Workable email templates for recruiters and hiring managers

An experienced recruiter and HR professional who has transferred her expertise to insightful content to support others in HR.

A task as simple as sending an email shapes the impression candidates get of your company. Poorly-structured, rushed recruiting emails to candidates indicate lack of organization. But, thoughtful rejection emails help you maintain good relationships with job applicants you turned down, keeping them as potential candidates for the future.

Here’s why email communication with candidates matters and how to make sure your emails send the right message:

Benefits of effective email communication with candidates

Emails to candidates help:

• Improve candidate experience: One of the biggest turnoffs for job seekers is not hearing back once they apply. Being prompt in your communication and transparent about your hiring timeline lets candidates know the status of their application throughout the recruiting process.
• Hire quicker: Use clear email templates for repetitive tasks (e.g. to schedule and confirm interviews.) Instead of wasting time to craft emails from scratch or coordinate over the phone, focus on more important things, like preparing for interviews and sourcing more candidates.
• Increase response rate from passive candidates:Personalized messages bring your job openings in front of qualified professionals. They also show you invested time into learning more about them before reaching out.
• Build a strong employer brand: The way you communicate with candidates is a strong indication of the way your company behaves towards its employees and clients and can make or break your reputation. For example, if you take the time to reject candidates with grace, you end things on a positive note, leaving an open window for future collaboration.

Workable email templates for recruiters

When using Workable to communicate with candidates, you can choose from a library of email templates at every stage of the recruitment process. Workable helps:

• Automate mass emails to candidates. Workable automates the process with bulk recruitment email templates. Rather than send the same email separately to X candidates, set up a bulk action, and personalize every email with “variables.”
  Variables are simple pieces of placeholder text which are replaced with real candidate data. For example, personalize emails with the candidate’s name, the job title, interview date, your name and more.

Here’s an example of an application rejection email template in Workable, with variables in blue:

• Email candidates directly from your Outlook or Gmail account. Workable’s integrations with Office 365 Outlook and Gmail allow you to contact candidates without the need to switch from one account to another. All conversations will be synced into the candidate’s profile. You can also import your existing communication with candidates into Workable to keep historical data in one place.
• Reduce email writing time with sample templates. To speed up your hiring process, you can create your own email templates for every recruiting scenario. Or, use one of Workable’s customizable templates you’ll find in your account, including interview scheduling, job offer and candidate rejection emails.

Here’s what an interview scheduling email template looks like:

For extra help on what to say in emails to candidates, you can use templates from our email library. And, if you’re looking for ways to personalize your communication and increase response rates, follow tips from our guide on cold emails.

How Workable helps avoid common recruiting email pains

When using Workable as your recruiting software, sending emails to candidates and your hiring team gets easier. Workable helps:

• Keep candidate contact details organized. Don’t waste time trying to find a candidate’s email address. Workable keeps all the information in one place: the candidate profile. Whether you’re on desktop or mobile, you can easily review candidates and get in touch with them directly from their profile. Contact details and previously sent emails are always available for fast review.
• Never miss emails from candidates. An inbox pileup could result in ignoring important messages or spending hours to find an email sent some time ago. When a candidate replies to an email you’ve sent through Workable, you’ll see a copy:
  • in your external email account, as it’s easy to integrate Workable with Gmail, Office 365 Outlook and other email accounts
  • on the candidate’s timeline, where you can review them with your colleagues without the need to search through old threads and email folders
  • A recruiter has to manually forward candidate replies to team members.
  • Two members of the hiring team accidentally contact the same candidate.
  • A candidate contacts a recruiter who’s out of office and the rest of the team doesn’t get informed.

  All emails are saved in candidate’s timeline so that members of the hiring team can view the entire communication at any time.

  Should an email be particularly sensitive, it’s easy to make it visible to hiring managers only. This option is ideal for discussing details like salary or benefits.

  

  You can also include additional followers, when specific emails are relevant. Followers will receive a BCC copy of the email, which means that their address will not be shown to the candidate.

  Helpful emails during the recruitment process

  If you’re stuck on where to start with an email, recruiters and hiring managers can use the following Workable email templates to:

  • Source candidates
  • Contact applicants
  • Schedule interviews
  • Send job offers
  • Reject candidates
  • Give interview feedback

  These recruitment email templates are editable and easy to copy and paste to Workable. Save them as templates in your Workable account to make them readily available to everyone on your hiring team.

  Not using Workable yet? Request a demo to learn how you can optimize your hiring efforts with our all-in-one recruitment software.

  Related reading:

  • Recruiting email templates library
  • 12 time-saving email templates for recruiters
  • How to invite a candidate to interview via email