When to Reach Out to Candidates
What you say to candidates is important, but so is when you say it. When is the best time to reach out? The best way to find out what works for you is to experiment and measure your results, but here’s a general primer to get you started.
Best Time of Day
Evening
Early morning and the evening are the clear winners when it comes to candidate response rates. The most likely reason is that candidates are the least preoccupied with other activities during these two times.
Best Day of the Week
Sunday
Two major studies of email open rates found significantly higher response rates from candidates on the weekend. Weak competition is the likely culprit. Candidates receive one hundred times as many emails during the workweek. But that doesn’t mean you should avoid workweek emails altogether. Every day of the week gets a decent response rate and every candidate is unique.
Don’t Forget
When you send your email is important, but your content matters even more. Do you have an interesting subject line? Are your emails personalised? Are you hitting the right tone?
Remember to be flexible and open-minded. Weekend emails have the highest response rate largely due to weaker competition. Should this change, your email strategy should too.
Best Time of Day
Between 9 AM and 10 AM
Sound too obvious to be true? You can’t argue with the facts. According to LinkedIn’s own data, mid-morning emails get the highest response rates. Don’t forget to adjust by time-zone. Your 9:30 AM may be someone else’s 6:30 AM.
Best Day of the Week
Any Weekday
There’s no clear favourite day to send an InMail, so you’re best off sending them on the day you write them. There is a clear loser: Saturday. InMails sent on this day are 16 percent less likely to get a response.
Don’t Forget
Whenever you choose to send an InMail, it could be a good idea to focus on what you have in common. Candidates are more likely to respond to InMails by recruiters who share a LinkedIn group or connection.
Phone
Best Time of Day
Between 10 AM and 11 AM
Trying to reach candidates before they begin their day? Hold off for a couple of hours. Candidates are nearly twice as likely to pick up the phone at 10 AM than they are two hours earlier. But don’t hold off for too long: Candidates stop picking up the phone after 4 PM.
Best Day of the Week
Tuesday
According to a study of over 20,000 calls, Tuesday is the day of the week with the best connect rate (10 percent) for candidates. Friday is the worst at 8.7 percent. While the difference isn’t earth-shattering, it adds up to a difference in 13 extra candidates per 1000 attempts.
Don’t Forget
You’re most likely to reach a candidate the first time you call him or her, so be prepared. That said, don’t give up too soon. You still have a five percent chance of reaching candidates on your tenth attempt!
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