If you want to move jobs in the near future, it makes sense to start reaching out to recruiters in your field right now, even if they are not currently advertising any relevant roles. You want to be on their books already when a great vacancy does eventually crop up.
While it’s tempting to just bang out a few emails and rely on your attached CV to prove how great a candidate you are, be warned: most recruiters will read your email first and won’t then bother opening your resume if what you’ve written isn’t appealing.
Want to make sure recruiters take you seriously? Here’s how to write a so-called “speculative” email that could ultimately clinch you a new banking job.
1. Get serious about your subject line
The subject line of your email is “critical” and needs to “jump out” at the recruiter, says Ben Batten, country general manager of recruitment firm Volt in Singapore. Avoid generic text such as “resume for a job”, or “exploring opportunities”. Instead summarise your experience – for example: “8 years’ risk experience, currently with UBS.”
2. Don’t attach a cover letter
You are not writing a formal job application, so most recruiters don’t want to open a cover letter as an attached Word doc or PDF. “I seldom read cover letters – when speed is often everything, your unique selling points really need to stand out without the need to read multiple documents,” says Batten.
3. Send separate emails
“The biggest turn-off is when people send their CVs to a million different recruitment agencies in the same email, with the other addresses clear to see – this happens quite a lot,” bemoans Vince Natteri, director of recruitment at search firm Pinpoint Asia in Hong Kong.
4. Know their name
Recruiters receive many, many introductory emails which start with “Dear Sir/Madam” or similar. Doing this also suggests you’ve been mass-emailing on the sly (using the BCC function) and is a sure way to make recruiters ignore you.
5. Be brief
We recommend that you divide your email into three paragraphs (see below) – but keep each one of them short. “Although you’re not applying for a specific vacancy, try to be succinct and get to the point of the message you’re trying to deliver. This will help the recruiter make a quick judgement about whether they can help you or not,” says James Carss, Hong Kong director of recruiters HFG.
6. First explain how you found them
The first paragraph of your email should explain how you came across the recruiter – whether that was via previous job postings or a referral (if the latter, mention the person’s name). “If you’ve invested time making sure that I’m the right person to speak to in your job field, then I’m far more likely to go out of my way to represent you for a role,” says Craig Brewer, director at recruitment company FiveTen Group in Singapore.
7. Then be specific about the job you want
Finance recruiters are increasingly working in functional niches and representing a narrow range of employers, so in the first paragraph you also need to be specific about the role you want and the type of firm you want to join, says Carss. This is particular important if you’ve performed several jobs in the recent past. “We can seldom help candidates with vague or wide ideas about the roles they’re seeking.”
8. You second paragraph should be about skills
Highlight one or two specific skills that you think are key selling points to a prospective financial institution, says Brewer. Don’t give a full synopsis of your career as that will distract recruiters from your areas of strength.
9. State your moving motivations in para three
In the third paragraph explain why you want a new banking job. Stay away from general statements like “I am seeking a new opportunity” and be much more specific. Brewer provides this example: “I have been mentoring and supervising junior members of my team for more than two years and I am looking to move into a manager/AVP role within a KYC or internal-controls team.”
10. Break into bullet points if need be
If your paragraphs are getting unwieldy, try formatting them in bullet points. “This is often very helpful when highlighting technical skills,” says Carss from HFG.
11. Avoid cheesy personality traits
Throughout all three paragraphs avoid making generalisations about your personality traits, says Carss. Among the worst offenders are “outstanding communicator”, “inspirational leader”, and “well presented”. “These phrases are often replicated by many candidates, and they’re intangible and subjective,” adds Carss.