Welcome to The Hero 🗞️. This is approximately a 3-minute read.
💵 The math behind why InMail costs $27 per conversation
🤑 The free LinkedIn channel with 3x the response rate that almost no one knows exists
💡 A step-by-step playbook for getting candidates to respond before you ever write a single word
TL;DR
InMail costs ~ $27 per conversion. Not per hire. Per reply.
Voice messages cost nothing, take 20 seconds, and convert at 3x the rate - yet, almost nobody uses them…
💵 The $27 Conversation
Recruiter Lite costs $170/month. That's 30 credits - $5.67 per InMail.
At a 20% response rate…
You're paying $27 for every conversation.
Not quality candidate, just a conversion to keep the conversation going.
Blow through your credits in one campaign, and then you wait.
Meanwhile, the recruiter down the hall is getting 3x the responses for 1/10th the cost.
Not because they're smarter…
But because they stopped treating InMail as their primary channel.
The full breakdown is just below - don’t miss it! 😉
Links of the Day:
🔗 Best Links
Here are some of the best links I’ve found since last time I emailed you:
🎯 Candidate Experience
11 Candidate Experience Best Practices To Elevate Your Recruitment in 2026 (link)
12 Key Elements for a Positive Candidate Experience in 2025 (link)
🔒 Employee Retention
Your Guide to Retaining Employees and Reducing Turnover in 2026 (link)
25 Employee Retention Strategies to Reduce Turnover & Keep Top Talent (link)
🧩 Skills-Based Hiring
The State of Skills-Based Hiring 2025 Report (link)
The Strategic Guide to Skills-Based Hiring for a Competitive Edge (link)
📰 News
How Fake Resumes and Interview Impostors Are Changing Hiring in 2026 (link)
👻 The Channel Nobody Uses
Skip the InMail.
Send a regular LinkedIn connection request - no message needed.
Once you're connected, send a voice note instead of text.
Very few actually do this, which is exactly the point.
Response rates run up to 3x higher than text because a human voice is a pattern disruptor.
In a sea of copy-paste templates, it proves you're real and that you spent 20 seconds specifically on them.
And response rates…
Well, they typically run up to 3x higher than text - because in a sea of copy-paste templates, a human voice stands out.
It’s what you call a pattern disruptor.
It also proves you're human + you’re worth their time - it proves you them 20 seconds specifically for them.
Keep it tight:
Keep under 20 seconds
Use their name
Reference something specific
Know your CTA
20 seconds.
Free.
3x the response rate of a perfectly crafted InMail.
📖 The Playbook
Voice messages are a differentiator - but you need to get connected first.
1. Warm up before you reach out.
Follow them. Like a post. Leave a real comment.
By the time your connection request lands, they've seen your name 2-4 times.
The cold invite doesn't feel so cold anymore.
It feels familiar.
2. Connect without a pitch.
Counterintuitive: blank requests often outperform generic notes.
"I'd love to add you to my network," screams mass outreach - and gets ignored.
Only add a note when you have real context:
A post they wrote.
A mutual connection.
Something specific.
If you don't have that, leave it blank.
You'll get more connections - and more chances to send that voice note - than if you lead with an awkward pitch.
LinkedIn Groups, Events, and Open Profiles all let you message candidates for free - no connections needed.
Most recruiters don't even know these exist…
4. Then send the voice message.
Once you're connected, send the voice note.
Warm up → connect → voice message.
To Sum It Up…
InMail is one channel.
The most expensive one.
Stop treating it like your only option.
And To Wrap It Up…
The people winning on LinkedIn aren't writing better messages.
They're showing up in notifications before they ever hit send - and disrupting the patterns everyone else is stuck in.
HOW WE CAN HELP?
There are a few ways:
Or you can just reply to this email.
I reply to absolutely everyone who writes me back 🙂
