Personalizing Outbound Recruitment Emails at Scale
As an executive recruiter with 12 years in agency, I can confidently say that the past 18 months have been the most transformative period I've experienced thanks to Generative Artificial Intelligence. As a leader of a small entrepreneurial team, we have been fortunate to be able to pivot quickly and bring new Gen-AI based services to market. As of today, we are utilizing a total of 12 Custom GPT’s in our operations that are increasing the speed and raising our quality of our service.
Today, I am comparing a tool we offer under a new service line that offers full recruitment email automation against one of our Custom GPT’s that assists my staff with recruitment email personalization under more traditional forms of recruitment like fractional, retained/executive search, etc. Here’s a preview of what you can expect from each of these tools.
Full Outbound Email Automation
There are several vendors offering fully automated email marketing solutions, and this number is expected to grow as some experience 60% month-over-month growth. Regardless of the software vendor, the key to success lies in setting up a scalable system of email accounts that maximize deliverability and being highly skilled in prompt writing. Failure to excel in either area can harm your organization’s email deliverability or damage your reputation with poorly crafted emails sent to your target recruitment prospects.
As part of offering this solution as a service, we have dedicated time to building out multiple domains, scaling our email accounts, and creating a management system to stay organized. Currently, we have about 50 email campaigns running on full automation for various clients, sending approximately 22,500 emails per month. The results have been on par with what we’d expect from human generated email for a small fraction of the price.
Below is a sample email from a demo recruitment campaign where I am trying to recruit myself for a Talent Advisor position at my company. The prompt was trained on my job description and crafted to have a simple call to action. It was instructed to write in a persuasive, energetic, and goal-oriented style with a confident, assertive, and motivating tone. The AI's knowledge of me was sourced from a contact information database linked to this particular vendor's software, which pulled my profile from LinkedIn. This is the unedited output from the tool:
Subject: Elevate Your Talent Acquisition Impact with The Source and Recruit Company
Message:
"Hello Matthew,
Achieving and surpassing sales targets isn't just a goal; it's a testament to the strategic prowess and dedication of a leader like you. At The Source and Recruit Company, we recognize the intricate dance between talent acquisition and business growth. That's why we're reaching out to you, a seasoned professional with a track record of driving revenue and exceeding goals, to consider joining us as a Talent Advisor in the Rutland, Vermont area.
Our firm stands at the forefront of blending traditional recruitment with cutting-edge AI-supported solutions. As a Talent Advisor, you'll manage a full-cycle recruitment desk, leveraging your expertise to source top-tier talent and participate in business development activities that expand our reach and impact. With a hybrid work model and a competitive earnings potential, we offer an environment where your skills in full-cycle recruitment and sales can truly flourish.
Matthew, your experience as Founder and President, coupled with your extensive certifications and skills, aligns perfectly with the innovative and dynamic nature of our company. We believe you could be instrumental in transforming the recruitment landscape with us.
If the prospect of shaping the future of talent acquisition while achieving on-target earnings up to $125k sparks your interest, I invite you to engage in a conversation about how your vision and our mission can intersect for mutual success. We're looking forward to potentially having you as part of our team where diversity is celebrated, and every member's contribution is valued.
Best regards,
Matthew Burzon"
Not a bad email. It's not perfect, but it effectively delivers the message, and the personalization is credible.
To cut to the chase, we can easily scale personalized email campaigns like this, screen and submit interested candidates, and conduct pre-hire assessments, reference checks, and background checks for most positions for $2,000 to $3,000 total. In 2023, SHRM reported that the average cost per hire in the US was $4,700, and significantly higher for hard-to-fill technical and executive roles. We are particularly proud of this service line as its value is quite clear; outbound search performance for the price of inbound. Truly remarkable.
The downside is that recruitment marketing is limited to email (at this time), which can affect response rates. Additionally, we do not share project intellectual property the same way we do with traditional search due to licensing restrictions and software integration. However, if you're primarily seeking results and want to reach a large target audience to gauge interest, this technology is hard to beat, especially in a market where direct applicants are scarce.
The Source and Recruit Company Outbound Email Custom GPT
Remember the late 90s commercial, “There are some things money can’t buy, and for everything else, there’s Mastercard”? Our Custom GPT for outbound emails is somewhat like that—there’s recruitment email automation, and then for everything else there’s our Custom GPT.
Similar to the previous example, we provide it with our Talent Advisor job description and the target candidate’s LinkedIn profile or resume, and let it do the work. In this case, I used my resume since I had it on hand. Here’s the result:
Subject: Exciting Opportunity at The Source and Recruit Company - Let's Connect!
Message:
"Dear Matthew,
My name is Matt, and I am a Talent Advisor at The Source and Recruit Company, a leading provider of AI-supported and traditional recruitment and outplacement solutions.
I came across your profile and was impressed by your extensive experience and accomplishments in talent acquisition and business development. I wanted to share an exciting opportunity with you at The Source and Recruit Company as a Talent Advisor, which I believe might be a great fit for you.
Based on your background, here are a few reasons why I think you would excel in this role:
Extensive Recruitment Experience: With over 8 years of experience in full-cycle recruitment and a track record of sourcing and recruiting talent for 450+ searches, your expertise aligns perfectly with our requirements.
Leadership and Business Development: Your role as the Founder & President of The Source and Recruit Company, where you achieved 30% year-over-year growth and managed an 8-member team, demonstrates your strong leadership and business development skills.
Technology Proficiency: Your familiarity with a wide range of recruitment and business management tools, including iCims, Lever, Salesforce, and HubSpot, will be a significant asset in learning our technology stack and promoting our innovative services.
Certifications and Education: Your SHRM-SCP, LEED-AP, and PMP certifications, along with your educational background, further highlight your qualifications and commitment to professional development.
Client and Candidate Relations: Your experience in ensuring a memorable and positive experience for candidates and clients aligns with our goal of maintaining high standards in our recruitment processes.
We have been retained by The Source and Recruit Company to find the right candidate for this position, and I would love to have a confidential, exploratory conversation with you to discuss this opportunity further. If you are interested, please let me know a convenient time for us to connect.
Looking forward to hearing from you.
Best regards,
Matt"
Hard not to love. While the Custom GPT email offers higher quality and personalization, it is a more manual process. It involves finding the candidate, obtaining contact information, providing the inputs, and sending the email. In contrast, full automation handles all these steps for us with minimal setup, making it much faster.
Each tool has its place. If quality is paramount, the Custom GPT is a significant value add, particularly for traditional fractional recruiting, retained/executive search, and contingency. If budget or schedule are higher priorities, the cost-effectiveness and speed of recruitment marketing email automation is tough to beat.
Personalized emails undoubtedly yield the best response rates, but crafting a quality email doesn’t have to be time-consuming. Both tools can get the job done efficiently. Automated solutions are ideal for quickly reaching a broad audience within budget constraints, while the Custom GPT enables high-quality, personalized outreach with manageable effort. When evaluating the best approach for your recruitment needs, remember that prompts can be tailored specifically to your objectives, and results will vary.
Request more information on our services here.
Best regards,
Matthew Burzon, SHRM-SCP, Founder and President
16 Custom GPT’s and counting!
