Recruiting talent is just like a game of dating. You do your best to woo your candidate and pique their interest up to the point they are willing to get involved in a new relationship and reach full commitment. It’s all a great mix of good looks, fast attraction and savvy communication. Next time you are crafting recruiting emails for attracting new hires remember these 4 rules of dating.

This is your ice breaker – the spark of engagement. Translating into email marketing best practices, you need to impress your hires with a magnetic subject line. Prior to creating a dialogue you want them to open your email.

How do you achieve that? Be direct, clear, exciting and personal. Avoid over-hyped subject lines that mislead the recipient into opening your email. You’ll only end up losing their trust. Secondly, instead of sending generic emails to all your candidate database, try segmentation. This marketing tool will help you send emails only to selected recipients – candidates that match your job offer and that are more likely to be interested in what you have to communicate.
By doing so, you show genuine interest and you’ve got their full attention.

• Clearly state your name
• Include a call-to-action
• Reference job location
• Convey a sense of urgency

Now that you’ve lured your candidates into further conversation, they’ll wish to get to know you better. No matter how smart or promising you are, don’t forget for a second about visual attraction. The physiology of visual appeal works in both instances – in the dating world and in the marketing jungle.

Reflected in email marketing, visual attraction is the equivalent of high-quality design and a friendly user experience. A modern, clean and simple layout will do the trick. If you’re hiring for a big name company with a powerful brand identity, make sure your emails include the brand trademarks. Thus, your company name will stand out and your hires will find it easier to recognize your brand.

Another crucial aspect of efficient email campaigns is mobile friendliness. As studies show, more than 50% of people open emails on their mobile devices. Your “love letter” could be one. Don’t jeopardize your chances of going on a ‘second date’ with your candidate because of poor mobile optimization. Use responsive design and remember to always test your emails before sending them out.
TO DO:

• Use large - readable fonts
• Structure content in a single – column layout for ease of scrolling
• Include easy to find and click buttons

You’ve made a first good impression – now it’s time to create a real connection and earn your candidates’ trust. Remember they’ve already agreed to this and they’re actually waiting for the same thing – the spark that ignites their interest towards your job offer. Secretly, they wish to “fall in love”. You need to tell them what they want to hear with compelling content.

Keep your recruiting emails short, attractive and to the point. Don’t create monster emails that no candidate will ever take time to read. Include basic job information and avoid over-stuffing the email with boring details.
Show your personality and promote the uniqueness of the company you are pitching for. Are you young, fun and engaging? Put that in writing!
TO DO:

• Create engaging headlines
• Personalize content
• Include calls-to-action

You’ve worked so hard to set the mood right – attractive visuals, engaging content and luring pick-up lines. Don’t lose it all because of spam filters. Even though recruiting emails are less likely to contain spammy content like “free” or “buy now” – seldom encountered in marketing emails - you still need to pay attention to common spam triggers that you might not know about.
DO NOT:

• Use excessive exclamation points
• Use all caps text
• Add to many URLs
• Include too many images
• Work with sloppy coding

Following all the above mentioned steps will ensure you’ll get yourself a ‘second date’ with your candidate. Your first tries might not always bring you “the One”. But that’s just the way the recruiting and dating world works: you got to keep trying and going on numerous dates until you find the perfect match.

When you’ll find it, you know it was worth it all along.