I’ve been coaching candidates to treat networking as part of interview prep, not a separate chore — last Tuesday we ran a 45‑minute mock where the first 10 minutes built a warm intro email and the last 5 shaped two questions from a recent alum call. It’s boosted confidence and offer rates in my last three searches, but I’m curious how you’re training newer recruiters to teach this — any frameworks or drills you’ve folded into your CE sessions?
After the alum-call questions, I have them record a 30‑second ‘value hook’ — why this team and one problem they can help solve — and include that short clip with the warm intro; it’s bumped coffee‑chat accepts about 20% for us, but it falls flat if it sounds like a mini résumé.
I train new recruiters to have candidates include a short, forwardable intro blurb in the warm email — “Feel free to forward: 1–2 lines on who I’m, why this team, and the ask” — so contacts can pass it along without rewrites. It’s lifted pass-through intros noticeably, though I tell them to use it only when there’s real context, not cold. Pairs nicely with @ryasmit’s value hook.