The Second Touch is Where the Magic Happens
Everyone’s obsessed with first impressions in recruiting. They’re wrong. The real magic happens in the second touch.
Think about your favorite restaurant. They don’t start by bringing out their fanciest dish or having the chef come to your table. They begin with a simple greeting, maybe some water, and then they build up to the experience. Recruiting should work the same way.
I’ve been watching companies wrestle with video personalization in their outreach. Most try to cram everything into that first email - the personalized video, the pitch, the kitchen sink. It’s like trying to propose marriage on a first date. Too much, too soon.
Here’s what actually works: Start simple. Your first touch should be a plain text email. Nothing fancy. No HTML. No video. Just words. This keeps your deliverability high and sets the stage for what comes next.
The second touch is where you bring in your personalized video. But here’s the key - it’s not about recording hundreds of individual videos. Record one great video using placeholder terms (I like using “watermelon” for names - it makes me smile every time). Then let AI handle the personalization.
This isn’t about trying to fool anyone. It’s about scaling genuine human connection. The best automation feels less like a robot and more like a really efficient human assistant.
The implementation is straightforward:
- Perfect your message with manual outreach first
- Test with friendly contacts
- Scale gradually with automation
- Always prioritize paying customers or serious candidates
But here’s what nobody talks about: timing and relevance matter more than personalization. When someone visits your job posting or engages with your content, that’s your cue. That’s when your video will resonate most.
The future of recruiting isn’t about more automation - it’s about smarter automation. It’s about systems that know when to reach out, what to say, and most importantly, when to get out of the way and let humans be humans.
Start simple. Scale slowly. Stay human. That’s how you build a recruiting process that actually works.