How I handle emails from job recruiters
(Just in case the full article gets cut off, you can read this post online here: https://www.leereamsnyder.com/blog/recruiter-auto-response)
Some advice and a script you can steal
Because I’m a software developer, I get a lot of solicitations from recruiters through LinkedIn. Like, a lot.
Although my inbox was been relatively quiet in the first half of this year, at the peak of the market I was getting a dozen per day.
Most of them, however, are worse than useless. They’ll be all…
Hey Lee! I noticed your peachy-keen profile on LinkedIn and think you’d be a swell match for a role at a company! Wanna hop on a call for 15 minutes and talk about it?
No one ever wants to hop on a call! Jesus.
I wish I was joking about the lack of information. I literally got three from the same guy that said:
We help businesses across North Carolina with hiring talented Other.
I am a talented “Other,” thank you for noticing! I feel seen.
As a professional courtesy I nudged the guy to maybe check how his mail merge was working out for him. Then he sent another three emails with the exact same text.
Or how about this one I got yesterday:
Hey, I have an immediate need for a ${my current role}. This company has offices in ${the city in which I currently work}, ${the city where someone I am chatting with right now works}, ${the city where I am also hiring people}, or ${the city where my current employer is headquartered}. If you’re interested, please send me your resume!
So, am I interested in working for what is clearly the company that I currently work at? I suppose, existentially, that’s a fun question.
Here’s another fun question: did you know LinkedIn charges like three bucks for every one of these emails that go out? 🤯
So, sure, it’s easy and satisfying to smash that delete button. I wouldn’t blame anyone for doing that.
However, last year I read an article on Medium called “Career Advice Nobody Gave Me: Never Ignore a Recruiter” by Alex Chesser that changed my view on this a bit.
Alex argues that recruiters can be a source of valuable information, and it isn’t hard to get it.
The trick is to respond to every recruiting email that comes in, but do so with a form letter of your own.
In his article, Alex shared his full template, broke down his reasoning for everything in it, and invited readers to use and remix it for themselves.
It’s pretty good! But it isn’t, well, me—it had zero semicolons omg—so I took Alex’s handsome block of marble and chopped it down to my liking. Here’s where I landed:
Thanks for reaching out! I love learning about new and exciting opportunities.
As a talented software engineer with in-demand skills, I receive lots of messages from recruiters on LinkedIn.
This is an incredible privilege; I’m thankful for it.
However, it does mean that I don’t have the time to hop on a call with everyone who sends a message, particularly when many opportunities would not, in the end, be a great fit.
I would love to continue the conversation, but first I need more details around the level of seniority that you’re looking for.
Can you send the company name, a detailed job description, and total compensation details for this role?
(If your message included some of those details, sorry! This is an automated response. With the number of messages I receive, sorting high quality opportunities from spam would be a full time job without it.)
Without detailed information about this opportunity, I will be unavailable for further discussion.
Again, thanks for reaching out! I look forward to hearing from you.
Cheers, Lee
That’s it! It’s been serving me well for almost 18 months now. Let’s break that all down.
Thanks for reaching out! I love learning about new and exciting opportunities.
Not only is “new and exciting opportunities” vague enough to apply to anything, but also it implies that I have certain standards.
As a talented software engineer with in-demand skills, I receive lots of messages from recruiters on LinkedIn.
Toot your own horn! They don’t know you’re a fraud yet!
This is an incredible privilege; I’m thankful for it.
Even frauds should stay humble.
However, it does mean that I don’t have the time to hop on a call with everyone who sends a message, particularly when many opportunities would not, in the end, be a great fit.
Here we start setting boundaries for this relationship and point out that no one wants to hop on a call. Jesus.
I am also revealing my love language: I think the greatest act of service I can provide or gift I can give is not wasting each other’s time.
I would love to continue the conversation, but first I need more details around the level of seniority that you’re looking for.
Can you send the company name, a detailed job description, and total compensation details for this role?
Here’s the quid pro quo—also a critical reading assessment. I’m willing to talk, but before that happens I need to know who’s hiring, what I’ll be doing, and for how much.
It is astonishing to me that emails from recruiters typically include none of this. I mean, that’s the bare minimum, right? I’m not going to engage if there’s a huge pay cut. Or if there’s a mismatch between what I do and what they want me to do. (Pro-tip to any recruiters who happen to be reading this: Java and JavaScript are very different programming languages!)
Even if the money and role fit, I’d still want to know who I’d be working for. Like, you couldn’t pay me enough to work at Facebook.
(If your message included some of those details, sorry! This is an automated response. With the number of messages I receive, sorting high quality opportunities from spam would be a full time job without it.)
This does a couple of things. First, I’m covering my own ass if they already told me some of my three required bits. I can’t be bothered to edit this.
Second, I’m admitting that I just copy-pasted this. Doesn’t hurt to be honest.
Third, I’m reminding them that I’m awesome and in-demand and well worth their time.
Without detailed information about this opportunity, I will be unavailable for further discussion.
This is the most professional way I can think of to say, “fuck around and find out.”
Again, thanks for reaching out! I look forward to hearing from you.
Cheers, Lee
Call to action, adios.
Although looking at it now, I might drop the sign-off. "Cheers"? What the hell? Yeah, it’s gone.
So that’s it. Copy-paste that, send, and move on with your day.
What happens next will be one of four things:
- No response: Either they can’t be bothered or they’re somehow offended at having received a form letter, which, ironic. Fine!
- They respond but do not provide my required details: They have failed my critical reading test. Trash.
- They do not answer me my riddles three but claim they can’t tell you some of it, like they’re not allowed to reveal who’s hiring and c’mon let’s get on a 15-minute call: This really happens sometimes and is utter insanity to me. This is work, not Fight Club. Trash.
- They brought the goods: Huzzah!
Critically, if they do respond with everything you asked for, you should, no, must respond back!
They’ve given you useful information—who’s hiring these days? what gaps do they have? what tech are they using? how are their salaries compared to what you’re making now?—so the least you can do is be straight with them.
Even if it’s a poor fit! Maybe you won’t look for anything that’s less than 1.5x your current salary (no need to reveal your actual current salary), maybe you hate Facebook, maybe this role is definitely sounding junior-level even though they claim you need 17 years of experience, maybe you need to patiently explain that you’ve never written a line of Java in your life and yes, sure, I do know JavaScript but they’re not the same hahahahahahahaaaaaaa what a world!
Tell them these things! They told you some things; it’s only fair.
Maybe this role won’t work out, but they happen to also be recruiting for something that would be a better fit? Or now that they have a better sense of your skills, they might keep you in mind for something else down the road. Who knows? Either way, now we’re having a real discussion.
Or, best case scenario, you might suddenly learn about something cool—lots more money, prestigious company (ie not owned by Elon Musk), interesting tech stack, beguiling problem space, whatever.
Either way, you’ve learned something useful and all it took was 20 seconds to copy-paste an email.
Maybe less, if you set up a text replacement shortcut to spit out your form letter. A handy trick is to start your shortcuts with zz because no real word starts with zz. My personal shortcut for this letter is zzfuckoff. I accept that this is against the spirit of this article but we are all walking contradictions.
Anyway, your mileage may vary but after a few months of this gentle email dancing I had a much clearer picture of the market and where I was positioned within it, knowledge that came in handy when a phone-call-worthy opportunity landed in my inbox.
What you do with this information is up to you. I will suggest you should absolutely avoid any sort of stressful technical interview until you’re sure you’re interested in a position. Also, brush up on pitching yourself and how to handle salary negotiation.
Oh, also, just like Alex offered, feel free to use and tweak my script for your own purposes. Enjoy this new potential source of knowledge. As Alex put it in closing his essay:
The advice is to make sure you stay aware of your true market value over the course of your career. That you remain confident in the options you have available to you and that you don’t stagnate or languish in any given job.
Put another way:
