Every recruiter has their go-to move when sliding into a cold convo. Some go direct. Some play the long game. Some go personal. Curious—how do you warm up cold outreach when messaging passive candidates?

I’m still learning the ins and outs of this space, and I keep hearing about tools, templates, and platforms—but rarely about the silent bottlenecks. From your experience, what’s actually been the biggest unspoken slowdown in your recruiting process? (Doesn’t have to be tech—can be mindset, systems, comms, anything.)

What’s one part of your candidate or client outreach workflow that still feels way too manual or clunky? Not looking to pitch—just trying to better understand how things actually work in the real world.

How do you personally filter out candidates who aren’t serious—or are just resume flippers—before the first interview? Do you do it through screening questions? First touch messaging? Gut instinct?

For anyone running outreach or managing placements right now— What part of the process is most frustrating lately? Is it sourcing? Client communication? Candidate no-shows? Just trying to get a clearer view of what’s slowing things down for teams in 2025. Curious what you’re seeing firsthand.