The essentials in 30 seconds
- 01Subject line with role, reference and your name.
- 02Five lines in the body, professionally named PDFs.
- 03A single follow-up after five days, in the same thread.
01
The subject line decides whether it's opened
Role, reference if there is one, and your name: “Front of house waiter - Ref 4821 - Lucy Ferrer”. Never “CV” or “Job application” — those are the subjects that pile up unopened in any recruitment inbox.
02
Five lines in the body, not a letter
A named greeting if you have one, the role and where you saw it, two achievements with figures, one line on availability, and a sign-off with your phone number. If a cover letter is requested it goes as a separate PDF and the body stays short.
03
Name the files properly
first-last-role.pdf and first-last-cover-letter.pdf. The filename is visible to whoever saves it, and “cv-final-2.pdf” competes badly with the rest of the pile. Always real-text PDF, never Word or a scan.
04
Send from a credible address
first.last@domain, a two-line signature, no nicknames. And check the recipient: a misdirected email, or another company's name left in the body, ends the process before it starts.
05
When to send
Tuesday to Thursday, between 8am and 10am local time, is when inboxes get reviewed. If the advert has just gone live, send the same day: in high-volume hiring many vacancies close on the first thirty applicants.
06
One follow-up, after five days
Reply to your own email so the thread stays complete, in three lines: reference the application, add one new fact, ask about the stage. One follow-up is welcome; three in a row get you blocked.
07
Anatomy of an email that gets opened and answered
The subject line is the only real filter in a recruitment inbox, and it works with three elements: role, reference if there is one, and your name. “Front of house waiter - Ref 4821 - Lucy Ferrer” can be found and retrieved weeks later; “CV” piles up unopened alongside fifty identical ones.
The body is five lines, not a letter: a named greeting if you have one, the role and where you saw it, two achievements with figures, one line on availability, and a sign-off with your phone number. If a cover letter is requested it goes as a separate PDF; duplicating it in the body means neither gets read.
- Subject: role + reference + your name.
- A named greeting whenever you have the name.
- Two achievements with figures, not a career summary.
- Concrete availability and your phone in the sign-off.
- A two-line signature: name, role, phone.
08
Files, sender and pre-send checks
Attachments go as real-text PDF — never Word, never a scan — with professional names: first-last-role.pdf and first-last-cover-letter.pdf. Your interviewer sees and saves that name, and “cv-final-2.pdf” competes badly with the rest of the folder. Two files maximum, each under 2 MB.
Before you hit send, three checks worth thirty seconds: the recipient is right, no other company's name survives in the body from a previous email, and the attachment is the version tailored to this advert rather than the generic CV. Those three mistakes end processes before they start.
- Real-text PDF, never Word or a scanned image.
- first-last-role.pdf and first-last-cover-letter.pdf.
- Sender first.last@domain, no nicknames.
- Verified: recipient, company name, attached version.
09
Timing and the single follow-up
Recruitment inboxes get reviewed Tuesday to Thursday between 8am and 10am local time, so that's where you want to land. If the advert has just gone live, send the same day: in high-volume hiring many vacancies close on the first thirty applicants, and arriving a week late is the same as not applying.
The follow-up is one, after five working days, replying to your own email so the thread arrives complete. Three lines: reference the application, add one new fact — a certification, a change in availability — and ask about the stage. One follow-up is welcome; three in a row land you in the blocked folder.
- Tuesday to Thursday, 8am to 10am local time.
- Same day if the advert has just gone live.
- A single follow-up after five working days.
- In the same thread, with one new fact to add.
Check this before you send it
- The subject carries role, reference and my name.
- The body fits in five lines with two figures.
- Attachments are PDFs with professional filenames.
- The sender address uses my first and last name.
- I've verified recipient, company and CV version.
- The five-day follow-up date is logged.
Mistakes that cost you the interview
A subject line reading “CV” or “Job application”
Indistinguishable from fifty other emails, so it stays unopened in the inbox.
Pasting the whole cover letter into the body
A wall of text means neither the message nor the attachment gets read.
Attaching Word or a scan
Layout breaks, and a scan carries no text the filter can read.
Leaving another company's name in the body
It proves bulk sending and closes the process on the first line.
Frequently asked
Questions we get asked most
- What should the email subject line say?
- Role, reference if there is one, and your name: “Front of house waiter - Ref 4821 - Lucy Ferrer”. Subjects like “CV” or “Job application” pile up unopened in any recruitment inbox.
- What goes in the body of the email?
- Five lines: a named greeting if you have one, the role and where you saw it, two achievements with figures, availability, and a sign-off with your phone number. A cover letter, if requested, goes as a separate PDF.
- When should I follow up?
- Once, after five days, replying to your own email so the thread stays complete. Three follow-ups in a row achieve the opposite.