How to Craft the Subject Line for a Recruiter Email

As a recruiter, the rate of positive responses to your outreach directly affects your recruitment KPIs. If you're reaching out to an applicant, there's a likelihood that they're watching out for your email and will respond quickly. If you're sourcing candidates, getting them to read and respond to your email is a bit more tricky.

In either case, it's imperative that you craft your subject line with careful consideration. Studies have shown that 33% of recipients open emails based solely on the subject line. And even though there's a huge difference between a cold candidate and an applicant, the guidelines for crafting email subject lines to either are essentially the same. Here are some proven tips that will help you craft an effective subject line for a recruiter email.

Personalize the Message

Maybe the candidate you're reaching out to is one of a hundred candidates you're messaging. But no one wants to feel like they're just one of the many people you're sending outreach to. A recent study shows that including the recipient's name or other form of personalization in the subject line results in a 50% greater open rate.

No one wants to go through and craft 100 different individualized subject lines. But if you're utilizing the right candidate outreach tools, adding personalization is actually effortless.

Stick to the Recommended Length

The recommended length for an email subject line is four to seven words, or 30-50 characters. That's not a lot of wiggle room. If you want to include the title of the job in the subject line, and that title is “Sr. Accounts Payable Specialist,” you've got at most three other words to work with.

But before you let yourself feel trapped by that number, there are a couple of considerations to note (the article linked above even mentions exceptions). First of all, if you're reaching out to an applicant who's waiting to hear from you, it's unlikely to be a problem if your subject line is *gasp* nine whole words.

If you're reaching out to a cold candidate, you're best off sticking to the 4-7 word count. However, that doesn't have to be the whole story your subject-line skimming candidate sees. We've found countless times that email sequences are the most effective way to garner candidate responses. Maybe it will be the combined effect of a few different subject lines that finally gets the candidate to click and respond.

Make the Message Clear

Anyone who's been involved in any kind of outreach campaign has probably heard something along these lines:

“I know how to get email opens! I can't believe no one's ever thought of this before. Let's reference [movie quote/song lyric/idiom/meme] in the subject line!”

Look, if you can actually pull that off in a manner that makes sense and doesn't make your subject line too long, more power to you. But if you're hiring a helicopter mechanic and your entire subject line is “Get to the Choppa,” you probably won't experience a lot of success.

Sometimes, being direct—boring as it may be—truly is the best way. Let the recipient know what you're in their inbox for, and save your humor for the message, text, or interview.

Add Numbers (If Relevant)

Data shows that emails that have subject lines with numbers have a 113% open rate compared to those having subject lines without numbers. Including potential salary in the subject line might pique some interest. Sales roles often utilize the line of “Earn up to $X in monthly commission.” Something like “$1.5 billion/year company wants YOU” could earn you some email opens, and those getting burnt out by filling applications may appreciate seeing how many positions you have open for that role.

Consider Adding Emojis

Emojis in subject lines are controversial. You can find just as many sources that say they're detrimental as those that say they're beneficial. Of course, most studies are about subject lines in general. Brian Fink, Talent Acquisition Partner at McAfee, recently discussed his experience using emojis in the recruiting space.

Still, there isn't a perfect answer regarding whether or not to use emojis in your recruiting email subject line. The truth is, your results will depend largely on who you're recruiting. But it never hurts to try them out. Run some A/B tests to see how your candidates respond to emojis. You might just find that they're your new secret weapon.

Of course, wouldn't it be nice if there was a tool that automatically generated optimized candidate outreach subject lines for you? And produced message text that doesn't feel AI-generated? And scheduled a sequence timeline?

If those are your three wishes, then your magic genie has arrived! hireEZ's candidate outreach tool can do all of those things. You can set up individualized outreach sequences to hundreds of candidates with just a couple of clicks. (You can also edit the text and timeline if you want.)

And that's just one of the many things that hireEZ can do. Book a demo today to learn more.