To reach out to a candidate, you need to specify a salary amount and write a message. To make your initial message stand out, we also recommend you select one of your positions to let the candidate know which role you’re reaching out for, as well as specify the remote policy and location you’re offering.
Preferred salary
You’ll see that each candidate has a preferred salary on their profile. We help them choose this number, and base our advice on what they are currently earning as well as what is typical in the market for their experience.
When reaching out, the form will pre-populate the salary field with the candidate’s preferred salary. However, please remember that the salary included in your initial message is a non-binding amount designed to ensure that you and the candidate are considering a salary roughly in the same ballpark. The final offer amount is still negotiable between you and the candidate, but you want to manage expectations upfront.
Don’t hesitate to reach out to a candidate if their specified salary is slightly out of your budget: Candidates may adjust their salary expectations based on their interest in your company and other benefits or perks you might offer.
Selecting a position
Positions represent the roles you're looking to fill. They allow you to specify a job title, description, and message template that you can reuse each time you reach out to a new candidate for the same position.
To reach out to a candidate for a specific position, simply select the position from the drop-down menu. Selecting a position will automatically populate the message field with your saved message template and share your job spec/description with the candidate.
When you reach out to a candidate with a specific position selected, they will be added to your open positions dashboard which gives you an overview of the hiring pipeline for each of your positions.
Find out more about how to set up a position here.
If you have integrated your ATS with OfferZen, attaching a position to your Interview Request will ensure that candidates are sent to your ATS successfully. The selected position must be linked with the corresponding ATS job in order for candidates to be sent to your ATS. Follow these steps to link your open positions with ATS jobs.
If you haven’t already, connect your ATS with OfferZen by following these easy steps.
Specifying remote policy and location
Candidates can receive messages from companies all over Europe and Africa, so it’s important that you provide as much information to the candidate upfront to help you stand out above the rest. One way to do this is to include the remote policy and location you’re reaching out for.
You can specify whether the role you’re reaching out for is 100% remote, hybrid or office-based, and include the location attached to it:
When 100% remote, you must indicate if the candidate can be remote anywhere or based in a specific location
When hybrid or office-based, you are expected to provide the location where the candidate is expected to work from
Crafting your message
A good message will get candidates excited about the opportunity and is more likely to get a positive response.
Describe what your company does and what makes it unique
Introduce your company culture and values
Outline your tech stack and the role you're hiring for
Mention the first step in your hiring process – candidates find it useful to know what to expect
Ask for their availability and contact details – it helps avoid the 'back and forth
Read more tips on putting together a great first message on our developer hiring guide here.
Once you've sent the initial reach-out message, the candidate will be notified and should respond by accepting or declining the request within 48 hours.
To find out what to do once a candidate has responded to your message, check out this guide.