{"id":70647,"date":"2020-12-22T03:00:54","date_gmt":"2020-12-22T03:00:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bullhorn.com\/eu\/?post_type=customer_blog&#038;p=70647"},"modified":"2021-09-17T20:13:57","modified_gmt":"2021-09-17T19:13:57","slug":"when-should-reach-candidates","status":"publish","type":"customer_blog","link":"https:\/\/www.bullhorn.com\/eu\/customer-blog\/when-should-reach-candidates\/","title":{"rendered":"When Should You Reach Out to Candidates?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>What you say to candidates is important, but so is when you say it. Believe it or not, the time of the day and the day of the week that you <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bullhorn.com\/toolkit\/how-frequently-should-you-reach-out-to-new-candidates\/?LS=Website&amp;LSD=CustomerBlog_UK&amp;LA=CustomerBlog_UK&amp;LAD=CustomerBlog_UK_20_12_22_reach_out_candidates&amp;utm_source=customerblog_uk&amp;utm_medium=website&amp;utm_campaign=customerblog_uk_20_12_22_reach_out_candidates\">reach out to candidates<\/a> can impact how receptive they\u2019ll be to you. Not convinced? Imagine receiving a call from a recruiter at 10 PM on a Friday night. Probably not the best time to discuss career moves, is it? The best way to find out what works for you is to experiment and measure your results, but here&#8217;s a general primer based on industry research to get you started.<\/p>\n<h3>Email<\/h3>\n<p><strong>Reach out in the morning or evening<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Early morning and the evening are the <a href=\"https:\/\/business.linkedin.com\/talent-solutions\/blog\/linkedin-best-practices\/2015\/9-stats-that-will-help-you-write-better-linkedin-inmails\">clear winners<\/a> when it comes to candidate response rates. We\u2019d bet that this is because candidates are the least preoccupied with other activities during these two times\u2014say, like being distracted by their current jobs.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Reach out on Sundays<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Did you know that candidates receive one hundred times as many emails during the workweek than they do over the weekend? Two major <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sourcecon.com\/when-is-the-best-time-to-contact-a-candidate\/\">studies of email open rates<\/a> found significantly higher response rates from candidates on Saturday and Sunday than the rest of the week. Why? Weak competition is the likely culprit. But that doesn&#8217;t mean you should exclusively reach out to candidates on the weekend\u2014every day of the week gets a decent response rate and every candidate is unique. Don\u2019t forget, depending on the role you\u2019re filling for, the traditional weekend might actually be a candidate\u2019s workweek.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Don\u2019t Forget<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The time you send your email is important, but your content matters even more. Do you have an interesting subject line? Are you hitting the right tone? Are your emails personalised? (Hint: Avoid those notorious \u201cHello, [NAME]\u201d emails).<\/p>\n<p>Remember to be flexible and open-minded. While weekend emails have the highest response rate largely due to weaker competition, should this change, your email strategy should too.<\/p>\n<h3>LinkedIn<\/h3>\n<p><strong>Reach out between 9 AM and 10 AM<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>According to <a href=\"https:\/\/business.linkedin.com\/talent-solutions\/blog\/linkedin-best-practices\/2015\/9-stats-that-will-help-you-write-better-linkedin-inmails\">LinkedIn\u2019s own data<\/a>, not only are InMail messages three times more likely to get a response than a regular email, but mid-morning InMails get the highest response rates. For more advice on reaching out to candidates on LinkedIn, check out <a href=\"https:\/\/business.linkedin.com\/talent-solutions\/blog\/2015\/07\/the-3-types-of-linkedin-inmail-subject-lines-the-keepers-the-sleepers-and-the-bleepers\">their article<\/a> on writing compelling InMail subject lines to help you get a response.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Reach out any weekday<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>While weekdays are the clear winners in terms of garnering a response to your InMail, it seems that all are created equal. There is a clear loser, however: Saturday. InMails sent on this day are <a href=\"https:\/\/business.linkedin.com\/talent-solutions\/blog\/linkedin-best-practices\/2015\/9-stats-that-will-help-you-write-better-linkedin-inmails\">16 percent less likely<\/a> to get a response.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Don\u2019t forget<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Make sure to account for differences in time zones. Your 9:30 AM may be someone else\u2019s 6:30 AM, so always take that into account when sending time-targeted messages.<\/p>\n<p>Additionally, don\u2019t forget to focus on what you have in common. Candidates are more likely to respond to inMails sent by recruiters who share a LinkedIn group, connection, or even alma mater. If you ever worked for the same company as a prospect, make sure to bring it up\u2014it\u2019ll increase the likelihood of receiving a response <a href=\"https:\/\/business.linkedin.com\/talent-solutions\/blog\/linkedin-best-practices\/2015\/9-stats-that-will-help-you-write-better-linkedin-inmails\">by a whopping 27 percent<\/a>. Mutual connections bump that percentage up to 46 percent.<\/p>\n<h3>Phone<\/h3>\n<p><strong>Reach out between 10 AM and 11 AM<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Who says phone is dead? Probably no one who works in recruitment.<br \/>\nYour instinct might be to catch a candidate before they begin their day, but hold off for a few hours. Candidates are nearly <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bullhorn.com\/resources\/what-is-the-best-time-to-make-cold-calls\/\">twice as likely<\/a> to pick up the phone at 10 AM than they are two hours earlier. On the flip side, candidates stop answering the phone after 4 PM, so don\u2019t wait until the last minute to get those calls out.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Reach out on Tuesdays<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>According to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bullhorn.com\/resources\/what-is-the-best-time-to-make-cold-calls\/?LS=Website&amp;LSD=CustomerBlog_UK&amp;LA=CustomerBlog_UK&amp;LAD=CustomerBlog_UK_20_12_22_reach_out_candidates&amp;utm_source=customerblog_uk&amp;utm_medium=website&amp;utm_campaign=customerblog_uk_20_12_22_reach_out_candidates\">a study of over 20,000 calls<\/a>, Tuesdays have the best connect rate\u201410 percent\u2014for candidates. Friday is the worst at 8.7 percent. While the difference isn\u2019t earth-shattering, it adds up to a difference in 13 extra candidates per 1000 attempts.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Don\u2019t Forget<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>You&#8217;re most likely to reach a candidate the first time you call her, so be prepared. That said, don&#8217;t give up too soon. You still have a five percent chance of reaching candidates on your tenth attempt!<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/bullhorn.com\/eu\/subscribe\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-74134 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.bullhorn.com\/eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/21\/2020\/12\/Blog_001_1200x200_A_V1.png\" alt=\"customer blog\" width=\"1200\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.bullhorn.com\/eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/21\/2020\/12\/Blog_001_1200x200_A_V1.png 1200w, https:\/\/www.bullhorn.com\/eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/21\/2020\/12\/Blog_001_1200x200_A_V1-768x128.png 768w, https:\/\/www.bullhorn.com\/eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/21\/2020\/12\/Blog_001_1200x200_A_V1-300x50.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><\/a>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What you say to candidates is important, but so is when you say it. The time of the day and the day of the week that you reach out to candidates can impact how receptive they\u2019ll be to you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":198,"featured_media":74132,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","class_list":["post-70647","customer_blog","type-customer_blog","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","customer_blog_category-learning"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>When Should Recruiters Contact Candidates? | Bullhorn<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"What recruiters say to candidates is important, but so is when they say it. 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