Tips on Concocting a LinkedIn InMail… or Why Recruiters get what they Deserve

Recruiters tend to have a bad rep. Many wear it as a badge of honor and take pride in the monetary gains that are still associated with outdated sales practices. Others lament the lack of respect they receive from the business community, yet don’t do much to change the face of our industry.

I recently came across an article that is so unfortunate and sadly typical in our field that it compelled me to reply. The article advises Recruiters who are not capable of building valuable professional connections via a direct approach to concoct dishonest inMail messages to spam prospective job seekers (you can read the full piece here: http://www.recruitingblogs.com/profiles/blogs/writing-a-compelling-linkedin-inmail.

“While each person won't be a slam dunk for the position at hand, you will have impressed them with your style enough to rise above the recruiter fray” – promises the author. Intrigued to find out more about the superior writing style? I was too, so let’s take a look!  

Tip #1: The Subject

The author of the memorable piece suggests spending time on crafting the subject of your message. He recommends going with something catchy, but not “flowery” (not sure what that means either, so please don’t ask). He suggests “Poised for Greatness” which is so high on my personal scale of “flowery” (still not sure I know what it means though), that this imaginary inMail would automatically go straight into my Trash folder.

 Tip #2: The Opening Line

Curiously, the suggestion here is to always start with the same line of “Impressive Background!”, yet Tip #3 is to ensure that each inMail makes the candidate feel exclusive. Well, nothing would make me feel more exclusive than knowing that a message I received is nearly identical to the one sent to a hundred others.

Tip #3: The Grabber- Make it Exclusive (see, I told you!)

"I'm reaching out to a few choice profiles before I launch a full search..."

In other words, lying is a fully acceptable practice and there is no shame in it whatsoever – it is proudly placed at the core of this post. Although perhaps the author is being honest here and he spams a few “choice” profiles before embarking on a real search.

Tip #4: The Content

Ironically, not much attention is given to the actual content of your spam email. Advice here is to leave some “mystery” and to let your prospect do their own clicking to look at your company and gather additional info. No need to introduce yourself either – let them do their own clicking to find out!

Tip #5: The Close

“Be bold!  One line I use is "Keeping in mind that most successful people find opportunity not when they're looking but when it knocks, how's my timing?” Enough said.

Recruiters, the time has come to put an end to cheesy one liners, dishonest claims about selective searches and allusions of exclusivity. Your prospective candidates can see through it and end up associating all recruiters with these unattractive practices.

There is no magic email and no magic phone script for you to use. Work on developing your own style and put honesty and transparency at the core of it. Professionals you reach out to do not want mystery and they do not want you to stroke their ego when you actually do not mean what you say. What they want is for you to take an actual interest in their professional background and career path, and guess what?.. If you do that, they just might take an interest in your client’s job offer.