Application Writing Assignment

People hate writing prospecting emails.

I know it. You know it. We all know it.

Do companies hiring know it?

There's a ton of value in this process, for both parties.

The candidate showcases their talents and gets feedback.

The Hiring Manager sees talent or helps the candidate improve.

To that end, here's a cheat code of what hiring managers look for.

Thank you Lydia Winn for providing real life examples.  

1. Clean grammar, capitalization and punctuation.
Whatever you write, run it through Grammarly. This can sink your whole effort, both in a writing sample and actual prospecting.

2. Brevity.
Don't write a prospecting email longer than 100 words. Don't waste a line introducing yourself.
BAD: "Hello! My name is Lydia and I am with AtoZ Company!"
GOOD: Go straight into your research on them.

3. What you write in that short email should show research, either about the company or the person.
Look for evidence you can solve their problem. Here's two openers for a recruiting service:
GOOD: "Noticed 3 finance roles for your New Jersey office requiring SQL experience were reposted to LinkedIn today."
BAD: I am reaching out to you from AtoZ Talent. We are a new and innovative company that helps businesses connect with the best job candidates during the hiring process. We help companies bridge that gap of finding the best talent in the work field which ultimately improves longevity in a company.

4. Tie the potential pain they may have to other customers you've helped in the past (you can ask the hiring manager/recruiter for a case study here).
GOOD: We're hearing that SQL skills are hard to find right now. We specialize in sourcing accounting talent with light coding expertise in the Northeast. We placed 30 SQL specialists with JP Morgan last quarter.
BAD: Your company may have turnover and we could be the perfect solution.

5. End with a call to action that doesn't ask for time--it gauges interest and starts a conversation.
GOOD: Am I off in thinking this may be an issue?
BAD: How soon can we speak? I'm free at 3pm Thursday or Friday. Here is my calendar link.

Bonus:
If they give you an account or multiple personas to pick from, share why you selected a certain person to reach out to and relate it to the product or service of the company.

If you think this will help someone, please forward it to them or have them subscribe.