To reply to a recruiter email, write two or three lines that give one answer: yes, not now or no. Send them from a personal address, never a work account. If you're interested, find out who the employer is, what it pays and how many rounds it runs before you agree to a call. We'd answer every real recruiter, even to say no, and keep the thread somewhere your employer can't open.
Should you reply, and from which address?
Yes, a short no costs you almost nothing and leaves the door open. A recruiter you declined politely is a recruiter who may write again when the role is better.
Reply from a personal address. If the email reached your work inbox, answer from your own address and say so in one line: "I'm replying from my personal address, so please use this one from now on." In a Blind thread on recruiter emails sent to a company inbox, one commenter treats a work-address email as a likely scam, while another tells the poster to reply from a personal address. Work mail isn't where a job search belongs.
In a 2023 ERE article on cold outreach, 51% of 49 software engineers preferred personal email. Several asked recruiters not to use their work address at all, so asking to move to your personal address is a request recruiters hear often.
Before you answer anything, check the sender. Enhancv's advice is to compare the email domain with the company's site and look the recruiter up on LinkedIn. If the message feels off, our fake recruiter email guide goes through the signs.
What do you write if you're interested, not now or not interested?
Keep each reply short and make one decision in it. Edit these to fit.
Interested
Don't send your CV yet, and don't book a call yet. Ask the three questions in the next section, then offer two time windows once you have the answers. A call is a real cost when you're working full time, so it should come after the answers.
Hi Dana, thanks for getting in touch. I'm open to hearing more. Before we speak, could you tell me the company name, the salary range and the interview steps? If those work for me, I can talk Tuesday or Thursday after 5pm.
Not now
Say what would change your answer, and ask them to write again later. That gives them something concrete instead of a vague brush-off.
Hi Dana, thanks for thinking of me. Not this quarter. A role with a bigger platform scope would change that. Please write again in the spring.
Not interested
Thank them, say no in one line, and stop. You don't owe a reason, and a reason invites a debate. If you'd like to hear about other roles, add one line saying so.
Hi Dana, thank you for reaching out. This one isn't for me. If you ever have a staff-level data role, I'd be glad to hear about it.
What should you ask before you agree to a call?
Ask three things in your reply: the company name, the pay range and the interview steps. G2's advice for candidates is to keep early questions short and quick to answer, and to avoid "what roles are available?" Enhancv adds a fourth, who the role reports to and its first priorities, which is better saved for the call itself.
The company name comes first. If you're employed, the name is the gate: you can't judge a role at a company you don't know, and it could turn out to be a direct competitor of your employer. If a recruiter won't name the company, hold the call. A role they can't describe may not exist either, and how to check whether the role is real shows you how to find out.
Pay and interview steps are the second and third filters. A range that's far below what you earn, or four rounds for a mid-level role, tells you the call isn't worth an evening before it starts.
Worked example: one backend engineer, one email, three replies
Priya is a backend engineer at a fintech. An email lands in her work inbox from "Dana at Northwind Search" about a "senior platform role at a growth-stage company". No company name. Priya and Dana are invented.
Her first move is the same in every case: she checks Northwind's domain against its site, then moves to her personal address and tells Dana she's doing so.
- If she's curious, she sends the interested reply above. She holds the call until Dana names the company, the range and the steps.
- If she's mid-project and can't think about a move, she sends the not now reply and notes a date in the spring to look again.
- If she's settled, she sends the two-line no and moves on.
In all three, the thread ends up in one place she controls, with Dana's name, the date and what she said.
What to do with the thread this week
Keep one line per recruiter, in a note or a spreadsheet, somewhere that isn't your work laptop or work account. Put in their name, the company if you know it, the date you replied and which of the three answers you gave. For "not now", add a date to revisit: a calendar reminder is enough. Anything you asked them and haven't heard back on goes on the same line.
That's all. You don't need a system for ten recruiters, and you don't need to answer every message the same day. A job search CRM for recruiters and contacts explains what to track and what to leave out, so a "not now" doesn't disappear into an inbox you stopped checking. The rest of our job search tracking guides cover the other threads in your search.
Keeping an employed search in one place
If you're searching while employed, the recruiter thread is the part you can't leave lying around. Job Search by HighCircl keeps your applications in one place, and employers never see your search or applications. It's free during the open beta, which is open to 300 people in the US.
FAQ
Should I respond if I'm not looking?
Yes, briefly. Two lines saying not now, and when you might be open, keeps the relationship at no cost. You can also not reply, but a polite no is rarely wasted.
Can I reply from my work email?
We wouldn't. Use a personal address, and if the recruiter wrote to your work account, tell them in one line to use the personal one from now on.
How long should I wait to reply?
A working day or two is fine. Take the time to check the sender and decide your answer.
What if the recruiter won't name the company?
Ask once, politely. If they still won't, hold the call. A recruiter who can't tell you who the employer is has told you something about the role.
Should I send my resume in the first reply?
Not unless the company, pay and steps already look right. Send the answer first. Your resume can follow once you've decided the conversation is worth having.