s time. Generic outreach is easy to spot and ignores the priorities of each company. With personalization, you can position yourself as a strong culture add who sees their organization as a top choice.
Highlight Relevant Skills and Experience
With a 4-5 sentence message, you want to highlight qualifications and accomplishments that make you a great match for roles the recruiter fills. Draw a clear connection between your background and the must-have criteria for their open positions.
Emphasize transferrable skills like leadership, collaboration, problem-solving and communication that apply across roles and industries. For experience, focus on responsibilities, achievements, and metrics that align with the recruiter’s needs rather than just job titles and companies.
Demonstrating fit and impact in a few concise points gives recruiters confidence you have the abilities their hiring manager is looking for. They can quickly visualize you in that job at their organization based on relevant strengths and results.
Include a Specific Follow-Up Request
Close your message with a specific request or next step rather than a generic “I’d love to connect!”. This gives the recruiter a clear call-to-action and makes it easy for them to respond. Possible options include:
- “I’d be happy to send over my resume and LinkedIn profile”
- “Are you available for a 15-20 minute phone call next Tuesday at 2pm EST?”
- “If there are any open marketing coordinator roles you think I’d be a fit for, I’d love to learn more”
Giving the recruiter control of the next step increases the chance that they’ll respond. You want them to feel their time is respected, not demand they review your background upfront before knowing if there’s a match.
Follow Up If No Response After 1-2 Weeks
Recruiters are busy, so don’t take it personally if you don’t receive a response to an initial cold message. Follow up after 1-2 weeks if you haven’t heard back to gently nudge your outreach to the top of their inbox again.
In your follow-up, briefly recap your original message and reiterate your interest in opportunities. Provide new context if possible – a shared connection, additional experience or award, current event related to their industry, etc. Keep the tone polite and avoid sounding entitled to their time or a response.
Persistence and patience pay off more than aggressively following up multiple times a week. Stay top of mind through occasional check-ins until a recruiter engages or lets you know openings aren’t a match at the moment.
Stand Out with Something Unique
To help your message rise above the many recruiter receives, include something unique that shows you understand their company culture or priorities for candidates:
- Reference a recent achievement or initiative in the news
- Compliment an aspect of the work culture they promote
- Mention shared connections or groups on LinkedIn
- Share related volunteer work or causes you support
This extra personal or professional touch makes you memorable when the recruiter reviews candidates. It also enables a natural talking point if they do engage to learn more about you.
Showcase Soft Skills and Passion
Hard skills and technical qualifications are important but highlighting soft skills makes you stand out as someone the team would enjoy working with. Are you driven? Curious? A mentor? Empathetic? Adaptable?solutions)
Passion for the company’s mission and excitement for the role also distinguished you from other applicants, even those with similar experience on paper. Recruiters want to know you’ll bring energy, commitment and emotional intelligence to the job every day.
Have a Complete, Optimized Profile
Before reaching out cold, make sure your LinkedIn profile is up-to-date and portrays you in the best possible light. Include all your skills, achievements, volunteer work, courses, and licenses. Optimizing your profile with relevant keywords helps you come up in recruiter searches.
Also be sure your employment history, education, contact info, and headline are complete and accurate. Recruiters will review your profile before responding, so put your best professional self forward to strengthen your candidacy.
Proofread for Typos and Errors
Any mistakes or sloppy writing in your messages can immediately disqualify you. Recruiters receive high volumes of outreach, so attention to detail matters. Carefully proofread for typos, grammar issues, and unclear or wordy language.
Ask a friend to review as a second set of eyes. Typos suggest carelessness and undermine your professionalism. Putting effort into accuracy and clarity shows this role is important to you.
Customize Your Resume
When you do send your resume, be sure to customize and tailor it to align with the recruiter’s openings, not just blast a generic version. Adapt your resume summary and relevant experience bullets with keywords from the job descriptions. Highlight related accomplishments and skills.
Showcasing your background as relevant to their specific needs makes the recruiter’s screening job easier. They can instantly see you have what hiring managers are looking for in candidates.
Be Patient and Persistent
Not every cold message will receive a response, even when personalized and thoughtful. Recruiters screen high volumes of candidates daily and can afford to be selective. Don’t get discouraged – try following up or reaching out to additional recruiters at the company.
The goal is to get your foot in the door, not necessarily land an interview right away. With patience and persistence, you can gradually build relationships with recruiters to become top of mind for opportunities. Timing and fit play a big role even with solid outreach.
Focus on Quality Over Quantity
While persistence matters, make sure you’re selectively reaching out to recruiters where there’s a legitimate alignment with your background. Spreading yourself too thin with generic messages won’t be effective.
Conduct research to identify companies, roles, and recruiters that are a strong match. Then focus on quality personalized outreach over a spray-and-pray quantity approach. Targeted, strategic messaging has much higher ROI.