Why Recruiters Struggle to Engage Candidates (and How to Fix It)
Oct 1, 2025
As someone who spent years leading a healthcare staffing agency, I have seen how tough it is for recruiters to consistently engage their candidate database. Most agencies are only actively engaging 1.5% of their database. That means valuable candidates sit idle while teams rely on expensive lead sources to fill pipelines.
The challenge is not effort. It is data. Outdated, incomplete, or duplicated profiles make it nearly impossible to reach the right candidate at the right time with the right job. When profiles are missing location, shift, pay, or availability, even the best recruiters struggle to personalize outreach.
That is where Ember comes in.
Clean data powers warm outreach
Our healthcare staffing tuned AI model cleans and enriches candidate data automatically. It reads recruiter notes, texts, and call summaries to pull out details like location preferences, salary expectations, shift type, and licensing. Then it writes clean, structured fields back to your ATS.
With accurate profiles, recruiters can stop guessing and start doing warm outreach. Warm outreach means every message carries forward something the candidate has already shared. It references the last conversation. It respects preferences. It proves you listened.
Examples:
“You told us Georgia is your first choice. A new Atlanta contract just opened for nights at the pay range we discussed.”
“You mentioned you can start two weeks after your current assignment. Here are roles that line up with that timeline.”
“You prefer block scheduling. This facility just posted a block schedule option for ICU.”
Warm outreach works even if a different recruiter is sending the message. The key is consistent context. When your team references what was said on the prior call or in the last text, candidates feel known. That builds trust.
Consistency builds relationships and results
Consistency is not just tone. It is carrying the same story from touch to touch:
Reference the last note or preference every time.
Acknowledge prior objections and show what has changed.
Confirm availability windows and credential timelines before pitching a role.
Close the loop on past opportunities, even if a candidate passed.
This is how agencies turn databases into relationships, and relationships into placements.
What changes with Ember
When recruiters have cleaner data, they can:
Target the right candidates with relevant jobs
Increase engagement rates with messages that feel personal
Reduce STOP replies by avoiding mismatched roles
Move faster because the right info is already in the profile
Ember also helps you scale consistency across the team. Notes and preferences become structured fields. That means any recruiter can pick up the conversation and deliver a warm follow up that feels seamless to the candidate.
A quick playbook your team can use this week
Pull a list of engaged candidates in your ATS.
Manually read their last conversations (Use Ember to enrich missing fields like location, shift, pay, and availability. No more manual work.)
Draft warm outreach templates that reference the last touch and one key preference.
Set goals for reviewed matches and warm follow ups per recruiter.
Track replies, clicks, submissions, and placements from database candidates.
Inspect any STOP replies and update preferences so the next touch is smarter.
Better data fuels better engagement. Better engagement drives more database placements and less spend on outside leads.
📅 Want to see how Ember can help your recruiters reach more candidates in your database and scale warm outreach with consistency and precision?
Visit our website: www.emberhiring.com
Book a demo: https://calendar.app.google/YyS6o3KY8SFHhj5U9
I would love to connect with you!
-Amanda Hendrix, Head of Growth