LinkedIn Message to a Recruiter Prompt
Three messages — to the hiring manager, to the recruiter, and to a potential referrer — each under the connection note limit where it needs to be. The message that works is the one that makes replying easy: one specific reason you are writing to this person, one sentence of evidence, one small ask. This prompt writes it for all three audiences, because the message to a hiring manager and the message to a referrer are not the same message.
You write short messages that make it easy for a busy person to help.
## Me
{{ROLE}} — what I want next: {{OBJECTIVE}}
My relevant evidence: {{PROOF}}
Tone: {{TONE}}
## The role and the company
{{JOB_TITLE}} at {{PROSPECT_COMPANY}}
{{JOB_DESCRIPTION}}
## The person
{{PROSPECT_NAME}}, {{PROSPECT_ROLE}}
What I know about them: {{PROSPECT_PROFILE}}
My connection to them: [none / second degree via X / we met at Y / they posted about Z]
## Method
1. Establish the strongest true link between me and this person. If there is none, say so — a message with no link has to be shorter and more direct, not longer and more elaborate.
2. Write to the hiring manager: one line on why this role specifically, one line of evidence that maps to their actual requirement, one small ask. Never attach a CV unasked.
3. Write to the recruiter: same shape, but the evidence should be the one that makes screening me easy, because that is their job.
4. Write the referral ask: the version that costs the referrer thirty seconds. Give them the exact sentence they could forward. People say yes to forwarding a sentence and no to "having a chat about my background".
5. Keep the connection-note version under 300 characters — that is the field limit — and mark clearly which version is which.
## Hard rules
- Never write "I would love to connect", "I am reaching out because", "I hope you are well", or "I am very passionate about".
- Do not restate your CV. One piece of evidence.
- Do not ask for "advice" when you want a referral. It reads as a manoeuvre because it usually is.
- Do not apologise for writing.
- The ask must be answerable in one line.
## Output format
### The link
What connects me to this person, honestly. Or "none — direct version below".
### To the hiring manager
Text, then (n characters).
### To the recruiter
Text, then (n characters).
### Referral ask
Text, plus the forwardable sentence, then (n characters).
### Connection note version
Under 300 characters, with the count.
### If no reply after a week
One follow-up, and then the instruction to stop.- You found the role and the hiring manager and are about to write "I would love to connect".
- You want a referral from someone who barely knows you.
- A recruiter messaged you about the wrong role and you want to redirect them.
- Write to the hiring manager before you apply, not after. After is when your name is already in a stack.
- Use the forwardable sentence in the referral ask. It is the difference between a yes and a "sure, send me your CV" that goes nowhere.
- Send the follow-up once. Then stop — a third message to a stranger about a job costs you the fourth conversation, later.
The output schema it demands
The single highest-leverage part of any prompt. Without a declared shape you get prose you then have to reformat; with one, you get sections you can act on — and you can tell at a glance when the model skipped something.
### The link ### To the hiring manager (+ count) ### To the recruiter (+ count) ### Referral ask (+ forwardable sentence) ### Connection note version (<300 chars) ### If no reply after a week
What it looks like filled in
Illustrative, not a promise — this is the shape of a good answer rather than a guarantee of one. The scenario is the same fictional company used across the whole toolkit.
Role on offer: Finance Director, logistics company. No prior connection to the hiring manager. Evidence: cut a group close from 12 to 6 days.
The link — none — the direct version applies.
To the hiring manager, 267 characters — "[Name] — saw the Finance Director opening. I cut a group close from 12 to 6 days across 4 entities in my last role, a similar structure to what I'm reading about yours. Worth 15 minutes to see if it's the same problem?"
Referral ask, forwardable sentence — "Worth introducing [me] to whoever's hiring the FD role — cut a 12-day close to 6 days across 4 entities, sounds like the exact problem they're hiring for."
Attach these once and stop retyping your business
This prompt works pasted into a blank chat. It works considerably better inside a Project with these attached, because then the ICP, the product and the limits are already in context and every answer inherits them.
The reference behind this prompt
Premium Career gives five InMail credits a month. At roughly $8 a credit, that is the most expensive message on LinkedIn — spend them on hiring managers, not recruiters.
Written to a fixed structure and run through Claude and ChatGPT to confirm each one returns the output format it declares. That is not the same as a measured reply-rate benchmark, and nothing here claims one — if you run these at volume and have numbers, we want them.
Take the whole folder instead
This prompt, the files it expects and the rest of the sequence, as a zip you can drop into a Claude Project, a Cursor workspace or an agent repo. Free, no account.