📧 Awesome Email Subject Lines Job Seekers Are Using For Results

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Need an email subject for sending resumes or a job inquiry? This is how job seekers should send resumes to recruiters over email.

Awesome Email Subject Lines Job Seekers Are Using For Results
Photo by Jeric Santiago

One of the most common job seeker frustrations is not getting a response when submitting a resume to recruiters or simply sending a job inquiry email of any kind.

But for recruiters to respond in a meaningful way, they first need to read your messages. With that in mind, what can you do to improve your email's chances of getting read?

I contacted recruiters following me on Twitter to ask: “Of all email you've ever had from job seekers, which had the best title?”

They came through in a big way, sharing dozens of memorable, occasionally funny, subject lines that got their attention and piqued their curiosity to the point where they had to keep reading.

Bookmark and share this list, but above all, start using it as a template for your own email messages to companies.

Which email account do you use most for job search?


Free bonus: Download a PDF version of this article to use as a handy reference.

70+ best sample subject lines for job application emails

Montreal Recruiter, @mindhr: I think the best subject title was “Demanding work!”.
andrea clarkson avatarAndrea Faye Clarkson, @AndreaFClarkson: My personal favorite is “Your Next Hire.” I've seen it a few times and I always respect the confidence that is exuded through that tagline.
gavin walford wright avatarGavin Walford-Wright, @walfordwright: The best was simply: “I've done my research
 You need me!”
melissa lynne avatarMelissa Lynne, @melissa_mlynne: “John Doe – The Best New Addition to Your Team”
ken taylor avatarKen Taylor, @citrixrecruiter: “Superstar looking for new challenges and opportunities.”
nader-mowlaee-avatarNader Mowlaee, @headhuntingclub: I had a guy who said “I'm different” in the title
david-bradford-avatarDavid Bradford, @DavidBradford: The title of an email I received one time read: “From the World's Greatest Salesperson” – That one I had to open and read.
rubicon-consulting-avatarRubicon Consulting, @Rubiconrecruit: “You need me as a candidate!” by a C# programmer
praveen it recruiter avatarpraveen IT Recruiter, @praveenendla02: “I am looking for opportunities, keep me in mind.”
francesca arcuri avatarFrancesca Arcuri, @p2pFrancesca: “Hello
 is it me you're looking for?”
malcolm louth avatarMalcolm Louth, @MalcolmLouth: “You've won the lottery: I'm available immediately.”
chris russell avatarChris Russell, @chrisrussell: It was something like “I should be your next Sales Executive”
team tcg avatarTeam TCG, @TeamTCG: “Reaching out to my network”
team tcg avatarTeam TCG, @TeamTCG: “HR exec looking for next role”
team tcg avatarTeam TCG, @TeamTCG: “Award-winning HR pro seeking opportunities”
genesis hr solutions avatarGenesis HR Solutions, @MyGenesisHR: “How can I make a contribution at Genesis HR Solutions?”
genesis hr solutions avatarGenesis HR Solutions, @MyGenesisHR: “I am highly motivated, hard working and really interested in your internship position.”
sandra jackson avatarSandra A Jackson, @SandraJTResumes: They all seem to just put, “Need help with my resume.” And I eagerly open it.
new to hr avatarNew To HR, @NewToHR: “12 Things You Didn't Know About Chris.”
new to hr avatarNew To HR, @NewToHR: “Don't Miss Out On This Opportunity To Hire Me. I Am Just A Phone Call Away”
new to hr avatarNew To HR, @NewToHR: “You were looking for that People person
 Well, Here I Am Really Human!”
new to hr avatarNew To HR, @NewToHR: “Would hiring Peter help with your team and business goals? Available now.”
new to hr avatarNew To HR, @NewToHR: “9 Reasons why you should move forward with me as your new talent Manager. 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-Lori”
andrea cornez avatarAndrĂ©a Cornez, @AndreaCornez: “you have the job I'm looking for :-)”
kathleen teixeira avatarKathleen Teixeira, @KathleenToronto: The best email subject lines are clear and concise. “Resume – Coordinator, PR”. Anything that seems like spam will get filtered there. Something that doesn't sound like a resume or application I don't read.
rory trotter jr avatarRory C. Trotter Jr., @RoryCTrotterJr: The best? “Hiring me will change your company because
” I had to click it. 🙂
heidi bannister avatarHeidi Bannister, @ArthurEdwardRec: 
 mention being “recommended by [trusted name]” 
 have a role reference number 
 or include “champagne and cupcakes”. I'll know they've researched our web site!!
lara haskins 360hr avatarLara Haskins 360HR, @LaraHaskins: Recruiting for interns, “Some people want to be rock stars, some people want to be superstars, but all I want is to work for XXX”
gail tolstoi miller avatarGail Tolstoi-Miller, @GailTolstoiMill: when they do research on my website best ones are “I am addicted to Diet Pepsi too” or “I hate self-proclaimed experts too” they took time
laura merkle avatarLaura Merkle, @LauraMerkle: The best email title always explains the skills of the candidate. In other words a good example is “John Doe Project Manager”.
patricia sinacole avatarPatricia H Sinacole, @psinacole: It is not that cool but “[firstname] [lastname] – [opportunity of interest]”. Example – “Jane Doe – CEO”
shay clinch avatarShay Clinch, @ChezShay13: Why you should employee mewhy you should employee me
jeff battinus avatarJeff Battinus, @jeffbattinus: “Interested in being a value add for [company]”.
kirk baumann avatarKirk Baumann, @kbaumann: “Make a Great Decision Before Your 2nd Cup of Coffee: Hire Me (Here's Why)” Still sticks with me!
melva avatarMelva, @thecareercoach: Two of them/: Subject Line: (1) Hey Miss Lady (2) My Mom Said To Contact You
amy mcgeachy avatarAmy McGeachy, @AMcGeachy: Goodness, I can't say there has been a ‘best' title. I can tell you the worst is ‘hire me'. I'm selfish, I want to know what's in it for me. ‘Hire me' does nothing to tell me if a candidate is a fit for the job. So, I guess the best one would tell me a bit about the person
 title, certification, etc. that would entice me to open their resume.
david oliver avatarDavid Oliver, @ldavidoliver: Probably one of the best subject titles I have received was, “Your Next Great Sales Hire – I'll Show You Why”. Really got my attention.
cody mcclelland avatarCody McClelland, @TechRecruiterIT: I'm a sucker for good subject lines. “How much does a polar bear weigh?” And then in the email they quipped “enough to break the ice”
jeffrey shapiro avatarJeffrey W Shapiro, @JeffreyWShapiro: “Confidentially: I work for your direct competitor”
jeffrey shapiro avatarJeffrey W Shapiro, @JeffreyWShapiro: “I only need 3 minutes of your time”
jeffrey shapiro avatarJeffrey W Shapiro, @JeffreyWShapiro: “What my resume doesn't tell you”
claudia lucio avatarClaudia Lucio, @RecruitingGeek: “I'm Your Next Superstar; here's why.” Subject lines like this might pique the curiosity of a recruiter.
stephan von malortie avatarStephan von Malortie, @vonmalortie: I could say what would raise my interest: “Put me in a team rather than an interview”.
hr chick avatarHR Chickℱ, @HRCultureClub: “Passionate, Leadership, Superwoman Extraordinaire”. Caught my attention 🙂
shannon pritchett avatarShannon Pritchett, @SourcingShannon: “Hi, it's me, your LinkedIn friend”
steven davis avatarSteven G. Davis, @Recruit4u: “Will do anything for my boss”
steven davis avatarSteven G. Davis, @Recruit4u: “I was valedictorian of my class” – a couple all-time bests!!
sean koppelman avatarSean Koppelman, @talentmagnet: “Rare Talent Requires Exceptional Representation”. It was eye-catching, distinguished the job seeker + played to my ego. All of which made me curious to open the attached resume.
francois guay avatarFrancois Guay, @GuayFrancois: “Results Guaranteed”, followed by a cover letter for a specific opportunity & a targeted resume with examples of success.
monica bua avatarMonica Bua, @monica_bua: I will give you my immediate no's which are: “seeking employment”, “looking for opportunities”, etc. It's best to call out a connection immediately like “Fellow Anderson Alumnus” or “Sandy Gould suggested we connect”. Finally the other strategy that works well is to have someone in common introduce and recommend a candidate. That recommendation will merit a quicker response.
erica dionn wright avatarErica Dionn Wright, @Ewright1285: “Head Sales of Poultry” “Evil Genius” “Cat Herder / Maxwell's Demon” “Professional Dreamer” “Arkitecht” “Juggler” “Escape Artist” “Heretic” “Code Janitor” “Mad Scientist” “Company Psychic”. Just to name a few.
charlie judy avatarCharlie Judy, SPHR, @HRFishbowl: “Why You'll Work for Me Someday”. For real. General Counsel role.
matt buckland avatarMatt Buckland, @ElSatanico: From a digital marketer: “See Why This Growth Hacker Could Be The One For You, In Just 30 Seconds”
chad laskey avatarChad Laskey, @ChadLaskey: A fancy title doesn't grab me – with the email a recruiter gets and has to manage, less is more – “Seeking _____ jobs in _____ ” is GREAT, and a direct letter, a decent resume, and your availability to connect is the best way to get the attention of a GOOD recruiter. If you're trying to be witty or clever, or to write something outlandish to get the email opened, it might not always translate well
ibro palic avatarIbro Palic, @ibro_palic: “For Ibro; referred by [firstname] [lastname]” It's the first one I opened that day, the guy didn't make it but I gave him a shot.
gail houston avatarGail Houston, @ghouston: This is one of my favs, tells me who they are, what they want and why open: “John Doe Product Manager from Amazon, Bay Area applying for #####”
Wesley MadzivaWesley Madziva, @WeszMadz: “Unemployed Graduate seeking Employment”
CFM RecruitmentCFM Recruitment, @CFMRecruitment: ‘I don't think outside the box, because for me there is no box' 😀 Profile of a Marketing Executive for a role we advertised.
Paul FreedPaul Freed, @paultalks: Cute doesn't work. I want to see a one-line resume: name + title + past companies. http://ow.ly/KLbxp

Free bonus: Download a PDF version of this article to use as a handy reference.

Bonus: what not to do

Martin Dangerfield avatarMartin Dangerfield, @MDangerfield: “I know where you live” 
from a recruiter person who as it turned out did know where I lived along with a bunch of other information.
marysimmonshr-avatarmary simmons, @marysimmonshr: “I need a job please hire me!” I try to caution job seekers not to act desperate but this one missed the memo

Bonus 2: when recruiters email you

Daniela BorquezDaniela Borquez, @Dani_Borquez: I recruit a lot on LinkedIn and what I've found out is that not mentioning the company in the title has a high response [from candidates] for executive level positions. Titles such us “Executive Director, Digital” or “Media Sales Manager” make people curious. For younger crowds, I've experimented with something like “It's time to boost your career!” without much success as simply “sales account executive”

Bonus 3: what if you don't have the recruiter's email address?

Timur Daudpota wrote The Most Complete Guide to Finding Anyone’s Email, and it includes some tricks that I use and others I'll definitely try. Very handy.

Question of the article

Which email subject line has worked best for you? Share it with us here in the comments for the benefit of other job seekers.

READ NEXT: 📧 How To: The Job Seeker’s Attention-Getting Email Signature

Bonus watch: How To Get Attention With Your Email Job Application

Subscribe to JobMob via email and follow me on Twitter for the best compilations from recruiting experts worldwide.

Jacob Share

Job Search Expert, Professional Blogger, Creative Thinker, Community Builder with a sense of humor. I like to help people.

This Post Has 18 Comments

  1. Dorlee 27 Feb 2015 Reply

    Jacob,

    Thank you for sharing this great list of best subject lines that recruiters have received from jobseekers.

    In today’s times, we are all inundated with far too many emails. Therefore, jobseekers seeking to be noticed by recruiters or trying to network with others would benefit from taking the time to be creative with their choice of email subject lines.

  2. Jacob Share 1 Mar 2015 Reply

    Dorlee- that’s a great point. Getting your email read is harder than ever, so you really need to step up to make it happen.

  3. Todd Porter 1 Apr 2015 Reply

    This is some of the worst advice. Not really.

    The last comment by Paul Freed is probably the closest to the best answer.

    People don’t want cute. The subject line should be a quick pointer to the e-mail, which should be a hook to what the reader needs.

    You have 5 seconds, 10 tops, to gain the readers interest.

  4. Jacob Share 2 Apr 2015 Reply

    Todd- Judging by the responses, quite a few recruiters do want cute! Perhaps to break the monotony if nothing more.

    Paul’s tip works if a) you have experience and b) from companies that will impress the recruiter. I don’t think candidates should be damned by working for the other %99 of companies, but if you do your homework and meet those two conditions, I bet the targeted recruiter will notice. Same goes for knowing which recruiters want cute.

  5. Andy Burke 15 Jun 2015 Reply

    Hi Recruiters / Hiring Managers:
    I have liked enoyed some subject lines thus far. Would this one work on you? (because it is true and I can back it up with my experience):
    “I never miss work (my wife is a nag) and other relevant facts which make me your next great Proposal Writer.”

  7. suraj revalkar 1 Sep 2016 Reply

    How to wright email subject for job applying fresher to hr

  8. Jennifer 6 Jul 2017 Reply

    Jacob – these are awesome! I learned a long time ago, even before smart phones where all people see are subject lines, that the subject line has to be absolutely clear on what’s needed. So, I use subject lines like “CATHY Action Required” or “Team provide input by tomorrow!” or “URGENT PLEASE READ” or “FYI on Google’s new search method”
    Those catch my eye and indicate what’s needed. I do the same when I email job stuff – if possible, I try to put a reminder of who I am in the subject line!
    I bet this wasn’t easy to put together, but I appreciate your time in doing this for all of us 🙂

    1. Jacob Share 7 Jul 2017 Reply

      Thanks Jennifer, for such a useful comment / tip 🏆

  9. Thea Kelley, CEIC, CPRW, OPNS 13 Jul 2017 Reply

    This was intriguing, and it’s a reminder that recruiters are individuals with varied preferences so there’s no absolute rule. But to be both clear and attention-getting, I coach my clients to include the target job title plus at least one of their key selling points, e.g. “award-winning marketing guru” or “technical prowess + a great listener” or whatever makes them uniquely valuable.

    1. Unemployed grad 14 Jul 2017 Reply

      Hi Thea,

      What should I write when writing to hiring managers of engineering teams? I have no idea what kind of titles are they recruiting for currently so I cannot put names of positions. I just have their email id’s. I’m a recent graduate looking for entry-level jobs!

      Thanks,
      Unemployed grad

  11. Kevin Hosey 7 Nov 2017 Reply

    Great subject lines. I’m curious, how many of them did they actually hire?

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