How can I respond to Recruiter InMail Messages?

There are so many components that go into a message, and sometimes it is easy to overthink the tone and intention of a message especially if the context is professional. What’s worse is when a recruiter sends an InMail message to you on LinkedIn and you’re not sure how to respond. It’s not only difficult to know what to write but if you’re not a LinkedIn wizard, you may struggle to know what your options are technical. So knowing how you can and should respond to a recruiter InMail message is important. You could be missing out on opportunities otherwise. 

If one ends up in your inbox you can easily respond to a LinkedIn Recruiter InMail message to express your interest in a role.

There are two primary options for response:

Yes, interested… and No thanks…

After choosing one of these options you can then edit the templates that pop up at the bottom of your screen. Or you can keep them as is-  if you’re happy with a generic response. 

Ultimately you can ignore both of these options and just go on to write your own message without the commitment to either being interested or not. Sometimes you just need to find out more, without any kind of pressure or expectations looming over you. 

So to recap, to respond to Recruiter InMail Messages you should:

• Read and consider the message from the Recruiter
• Make a decision 
• Click Yes interested… or No thanks… (or neither)
• Type to edit the box template if you need to.
• Click Send

It really is that simple. 

There are a few additional things that you should know about responding to recruiter InMail messages though. For instance, if your reply is a declination- you can choose to not include a message at all.

If you decide to click Decline without a message or use the templated response then the message thread will be closed. The sender will not be able to continue the conversation. This avoids any further communications that could be an annoyance. 

However, if you choose to type your own message in the box that appears, the recruiter will be able to continue the conversation despite you declining their initial message. This does leave an opportunity for further discussion if for whatever reason you still want to know more about the position. 

Similarly to this if you select a reply and then change your mind you can go back to select the other option. Just click the X to return to the previous options. 

Nothing wrong with keeping your options open after all. You could always turn on your job alerts as well!