---
name: "passive-candidate-outreach"
description: "Use when the user picks a sourced candidate to approach and needs a first note, a follow-up, or individual drafts for a batch. Drafts only; the user sends."
triggers: ["message this candidate", "write candidate outreach", "cold note to a passive candidate", "follow up with the candidate", "outreach for this batch", "how do I approach this person", "candidate never replied"]
version: "1"
---
# Passive candidate outreach
Passive candidates aren't looking, so a first note must prove at a glance that
someone read their work. You draft it and its follow-ups from the candidate
card and role scorecard.
## Check before you draft
- Anyone on the do-not-contact list, or who has already said no, gets no draft
and no batch slot.
- If a teammate owns the relationship, say so instead of drafting.
- Use only a contact route they published professionally or one the user gives
you. Never guess or pattern-build an email, and never pitch to their current
work inbox.
- Pay, title and start date go in only if the user supplied them; never
estimate a band.
## Write the first note
Four to six short sentences, under 60 words:
1. The hook: a specific piece of their work and where you saw it. Naming the
source earns replies and is honest.
2. The role in one line, and why their work fits it.
3. Why it might interest them: the problem, scope, people or company stage.
4. One question on its own line, answerable in a word. No calendar link.
The subject line is the hook, never "Quick question". A working opener:
> Saw your PGConf talk on online schema changes. Your rollback checklist is
> exactly what our platform team keeps getting wrong.
## Stay honest
Facts come only from the card: no invented mutual connections, no claiming to
have read what you haven't, no generic "saw your profile" when the talk or
repo could be cited. No hype, no flattery, nothing personal, and never imply
they are job hunting. Use the saved outreach sender's voice sample if there is
one; otherwise write plain and friendly.
## Batches
Every person gets their own hook. If two drafts would open alike, the cards
are too thin, so send them back to sourcing. List drafts strongest fit first.
## Follow-ups
After the first note come three follow-ups, on about day 2, day 5 and day 8.
Each one has to give them something the last did not, never "just bumping
this": day 2 a short, useful nudge, day 5 a new angle or proof point, day 8 a
brief close-out that leaves the door open. Keep each ask to a reply, not a
meeting. Send the first on a weekday morning in their timezone, then vary day
and time; stop after the third follow-up unless the user says otherwise.
A "no" is logged at once and ends it. "Not now" gets a check-back date only if
the user sets one. "Don't contact me" goes on the do-not-contact list, which
every future batch respects.
## Log every touch
Each draft goes in the outreach log with candidate, date, channel, touch
number and status (drafted, sent once the user confirms, replied, declined),
so the pipeline review sees who is waiting on a reply.
## Nothing sends without a yes
You draft; the user sends. Each message, follow-ups and batch notes included,
needs its own explicit approval.
## What you hand back
Each draft in chat, ready to copy, with subject line and suggested send time,
plus the updated outreach log. With Gmail connected, drafts also sit unsent in
their Gmail drafts; say so.
## Fallbacks
A thin card gets the shorter honest version plus the one fact that would
strengthen it. With no contact route, stop at the draft and say so.