How to write a recruiting business-development email that gets a reply

Why write to one person about one thing?

A business-development email works when it is obviously written for the person reading it. Pick one person — the manager who owns the hire — and one reason to write: the signal you found (see the seven hiring signals). Everything else can wait for the call.

What should the first email look like?

• A subject line that names their situation, not your agency.
• An opening line that states the signal and when it happened.
• One line on why it is relevant to you: the roles you fill and where.
• One question that is easy to answer.
• Your name, your agency, its mailing address — and a plain way to opt out.

How many follow-ups should you send, and when?

Silence is usually timing, not a no. Two short follow-ups, a few business days apart, on weekdays, are enough. Each should add something — a new detail, a relevant candidate type, a simpler question — rather than 'just checking in'. Stop the moment they reply, you speak on the phone, or they say no.

Should you send from your own inbox?

Yes. Email sent from a real person's work inbox, one message at a time, reads as a conversation and keeps replies where you will see them. Bulk tools and borrowed sending addresses make an email look like marketing, and marketing is what spam filters and busy managers are trained to ignore.

What rules apply to business-development email?

In Canada, commercial email falls under CASL, which applies to messages sent to or from a computer in Canada. CASL starts from consent: you need the person's express or implied consent before you send. For a first business email to a stranger, implied consent usually rests on the person having published their address conspicuously — on their company's website, say — without a note refusing unsolicited messages, and on your message being relevant to their role. An address you guessed from a pattern was never published, so that basis doesn't apply to it.

In the US, CAN-SPAM works the other way round: you may email without prior consent, but the message must not mislead in its header or subject, must identify itself as an advertisement where it is one, must include a valid postal address, and must honour opt-outs promptly.

Under both: say who you are and who you work for, include your agency's mailing address and a way to reach you (a phone number, email or website), give a simple way to opt out, and honour opt-outs quickly across your whole team. The details depend on your situation, so check them for your agency — this is general guidance, not legal advice.

What about LinkedIn?

A short connection note that mentions the same signal works well alongside email. Write and send it yourself: automation tools that log into LinkedIn for you break its terms and put your account at risk.

Where ReadyReq fits

ReadyReq drafts a first email, follow-ups and LinkedIn notes that cite the signal behind each lead, adds a footer with the sender's identification, the agency's mailing address (once an admin enters it) and an opt-out, checks addresses for bounces, warns before a cold email goes to an address that was guessed from a pattern rather than published, and sends from the rep's own Gmail or Outlook — when the rep presses Send, and as automatic follow-ups where an agency's admin switches on automatic follow-ups: a rep can approve up to two follow-ups word for word on a lead, and anything logged on the lead stops the rest.

More guides

• How recruiting agencies find new clients before the job is posted
• Seven hiring signals that tell a recruiting agency a company needs help
• Reposted and aging job postings: why they are a staffing agency's warmest leads
• Finding staffing and temporary-help tenders in Canada