> Source: https://builder.ema.ai/v2/recruiter/outreach > Title: Outreach # Outreach Outreach is how Recruiter turns a shortlist into conversations. You build a **sequence** — an ordered set of email and LinkedIn steps — and enroll shortlisted candidates in it. Recruiter sends each step from the mailbox and LinkedIn account you connected, spaced out over time and capped per day, and tracks where each candidate sits in the process. This page covers the sequence, the channels, how sending works, and what happens when a candidate replies. > [INFO] > **Beta.** Recruiter is in beta. Outreach channels, scheduling behavior, and stage tracking may change. ## Concepts - **Sequence.** The ordered list of steps for a search. Each step is one message on one channel, with a delay before it fires. The sequence is configured per search. - **Channel.** The medium a step uses — email, a LinkedIn connection request, or a LinkedIn message. - **Sender.** The connected mailbox or LinkedIn account a step sends from. Senders are connected on the AI Employee's Configuration tab and chosen per search. See [Getting Started](/builder/v2/recruiter/getting-started). - **Schedule.** A candidate's enrollment in the sequence — the per-candidate state that tracks which steps have been sent and when the next one is due. - **Stage.** Where a candidate sits in the outreach lifecycle (for example, an email has been sent, or they've replied). ## Prerequisites Before any outreach can go out, two things must be true: 1. **A sender is connected and healthy.** At least one email or LinkedIn sender must be connected on the Configuration tab, and not expired. See [Getting Started](/builder/v2/recruiter/getting-started) for connecting senders. 2. **The sequence covers the channel you expect.** A LinkedIn-only sequence won't send email, and vice versa. Match the sequence's steps to the senders you've connected. ## Building a sequence You configure the sequence in the search's outreach setup. A sequence is a list of steps; each step has: Field What it is Type The channel for the step: `email`, `linkedin_connection`, or `linkedin_message`. Delay Days after the previous step before this one fires. Subject The email subject (email steps only). Body The message body (email and LinkedIn message steps). Note The personalized note on a LinkedIn connection request (connection steps only; a blank note sends a connection request with no message). The three channel types are: Channel What it sends `email` An email from your connected mailbox, with a subject and body. `linkedin_connection` A LinkedIn connection request, optionally with a personalized note. `linkedin_message` A LinkedIn direct message (typically after a connection is accepted). Recruiter can draft step content for you. The outreach setup can generate sample content for a step and preview how the sequence will read for a real candidate, so you can review and edit before enrolling anyone. Drafting uses EmaFusion™ and personalizes from the candidate's profile and the role. ## Outreach preferences Two preferences govern pace, set per search in the outreach setup: - **Daily candidate limit.** Caps how many shortlisted candidates _start_ outreach in a rolling 24-hour window. Once the cap is hit, the rest queue and begin the next day. The default is **20** (configurable from 1 to 500). On a trial, the shortlist itself is capped — by default a 10-candidate shortlist (per-tenant configurable) — so a trial search naturally stays small. - **Active days.** The days of the week on which the sequence is allowed to send, so outreach doesn't go out on, say, weekends. The default is **Monday through Friday**. ## Enrolling candidates > [WARNING] > **Shortlisting a candidate does not start outreach.** Shortlisting just moves a candidate to your shortlist. To begin contacting them, you select shortlisted candidates and explicitly start outreach — that's what enrolls them in the sequence. When you start outreach for a candidate, Recruiter creates a schedule for them and begins working through the sequence: it sends the first step, then schedules each later step according to its delay, the daily limit, and your active days. Sending is handled by a background worker — you don't keep the page open. You can enroll a single candidate or enroll a batch of shortlisted candidates at once. ## Managing a candidate's outreach Each candidate has an outreach timeline — every step that's been queued, sent, paused, cancelled, or failed, in order, plus any replies. From a candidate's outreach controls you can: Action What it does **Send now** Skip the scheduled wait and queue the candidate's next step for the worker's next tick. The project's daily candidate limit still applies, so a step can still wait if the day's cap is already reached. **Pause** Pause the sequence for this candidate. Resume later from the same control. **Resume** Resume a paused sequence. The wait timer resets from the moment you resume. **Cancel** Stop the sequence for this candidate. A cancelled sequence can be restarted from the beginning later. Unshortlisting a candidate while they have an active schedule automatically pauses their outreach, so you don't keep messaging someone you've removed from the shortlist. ## Stage vs. schedule status Recruiter tracks two distinct things for each shortlisted candidate. Keep them separate: - **Schedule status** — where the _sequence_ is in its run. The worker sets this automatically: `active`, `paused`, `completed`, `cancelled`, or `failed`. A completed schedule carries a reason — the timeline shows **Completed** when every step was sent, and **Replied** when a reply ended the sequence early. - **Stage** — a manual pipeline label _you_ set on the candidate to track them through your funnel. The stage is never set automatically by a step send. ### Stage A candidate's **stage** is a label you set yourself from their outreach controls. It defaults to **Lead** and never changes on its own. The available stages are: Stage Meaning Lead The default. A shortlisted candidate you haven't progressed yet. Contacted You've reached out. Replied The candidate responded. Interested The candidate is interested. Rejected Not moving forward. Hired The candidate was hired. Stage is for your own tracking and filtering — the candidate list can be filtered by stage. It is independent of the schedule status above: a candidate can sit at the **Lead** stage while their sequence is already **active**. ## Replies Recruiter detects replies on both channels. When a candidate replies — by email or on LinkedIn — Recruiter stops sending to them automatically: their schedule is marked **completed** with the reason _reply detected_, so the timeline shows **Replied** rather than continuing through the remaining steps. The reply itself appears in their outreach timeline. Detecting a reply does **not** change the candidate's stage; you read the reply and move the candidate to **Interested**, **Rejected**, or any other stage yourself. > [TIP] > A reply ends the sequence — it does not pause it. The candidate's schedule status becomes **Replied** and no further steps go out. If you want to keep messaging them after reading the reply, restart their outreach from the candidate's controls. ## How sending works Recruiter sends from your real accounts, not a shared Ema address: - **Email** goes out through your connected Gmail or Outlook mailbox via the provider's API, so sent messages land in your own Sent folder. Stored credentials are encrypted. - **LinkedIn** messages and connection requests are sent through Ema's LinkedIn integration using your connected account. A background worker drives the schedule: it picks up due steps, respects the daily candidate limit and active days, dispatches them on the right channel, and records the result on the candidate's timeline. Because sending is asynchronous, give the worker a moment after starting outreach before expecting a step to appear as sent. ## Troubleshooting **I started outreach but nothing has gone out.** Check, in order: 1. **Did you start outreach?** Shortlisting alone doesn't enroll anyone — you must select shortlisted candidates and start outreach explicitly. 2. **Is a sender connected and healthy?** Check the Configuration tab; a dropped LinkedIn session shows as expired. 3. **Is the daily candidate limit hit?** New candidates queue until the next day. 4. **Does the sequence cover the channel you expect?** A LinkedIn-only sequence won't send email, and vice versa. **A candidate's outreach stopped on its own.** A detected reply ends the sequence automatically — the candidate's status becomes **Replied** and no further steps go out. Open their timeline to read the reply, update their stage, and restart outreach if you want to keep messaging them. ## What's next - [Getting Started](/builder/v2/recruiter/getting-started) — connect the email and LinkedIn senders outreach depends on. - [Scoring Criteria](/builder/v2/recruiter/scoring-criteria) — find the strongest candidates to shortlist before you reach out.