How to Message Recruiters on LinkedIn: Best Templates

Whenever you are looking for a new job, there&rsquo;s a good chance you&rsquo;ll try LinkedIn. It&rsquo;s not surprising - with 1B users worldwide and over 67M companies represented on the platform, it&rsquo;s the largest professional social network. LinkedIn makes it easy for you to lay out all your professional experience, achievements, certificates, and recommendations, which basically makes it the most relevant and interactive version of your CV out there. With a tool so easy and so useful, one might think that all you need to do is slap the &ldquo;Open to work&rdquo; frame on your avatar, sit back and relax as the job offers flood in, right? Well, not really. The abundance of users also means the abundance of candidates. If you are really determined to get a new job, you need to send a LinkedIn message to recruiters who are looking for a specialist like you. When you contact a recruiter, you have to remember that they are busy people, so you most likely will have only one chance to catch their attention. This means that you have to be as relevant, nice, and professional as possible when you contact the recruiter for the first time. If you aren&rsquo;t sure how to message recruiters on LinkedIn, here are a few ideas - and ready-to-use templates, of course. How to successfully find a recruiter on Linkedin Before you dig into what to message a recruiter on LinkedIn, it doesn&rsquo;t hurt to learn how to find a relevant recruiter. The search may be challenging - after all, there are roughly a million headhunters and recruiters registered on the platform. Here&rsquo;s how you can go about your search: Option A: Start from the search box Go to linkedin.com and locate the Search box - it&rsquo;s in the top left corner, right next to the LinkedIn logo. Once you click on it, enter the word &ldquo;recruiter.&rdquo; In search results that appear, switch to the &ldquo;People&rdquo; tab. Here, you can try the &ldquo;Actively hiring&rdquo; tab and filter the results by industry. {{banner_1}} Option B: Start from the company If you know what company you&rsquo;d like to work for, you can go to their LinkedIn page and switch to the People page. Scroll through the list to find people with &ldquo;HR manager,&rdquo; &ldquo;Recruiter,&rdquo; or &ldquo;Talent sourcer&rdquo; positions. Reaching Out to Recruiters: A Step-by-Step Guide Step 1. Prepare your profile Before you invite people over, you clean your house. Before you send a LinkedIn message to a recruiter, you need to make sure that your profile is up to date and has all the relevant information. Here&rsquo;s what you should pay special attention to: Profile picture and banner For your profile picture, pick your photo that&rsquo;s at least 400 x 400 px. In the photo, you should wear smart or smart casual clothes. Make sure your whole face is well-lit and is fully in the shot. Smiling is optional, but a sincere smile can catch the eye of your potential employer and help you establish contact. You don&rsquo;t have to upload a cover photo - essentially, a profile banner - but if you do, pick a professional image that&rsquo;s at least 1584 x 396 pixels that contains references to your professional experience, industry, achievements, or a series of photos of you in action. Headline and summary A summary is a short (up to 220 characters) text that helps you outline your key talents, jobs you can do, scientific degrees, and anything else you may feel to be relevant for your next job. Currently named &ldquo;About,&rdquo; the summary section lets you share more in-depth info on how your past experiences can help you contribute to the success of the company. You can write a longer text here, but make sure that the first 150-300 words grab the attention of the recruiter. Working experience and Education While pretty self-explanatory, these two sections are crucial for job search. When filling them out, you need to list all the relevant workplaces and schools you attended. No matter how tempting it may be to embellish the truth, don&rsquo;t include things that aren&rsquo;t true - it&rsquo;s very easy to verify your education and employment history. Skills and Accomplishments If you have any work-related achievements or awards, indicate them in your profile. 1st prize in a pie-eating contest isn&rsquo;t something to bring forward, but an &ldquo;Employee of the Month&rdquo; or &ldquo;Best Salesman of 2017&rdquo; is something you can show off. Listing skills may be tricky, but here&rsquo;s a tip: look up a few relevant job listings on LinkedIn and copy the skills listed in the vacancy - that is, of course, if you actually have them. Recommendations Ask your former colleagues (or, better yet, managers) to write a recommendation for you. While the recruiter may not do the actual background check on you, they will learn about your positive qualities from an unbiased source. Open to Work When you start job hunting, be sure to let the community know about it. In your profile, click on the blue &ldquo;Open to&rdquo; button and choose &ldquo;Finding a new job&rdquo;. This will add a circular frame to your profile picture and will let you appear in search results when someone is looking for candidates who are actively looking for a job. Step 2. Prepare a PDF version of your CV LinkedIn profile is sleek and interactive, but most people still prefer a copy of a CV to work with. This means that, together with learning how to message recruiters on LinkedIn, you have to create a downloadable resume so that you can attach it to the requests you send to recruiters. The key upside of having a CV is being able to adapt it based on the job description text. Stress your key strengths in the summary, list all the relevant previous workplaces and required skills. To attach a CV, click on the Attach icon as you are composing a new message and upload the PDF or DOC file with your CV. Step 3. Understand how InMail works InMail is a premium feature on LinkedIn that allows you to send DMs to people you are not connected to. It&rsquo;s particularly useful if you&rsquo;d like to reach busy recruiters from large corporations. A premium account will cost you anywhere from $30 to $100 a month, but LinkedIn currently offers a 30-day free trial that may be more than enough for you to reach out to all the necessary people. Step 4. Write a Connection Request or an InMail When reaching out to recruiters on LinkedIn, you can include a short intro message to your connection request. You need to personalize the message - sending a generic connection request won&rsquo;t get the attention you need. You can write something along the lines of: {{template_1213}} With InMail, you can send a longer message right away. Don&rsquo;t abuse this power, though - stay concise and respectful of the recruiter&rsquo;s time. Also, since InMail is similar in its nature to an email, it also has a subject line. Keep it short and relevant to the job opening. Clearly indicate that you are applying for the job. Do not resort to &ldquo;clickbait&rdquo; lines - they may get the recruiter to open the email, but no one likes being tricked. An InMail can look like this: {{template_1223}} Step 5. Personalize Connection Request or an InMail To make sure that your request stands out from the crowd, you can try, and establish common touchpoints with a recruiter. This may include: Referring to common connections and mutual contacts - LinkedIn makes this one easy as they literally give you the list of connections you and the recruiter have in common. Referring to schools or courses you both may have attended. Referring to common locations or hobbies - you both may love parasailing, frequent a local museum, or belong to the same golf club. It goes without saying that the message should contain the name of the recruiter, the name of the position you are applying for, and the name of the company. Following Up with Recruiters Once you live through the euphoria of sending the first message, it&rsquo;s important to remember that this is just the first step - you will need to reply to recruiters&rsquo; messages and send them follow-ups if they seem to have forgotten about you. No worries, though - here are some follow-up LinkedIn message to recruiter examples. Importance of Follow-Up Messages Why follow-up? Well, because sometimes things fall through the cracks. Recruiters may be exposed to up to 100 applications per day, so sometimes they may forget about you - not because you are not qualified or a bad fit, but simply because a working day only has 8 hours and they only have two hands. But hey, none of this means that you should give up and apply for other jobs right away. All you need to do is send a polite and timely reminder. This will show that you are highly motivated and are truly eager to get this job. Timing for Follow-Up Messages If you contacted a recruiter and didn&rsquo;t get a reply within two business days, you can send them a follow-up - a short text reinstating the main points of your original message, along with an optional check-up like &ldquo;I hope you are doing well&rdquo; or &ldquo;I hope your week is going great&rdquo;. The next follow-up should come later - 5-7 business days after your original message. If you don't get a reply to this message either, you can try messaging another recruiter or a head of the relevant department at the same company. As for job interviews, you can send a follow-up the next business day to thank the recruiter for their time. If they don&rsquo;t get back to you within the time frame you discussed during the interview, you can send them a quick message the next day to check what the next steps should be. Do not be shy or afraid to follow people up - you cannot let someone else&rsquo;s routine or forgetfulness cost you a job. Responding to Recruiters on Linkedin Once a recruiter replies to your masterfully crafted message - or messages you first if you did a great job filling out your LinkedIn profile, it&rsquo;s time to use all your professional charm in order to get that coveted interview. Here&rsquo;s what you can write if you are interested in the offer and interested in responding to recruiters on Linkedin: {{template_1217}} Not all the offers you get are good. Here&rsquo;s an example of a polite yet firm reply when you are not interested but find responding to recruiters on Linkedin essential: {{template_1224}} Some offers are good - too good, actually. Here&rsquo;s how you can respond if you know that you are not qualified for the position you are offered: {{template_1230}} Message Templates Here are some LinkedIn message templates to a hiring manager - just replace the details with yours and use them: How to Write a Connection Request Message {{template_1213}} How to Find Out About Job Availability on Linkedin {{template_1233}} How To Reach Out to a Recruiter For a Specific Job Posting {{template_1234}} How to Follow Up with the Recruiter {{template_1235}} Thank You Message Post-Interview {{template_1236}} Follow-Up Message Example {{template_1237}} Conclusion Deciding what to message a recruiter on LinkedIn isn&rsquo;t as hard as it may seem - and, sadly, you may need to do this dozens of times before you get the job of your dreams. We are rooting for you, though. You can do it! And if you haven&rsquo;t found a template that you need, use our templates - we are doing our best to help.