Writing your First Message to a Candidate

The rules and tips listed here are not just our whim. In order to attract the best job seekers to Djinni, we should make sure that candidates will receive a positive experience. And it significantly depends mainly on the first messages they receive. We do hope these recommendations will be helpful. Good luck in your search!

How to write a great first message to a candidate?

1. First of all, write a detailed job description:
   about the project, technologies involved, team. This can be partially done in your employer's profile, and we will add the filled information to the message body.
2. Indicate the company's name. As the search is anonymous for the candidate, he/she will not reply to your message unless it is clear which company offers him/her a vacancy. It is a fundamental rule to be followed, especially for freelancers and recruiting agencies. For the rest: indicating the name of the company in the profile information is enough.
3. Add the link to the vacancy; it should be published previously at Djinni. The candidate will be able to have a closer look, get acquainted with it, and decide whether he/she is interested.
4. Include unscripted text.
   Write several original sentences demonstrating that the candidate wasn't picked out by chance. For instance, it can be based on the candidate's profile info "I see you have experience with TestNG; we are using it in our project."

Typical mistakes

1. "We have a Java vacancy, will you be interested?" - in case you have contacted candidate, at Djinni with the "Java Developer" specialty indicated in the profile - then he/she is undoubtedly is looking for a job and is interested in Java vacancy, but or sure not in each and every :)
2. "I have numerous different vacancies." - tons of such spam one can find on LinkedIn. Keep in mind that qualified specialists come to the Djinni to receive targeted offers, not spam.
3. "Are you still looking for a job?" - the answer is yes if you found the candidate here. We monitor it and deactivate profiles of candidates who are not serious about the job search.
4. "Give me your email (skype), and I will tell you the details." Djinni will reveal all your contact information as soon as the developer confirms that he/she is interested in the vacancy. Use the message text to discuss the job.
5. Irrelevant offers. For example:
   - a front-end vacancy offered to a candidate who indicated in his/her profile that he/she is interested in Node.JS only.
   - Don’t offer a vacancy in Zaporizhia to a candidate whose profile says "Kyiv Only."
   We ask candidates to describe their job expectations clearly. Sending obviously inappropriate offers is a way to enter Djinni's spam list.

Examples for inspiration

1. I am looking for a Senior JavaScript Developer. Company AbcWidgets. (not WEB), product company, not outsourcing, long-term cooperation. Ideal - in-depth knowledge of JS. Knowledge of .NET would be an advantage. We need good analytics, with the ability to write algorithms, reliable code, and tests. The tasks are complex. English level required- fluent. Having a US visa is an advantage. The work schedule is flexible. In addition to vacation, 20 days per year, you can work remotely.
2. Hello, We need a .NET team/tech lead to put together the backbone of a team in our new office in Odesa. Regarding the salary, I think we will discuss the amount close to $X000 per month. The only thing is that all of our projects are web-oriented, and you will need to work a lot with HTML/JS/CSS at the backend developer level. If you are interested, let's discuss it in detail.
3. I want to offer you the vacancy of Senior .NET/C# Developer from the company Xyz, known for its product Abc Designer and which is currently moving by leaps and bounds to the inevitable dominance of all possible CAD systems for designers and engineers :). The open vacancy is in the Kyiv office. The company is famous for its strong technical team of experts and great opportunities for professional and career growth. Details on job requirements are here: XXX. I am looking forward to answering your questions, and I will be very grateful for the feedback. Regards, Anastasia.
4. We are looking for a candidate good at front-end, to work on a product in the field of data science. A lot of tasks are related to data visualization and generally with interfaces for working with large amounts of data. A XXX company, now we are creating a development team in Kyiv. We are looking for a candidate with excellent English (most of the communication will be in English) and a desire to learn new things. Technology: Python, Javascript (+ Angular, D3.js), C, C ++, R, MongoDB, Redis, ØMQ, Distributed Storage, and Computing.
5. Hi, I represent an American outsourcing company Xyz. Currently, we are launching a new development department in Kyiv. We have a cool new office, located close to Lev Tolstyi metro station and are looking for people for different projects. We guarantee professional growth and an informal atmosphere :) For one of the projects related to genetic research, we need a specialist with your work experience. Let me know if you are interested. Thanks.