Day60 guide
How to message a recruiter about a job
Tell a recruiter the exact role and one way you fit in your first two lines, then ask one easy question. Two checked examples: an email and a LinkedIn note.
The short answer
Direct answer
In your first two lines, tell the recruiter the exact role you mean and one way you fit what the posting asks for. Then ask one easy question, such as whether a short screen makes sense. Keep an email to 75–175 words and a LinkedIn note under 300 characters, and send it yourself.
What a recruiter needs in the first two lines
A recruiter reads many messages about many roles. Before anything else, they need to know which role you mean and whether you could fit it. Put both in your first two lines.
Name the exact title as the posting writes it, and say where it’s listed: the company’s careers page, a job board, or the posting’s ID. In a first email, write the title and the ID rather than pasting a link. Day60’s message checker keeps links out of first emails, and the title and ID are enough for a recruiter to find the role.
Then give one reason you fit, tied to something the posting asks for. One clear match is easier to act on than a list of everything you’ve done.
Internal recruiter or agency recruiter
Recruiters work in two places, and each can do different things for you. On LinkedIn, an internal recruiter’s profile names the company that’s hiring; an agency recruiter’s names their firm. Check their current role before you write.
- An internal recruiter works for the company that’s hiring. They run the role’s process: they screen candidates, set up interviews and pass people to the hiring manager. They can tell you whether your background fits and what happens next.
- An agency recruiter works for a firm the company pays to find candidates. They can put you forward for roles they’re filling, including some that aren’t posted. If you’ve already applied to a company yourself, tell them before they submit you, so the company doesn’t get your application twice.
What to include
Three things belong in every message to a recruiter. Everything else can wait for the screen.
- The exact role. The title as the posting writes it, and its ID or where it’s listed. If you’ve applied, say when.
- One fit with the must-haves. Pick one requirement from the posting and one example from your work that meets it. Use the posting’s words only when they’re true for you.
- One easy ask. Ask whether a short screen makes sense. The recruiter can answer yes or no in one line.
What to leave out
Each of these makes the message longer without making the answer easier.
- Your whole history. One example is enough. Your resume carries the rest once they ask for it.
- Pay and personal details. Salary history, age and visa status don’t belong in a first message. If they matter for the role, they’ll come up in the screen.
- Links and attachments in a first email. Name the role and its ID instead, and offer your resume when they reply.
- More than one ask. One question gets a faster answer than three.
Two example messages
Both examples are illustrative: the company, people, dates and experience are invented. Use the structure and replace every detail with one that’s true for you. Both pass Day60’s message checker.
The email follows the method: a 3–7 word subject, 75–175 words, one question at the end. The LinkedIn note is under 300 characters, and its shorter version is under 200 for free accounts.
Illustrative email to a recruiter
The company, people, dates, and experience in this example are invented.
Subject
Senior Support Analyst role at Harborline
Message
Harborline’s posting for a Senior Support Analyst (job 4821, listed May 12) asks for someone who can turn support tickets into help-center content. At Cedarline, I grouped recurring billing questions into a short set of help pages that new customers now read during setup. That work covers the posting’s first two requirements, ticket analysis and writing for customers, and I applied through the careers page on May 14. Would a 15-minute screen this week or next be useful to see whether the fit is there? Best, Alex If you're not the right person, a quick 'not me' is a kindness.
Illustrative LinkedIn connection note to a recruiter
The company, people, dates, and experience in this example are invented.
Message
Dana, I applied on May 14 for Harborline’s Senior Support Analyst role (job 4821). At Cedarline, I turned recurring support tickets into help pages, the first thing the posting asks for. Would a quick screen this week or next be useful?
Shorter version
Dana, I applied May 14 for Harborline’s Senior Support Analyst role. At Cedarline, I turned support tickets into help pages. Open to a quick screen?
Write to more than the recruiter
The recruiter is one of four people closest to the hire. The others are the hiring manager, the hiring manager’s boss and an internal champion on the team.
A recruiter fills several roles at once, and the hiring manager decides what this role needs. A short, researched note to the hiring manager, alongside your note to the recruiter, gives your application two ways in instead of one.
Use the same proof point in every message to the same company, with a different first line for each person. The guide on finding the hiring manager, linked below, shows how to spot each of the four from the posting and the company’s own pages.
Send it yourself on LinkedIn
Open LinkedIn yourself, find the recruiter’s profile and check their current role. Choose Connect, add a note, paste your message and send it. If the note box is shorter on your account, use the shorter version.
Day60 never logs in to LinkedIn and never sends anything for you. You send every message, and you decide when.
If they accept your request, thank them and attach your resume in a short message. If a week passes with no reply, send one follow-up with a new angle and the same ask, then put your effort into the hiring manager and the rest of the team.
Related guides
Next step:How to message a hiring manager
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