If you opt for a personal approach, sourcing and approaching candidates is very labor intensive. It is always a shame if you do not receive a response from the candidate. That’s why I’m personally a big fan of sending a reminder email.
Reminding a candidate of a vacancy is a small effort.
Reminding a candidate of a vacancy is a small effort and can easily get you that hire . In addition, sending reminders gives you the opportunity to check your administration. Every now and then a message slips through, and by looking at your pipeline again you can easily see if you have missed any responses. By default, I always send a second InMail with a reminder two weeks after a first InMail. But what exactly do those memories yield?
The numbers
To find out, I recently mapped out data from 4 clients, with a total of 8 vacancies. A total of 633 people were approached for this study and a response rate of 54% was ultimately achieved. A total of 274 people have been remembered. Not all people who did not respond have been remembered. If someone does not seem to fit the profile afterwards because the vacancy has been tightened in the meantime, there is no point in remembering someone.
It is interesting to see that the response rate increased by 13% on average after sending a reminder. For 1 vacancy (77 candidates), the response rate has even increased by 34%. For the introductory conversations, 1 out of 3 is conducted with people who have been remembered. It should be noted that people who respond after a reminder are on average less likely to be invited to a first meeting.
It can be concluded that sending a reminder email is certainly effective in increasing your response rate and introducing more people to a client. In addition, it has become apparent that a candidate who has been remembered can also be the one who will sign the contract.
Tips
My tips for sending reminder emails:
- Give candidates time to read your original message. It comes across as impatient and pushing if you send a reminder within a few days. I always use: 2 weeks as a guideline.
- In your reminder message, mention which vacancy you previously approached the candidate for. This prevents the candidate from having to search.
- Try to be creative, candidates receive so much InMail these days that your message has to stand out positively. This starts with the title of the message, which the candidate immediately sees.
About the author
Laura Roetgerink is a sourcing consultant at Cooble . With a master’s degree in business administration, Laura delves fully into customers’ business processes. She likes to delve deeper into the labor market and stays informed of current affairs.