A recruiter might feel inclined to channel stack their outreach with candidates over the holidays. Send that email, find them on LinkedIn, text, call back to back, find out where their spouse works…it’s too much. Lots is happening over the holidays and instead of spamming candidates, you’re better off cutting through the noise by better targeting your outreach to get more responses.
Candidates usually experience “spam” as messages that are:
- Untargeted (role doesn’t match their background/location/clearance)
- Vague (“great opportunity!” with no details)
- Too frequent (multiple follow-ups in a short window) – THIS IS A BIG ONE!
- Copy-paste with no evidence you read their profile
- Channel-stacking (email + LinkedIn + text + call back-to-back)
- Hard to opt out (no preference/stop option)
On ClearanceJobs.com, recruiters have the ability to send Broadcast Messages (BCM) to their network, but should exercise caution when it comes to targeting. BCMs are a short message sent to a specific set of targeted candidates. You can promote open job requirements, company news, hiring events, career fairs, open houses, new contract wins, or any information you want your network to know.
One candidate expressed their dismay:
AVOID SPAMMING WITH THESE TRICKS
Target better so you message fewer people, more effectively through messaging as you’re recruiting through the holidays.
- Tighten your must-haves: title/function, location/remote, seniority, security clearance, network (connections vs. followers), groups, job categories, etc. Try out some targeting – write it down so you remember – and see how many candidates it comes up with. If it’s something like 2,000, tighten up. When you get closer to 50… now you’re cookin.
- Avoid “keyword hallucinations”: if you’re not sure they did the thing, don’t imply they did and use it in your targeting.
- Pay attention: before you reach out, actually look at the resume or profile of a candidate
Here are some templates to help get you started:
- “Hi [Name] — I’m recruiting for a [Title] at [Company]. I reached out because [1 specific item]. Key details: [location/remote], [$ range], top 2–3 requirements]. Open to a quick 10–15 min chat this week? If not, I can close the loop.”
- If no response… “Quick check, [Name] — should I stop here, or would you prefer I reach out when I have roles closer to [X]? Totally fine either way.”
Even roughly tracking metrics like positive reply rates, not interested rates, or if candidates remove you as a connection in response to your message, can give insights on if you’re being a spammer, which can hurt your recruiting successes over the holiday season and beyond.
