Candidate submittal email template for agency recruiters
A copy-ready cover email for sending one candidate to a hiring manager: subject line, three reasons tied to the brief, key facts and a decision date.
By the Recruiting ATS team (How we write)Published 5 min read
The cover email is what the hiring manager reads on their phone, between two meetings, before deciding whether the attachment deserves a click. Use this template when you send one candidate by email to a client: a subject line they can find again in three weeks, three reasons tied to the brief, the facts that decide whether an interview is even possible, and a date for an answer. The full profile and CV go attached. The email is not the profile, and the worst submittals are the ones that try to be both. If you're sending three or four candidates to compare, frame them first as a shortlist, as in how to build and present a candidate shortlist.
The template
Subject: [Candidate name] for [job title]: [one-line hook tied to the brief]
Hi [first name],
I'd like you to meet [candidate name] for the [job title] role.
My recommendation: [interview / a 20-minute call first].
Why [candidate first name], against your brief:
1. [Must-have, in the client's words]: [one fact that proves it]
2. [Must-have]: [one fact]
3. [Must-have, or what sets them apart]: [one fact]
Worth asking about: [the one real gap, in one line]
Key facts
- Notice period: [weeks]
- Location: [city; on-site / hybrid / remote preference]
- Expectations: [within / at the top of / above] the range we agreed
- Other processes: [none / early stage / final round on (date)]
The full profile and CV are attached.
Could you let me know interview or pass by [day and date]?
If it's interview, [candidate first name] is free [two or three slots].
[Your name]
[Phone]
Filled-in example
A sample with invented names. Rosa Delgado at Harbor Lane Search is sending a candidate for a senior accountant search at Calloway Builders, a construction company. At intake, the finance director gave three must-haves: owns the month-end close, has worked with job costing, and can be the auditors' day-to-day contact.
Subject: Ana Brooks for Senior Accountant: runs job costing at a general contractor
Hi Mark,
I'd like you to meet Ana Brooks for the Senior Accountant role.
My recommendation: interview.
Why Ana, against your brief:
1. Owns the close: she closes the books for two entities at a regional
general contractor, and has for three years.
2. Job costing: she set up the cost codes the project managers use today
and reconciles them against the ledger every month.
3. Audit contact: she was the auditors' main contact for the last two
year-end audits.
Worth asking about: she hasn't used your ERP. She learned her current
one within her first quarter there.
Key facts
- Notice period: 2 weeks
- Location: 20 minutes from your office, happy with 3 days on site
- Expectations: within the range we agreed
- Other processes: one, at first interview
The full profile and CV are attached.
Could you let me know interview or pass by Thursday the 14th?
If it's interview, Ana is free Monday or Tuesday after 4 pm.
Rosa
Mark can decide from the preview pane: who and why in the subject, his own must-haves with a fact behind each, and the gap on the table before he finds it in the CV.
How to adapt it
- Keep the candidate's name and the job title in the subject. The hook is optional. The name and title are what the hiring manager types into the search bar when the CFO asks "who was that accountant?".
- Three reasons, not five. If you can only back two with facts, send two. A third reason made of adjectives weakens the first two.
- Key facts are the ones that sink a process after the interview. Notice, location, pay and other offers: if one of them is a deal-breaker, the client should know before spending an hour on the candidate. Say whether expectations fit the agreed range, not the number. When and how to share the figure is a separate decision, and a forwarded email is the wrong place to make it by accident.
- Name a day, not "soon". "By Thursday the 14th" gets answered. "Let me know your thoughts" gets read.
Variant: first candidate on a new search
The first submittal is partly a calibration exercise. Add one line before the reasons:
[Candidate first name] is the first profile on this search. Even if it's
a pass, one line on why will tell me more about the next [two / three]
than anything in the brief.
It's easier for a hiring manager to say what's wrong with a real person than to describe the ideal one, so the reason behind a first pass can sharpen the search more than the intake did. Ask for it in writing, or it gets lost in a call.
Variant: a stretch candidate
The candidate misses one must-have, but you'd still put them in front of the client. Put the gap in the subject and the first paragraph, not at the bottom. Hiding it until "worth asking about" feels like a trick when the hiring manager spots it on page one of the CV.
Subject: [Candidate name] for [job title]: a stretch on [missing must-have], strong on [strength]
[Candidate first name] doesn't meet [must-have] as written: [what they have
instead]. I'm sending [them] anyway because [specific reason tied to what
the role needs in its first year]. My suggestion is a 20-minute call
before you decide.
Send no more than one stretch candidate per search unless the client asks. Two in a row and the client starts wondering whether you understood the brief.
When not to use it
- The client already reviews candidates in a portal. A long email then duplicates what they'll see anyway, and feedback ends up split between the inbox and the portal (more on that in sharing candidate progress with clients). A two-line share note does the job: "Ana covers all three must-haves; the one gap is your ERP. Interview or pass by Thursday?"
- You're sending several candidates to compare. Write the shortlist framing first and attach each profile. Three separate emails invite three separate, slow decisions.
- The hiring manager prefers a call. Some do. Call, then send a shorter version as the written record.
- The candidate hasn't agreed to be put forward for this specific role. That conversation comes first. No cover email repairs the trust you lose when a candidate hears about the submittal from the client.
In the Recruiting ATS client portal, that two-line note is what you type when you share the candidate, along with the documents you pick. It goes out in the email the client gets about the new candidate and stays as a message in the thread on that candidate, next to the current stage, so the client's answer lands under it instead of in a separate reply chain.