Been spamming LI requests like everyone says, but my response rate is brutal. A VP at Evercore actually replied ‘Not hiring’ to my last templated message. Anyone cracked the code on personalized outreach that doesn’t take hours to craft? Heard some folks here use peer-reviewed templates - how do those actually work in practice? What’s the magic sauce that makes recruiters hit reply instead of ignore?
newsflash: everyone’s inbox is flooded with ‘personalized’ templates now. last week got the same ‘admire your work in TMT’ message from 3 different kids using that community template. pro tip: actually mention a deal they worked on from 3+ years ago - shows real homework
fwiw i used the energy sector template last week and got 2 replies! just swapped out the firm name and added one line about their latest acquisition. not perfect but better than my old messages 
Effective outreach requires three elements: relevance, specificity, and call-to-action. I advise juniors to reference a recent transaction the recipient worked on (deal cloud access > generic praise), ask one pointed question about deal mechanics, and propose a 7-minute call. Our community templates work best when customized with these elements.
Had the same issue till I started adding funny subject lines. One MD told me he only opened mine because it said ‘Confessions of a Failed Cold Emailer’. Got coffee the next week - sometimes showing vulnerability works better than being polished!