Why You Need to Stop Using a LinkedIn Template to Message Recruiters

In today’s tight job market, getting noticed takes more than just sending a resume to a job. And at some point, we may exhaust our own network and be forced to take the scary route of turning to strangers on the Internet, ideally those who can give you a job.

Trying to get a stranger on the Internet to notice you is more of an art than a science, and it can be especially difficult when you’re reaching out to online recruiters who are actively recruiting for jobs that might interest you. You want your application to get noticed, but do it with 500 other people who applied before you, so everyone rushes into that recruiter’s inbox – with mixed results.

Somewhere in the last six months, I started getting a lot of messages on LinkedIn about jobs I was being hired for that seemed like identical copies of each other. They all sounded like this:

SUBJ: I’m interested in your role [JOB TITLE]

Hello Alicia,

Hope you are fine! I was interested in the position you published: [JOB TITLE]. Based on my experience as [WHATEVER YOUR LINKEDIN Title Is], I believe I might be a good fit.

Are you ready for quick communication to discuss a position? I would like to know more about this and tell you more about my qualifications. Looking forward to your reply.

Best wishes,

[YOUR NAME]

LinkedIn has released an update that allows candidates to directly contact the person posting the job (usually a recruiter) and send them a template message that is filled out with your name, title, and job title. This saves a lot of time and allows you to send recruiters a much larger volume of outreach messages than you could if you wrote each one individually, but it probably won’t get you the results you were hoping for. And there are several reasons why (as well as ways you could do better in the future).

Template messages only add to the noise.

Part of the appeal of a template message is that it takes very little effort to simply click “message,” which means 100 other people have done it too. As much as a recruiter might want to read and respond to every message, once at least five of these boilerplate messages arrive, you’ll begin to predict that the majority of messages that begin with “Hope you’re doing well!” I was interested in the role you posted: “will probably all read the same.”

Recruiters in particular are seeing a lot of incoming messages, especially as more than 200,000 people have lost their jobs in the last eleven months. When most of the messages in your inbox look the same, you naturally start filtering out the ones that look like duplicates and rejoice in the information that stands out, meaning that a template message is likely to be skimmed right away.

If you want to use a template, consider customizing the subject line (at the very least) to include a greeting or the recipient’s name to try to grab their attention as early as possible. However, if you only change the subject line, your reader will still likely move on quickly once they know the rest of the boilerplate message.

Including obvious proofreading errors.

If your LinkedIn headline is different from your job title and company, chances are the template contains some bunch of words that don’t really make sense once you type it into the template. While this doesn’t happen every time, it does happen enough to cause a collection of strange, meaningless messages to accumulate in my inbox.

If your LinkedIn headline looks something like: “Searching for Opportunity” or “Growth Marketing | SEO | Data Whiz”, the template often produces:

Based on my experience searching for opportunities

It doesn’t look good, and you and I both know that if you had written this message yourself, you would have presented your experience very differently. If you want to use a template, be sure to double check that all details are entered correctly and that it reads as if it was written by a non-AI.

He asks for something that most recruiters can’t (or won’t) give.

The default template asks the recipient if they have time for a “quick chat”, a very vague, amorphous request that most people are not willing to grant to just anyone. Particularly when you approach a recruiter who typically fills their day with 30-minute interviews with candidates whose resumes they’ve reviewed, it can be quite a challenge to get someone to agree to a 15-minute conversation with every candidate who sends a message, even if he wants it. Asking for a quick chat also leaves something to the imagination: will this really be just a chat between two people getting to know each other, or will this person try to turn the call into an impromptu interview?

Instead of asking for a quick chat, ask a specific question that you’re actually interested in that the recipient could answer via text rather than on a live call. It could be about the company culture, something specific in the job description, or what their experience is currently. Or simply subscribe, politely thanking you for reading.

This is not a demonstration of your skills or why you are suitable for the job.

The template is concise in design, which means it’s easy to read, but with so little detail, it doesn’t say much about what makes you an interesting candidate for the position you’re applying for. While it makes your LinkedIn headline stand out, it provides much more information about you and your skills beyond your job title or buzzwords in your industry. Your job title is also not what makes you stand out: Recruiters will likely see hundreds of candidates with the same title as your job title, but what will make you stand out is your specific experience and knowledge.

Instead of just ditching the job title and calling it a day, add a tidbit or two that will add color to your background and highlight how you fit into the role someone is hiring for. Something as simple as “I owned our presence on TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Reddit and Twitter at [COMPANY]” or “I have experience setting up a CRM from scratch in my current role” can add useful texture when a recruiter reviews the information . your message is trying to figure out whether your profile or resume is worth attention.

Instead, write a few thoughtful, personalized messages.

Yes, it will take longer. Yes, it will be annoying. No, it probably won’t work every time, but a thoughtful message will always stand out more than a generic “I’m interested in your role” message.

If you find it difficult to write a customized message for every job you apply for, consider putting together a few different templates that are similar to you and sum up your experience well without writing an entire novel. They don’t have to be works of art every time, but make sure they include:

• A unique and hopefully charming storyline.

• A summary of the skills you bring to the table (that make you a great choice for this role)

• A brief mention of what you already know about the company and/or why you are interested in joining.

• Polite signing (and/or brief, specific request for information)

While this probably won’t get you a 100% response rate, chances are the person who receives your message will be much more likely to open it and actually learn about the qualities that make you stand out.

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