Cold outreach to Recruiting companies
The buyer is a recruiting manager focused on reducing time-to-fill for open positions. They respond to outreach that clearly demonstrates an understanding of their current hiring challenges and offers solutions that can directly streamline their recruitment process. Highlighting specific tools or methods that can enhance candidate sourcing will capture their attention.
Written and maintained by the SoloRiff team, who build outbound software and run outbound with it. The figures below are our own: we measured 562 recruiting company domains over public DNS on 2026-09-03. Last updated 2026-09-03.
What actually hurts
- long time-to-fill
- candidate ghosting
- high turnover rates
- inefficient sourcing methods
The playbook
- 01
Identify recent job openings
Use job boards like Indeed or LinkedIn to find companies that have recently posted multiple job openings. Filter for companies with at least five open positions in the last month to ensure they are actively hiring and may need assistance in filling those roles.
- 02
Research recruitment challenges
Look for articles, blog posts, or social media discussions where recruiting managers discuss their struggles with candidate shortages or high turnover rates. This insight will help you craft messaging that speaks directly to their pain points, making your outreach more relevant.
- 03
Segment based on company size
Create lists of recruiting companies segmented by size—small, medium, and large. Focus your outreach on medium-sized companies, as they often have the most pressing need for efficient recruitment processes and may lack the resources of larger firms.
- 04
Address common objections
Prepare to counter the objection that they already have a preferred vendor. Highlight how your unique approach or technology can complement their existing processes, and provide a compelling reason for them to consider a new partnership.
- 05
Set a specific follow-up timeline
After your initial outreach, schedule a follow-up for one week later if you haven't received a reply. This timing keeps your offer fresh in their mind and shows your persistence, which is often appreciated in the fast-paced recruiting industry.
Can recruiting companies even receive your mail?
We measured the DNS of 562 recruiting companies, sampled evenly across company sizes, to see how many authenticate their own email. It matters in both directions: a domain that does not authenticate is a domain whose team is used to mail going missing — and if your own domain is in the gap, yours is the mail going missing.
Publishes a DMARC policy of quarantine or reject — the domain actually asks receivers to act on failures.
The gap is the finding: 20.2% of 1–10-person companies against 75% of the largest — 55 points apart. Small companies are where the unauthenticated domains are, and small companies are who most cold outreach is aimed at.
Where does your domain sit?
Same three lookups, run live against your domain. Nothing is stored and nothing is emailed to you.
How this was measured
Company domains were sampled within employee-count bands, then queried over public DNS for SPF (TXT at the apex), DMARC (TXT at _dmarc.) and MX. One domain per company, deduplicated. Anyone can reproduce any single row of this with dig.
DKIM is deliberately absent. A DKIM key lives under a selector that cannot be enumerated from outside the domain, so a company with flawless DKIM under a name we did not guess would be counted as having none. That would measure our guess list, not the industry.
Domains with no MX record are excluded rather than counted as failures — parked and redirect-only domains would otherwise drag every figure down and make the result an artefact of the sample.
Sampled within bands, so this describes the population of companies, not of employees: a 10-person company counts once, as does a 10,000-person one. Each band is at least 60 domains; bands below that are not published. Figures are percentages of the sample, not of the whole industry, and we publish no company names — only counts.
Measured 2026-09-03. Re-measured monthly.
The full census across every industry — sortable, with sample sizes, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0.
Subject lines that fit
- Streamline your hiring process
- Reduce candidate ghosting
- Improve your time-to-fill
Questions
- Why do recruiting managers ignore outreach about new tools?
- Recruiting managers often receive numerous outreach messages and may overlook those that don't immediately address their specific hiring challenges. If the message doesn't clearly demonstrate a solution to their pressing issues, such as reducing time-to-fill or improving candidate quality, it risks being ignored.
- What factors influence a recruiting manager's decision to partner with a new vendor?
- Recruiting managers typically consider factors like the vendor's reputation, the specific solutions offered, and how well those solutions align with their current needs. Cost-effectiveness and the ability to integrate with existing systems are also crucial in their decision-making process.
- How can I make my outreach stand out to a recruiting manager?
- To stand out, tailor your message to their specific challenges, such as high turnover or slow hiring processes. Use data or case studies relevant to their industry and emphasize how your solution can directly alleviate their pain points, making it easier for them to see the value.
- What timing is best for reaching out to recruiting managers?
- The best time to reach out is typically early in the week, particularly on Tuesdays or Wednesdays. This is when recruiting managers are often planning their week and are more receptive to new ideas that could improve their current processes.
Or have it run itself
SoloRiff does every step above on its own — finds the companies, finds the people, writes each of them individually, and handles the replies. Drop your URL and watch it work before you sign up for anything.
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