You found a strong veteran candidate. Their background fits the role. Now you have to send the first message. This is where most outreach falls apart.

The candidate sees dozens of cold notes. Almost all of them sound the same. "Came across your profile and thought you would be a great fit." That message gets ignored. It tells the candidate nothing.

Finding the person was the hard part. But the first message decides whether they reply. A good veteran will not chase you. They will read your note, decide it is generic, and move on. So the words you choose matter a lot.

This guide covers the craft of that first direct message. Not the strategy for reaching the passive market. That is a separate skill, and we cover it in how to reach passive veteran candidates. This is what you write once you have a specific person in front of you.

The veteran job market is tight right now. In 2025 the jobless rate for all veterans was 3.5 percent, lower than the 4.2 percent rate for nonveterans, per the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The good ones are working. Your message has to earn a reply.

Why does generic outreach fail with veterans?

Veterans read intent fast. They spent years sizing people up under pressure. A spray-and-pray message reads as exactly that. It signals you did not look at their record. It signals they are one of fifty names on your list.

Here is the problem with the standard cold note. It names no role. It gives no reason. It puts all the work on the candidate to figure out why you reached out. Busy people do not do that work.

There is also a trust gap to clear. Many veterans have been burned by recruiters who promised one thing and delivered another. Your first message either builds trust or confirms their doubt. A vague note confirms the doubt.

The fix is specific. Name the role. Name why them. Show you read their background. That is the whole game.

How do you read a military background to personalize the message?

You do not need to know every acronym. You need to find two or three facts that prove you looked. Those facts go in the message.

Start with the role they held. A platoon sergeant led people. A logistics chief moved supplies at scale. A hospital corpsman worked under pressure with real stakes. The job title tells you a lot if you slow down and read it.

Next, look at scope. How many people did they lead? How much equipment did they manage? A veteran who ran a section of 12 is different from one who ran a company of 150. Pull a number you can name back to them.

Then look at the trajectory. Did they get promoted fast? Did they pick up extra duties? Did they move to harder roles? That arc tells you whether this person grows. Name what you saw.

Here is a worked example. A profile shows "Operations Chief, Marine Corps, 2018 to 2024." Below it: led a 60-person section, managed a fleet of vehicles, ran daily logistics for a battalion. You do not need to know the rank code. You can already see three facts. They led 60 people. They owned equipment. They kept a large unit running every day. Those three facts are your raw material for the message.

Now tie one of them to your open role. If you are hiring a site operations lead, the daily-logistics fact is your hook. You write: "You ran daily logistics for a 60-person unit, and that is exactly the gap on our site team." That one line does more than any generic pitch.

If you want a deeper read on rank and seniority, we break it down in military rank explained for civilian recruiters. And to know exactly what shows up before you reach out, see what employers can see on a veteran profile.

What goes in the first message?

Keep it short. Four or five sentences. A long message reads as a pitch, and a pitch puts people on guard. You want a conversation, not a sale.

The message needs four parts. Each part does one job. Skip any of them and the note goes flat.

Part one earns the read. Part two answers "what is this about." Part three answers "why me." Part four makes saying yes easy. That structure works because it respects their time.

Do not open with your company history. Do not list your benefits. Do not write three paragraphs about your mission. None of that matters yet. The candidate cares about the role and why you picked them. Lead with that.

What makes a subject line get opened?

The subject line is the gate. If it sounds like a mass email, the message dies unread. You want it to feel written for one person.

Be concrete. Name the role or name the connection. "Fleet Operations Manager role for a maintenance leader" beats "Exciting opportunity." Specific beats hyped every time.

Avoid the words that scream mass send. "Opportunity." "Exciting." "We are hiring." "Reaching out." Those are the first words of ten thousand ignored emails. Use plain language a real person would type.

How should you handle timing and follow-up?

One message rarely lands. People are busy. A reply gap is not a no. But there is a right way to follow up and a wrong way.

Wait three to five business days before the first follow-up. Sending again the next morning reads as pushy. Give the person room to see it and think.

Keep the follow-up short and add something new. Do not just say "bumping this." Add a detail about the role, or a quick reason the timing might fit. Two follow-ups is plenty. After that, you stop. Chasing harder does not help.

If they reply with "not right now," respect it. Thank them and ask if you can check back in a few months. That keeps the relationship warm. A veteran who said no today may say yes next quarter. How you handle the no decides that.

What about consent and contact norms?

Where you found the candidate sets the rules. A veteran who opted into a talent pool expects to hear from employers. A name you scraped from somewhere else did not ask to be contacted. Those are different situations.

When a candidate opted in, your outreach is welcome. They raised their hand. You are doing what they asked. Reach out with confidence and the four-part message.

When you are not sure, lead with respect. Say where you found them. Make the ask small. Give them an easy way to decline. Do not assume they owe you a reply. That posture builds the trust that gets you a yes.

Reading the military record well also matters here. If their profile shows a clearance, do not ask them to spell out classified work. Ask about the level and the scope, not the details. Respecting those lines signals you understand their world.

What mistakes kill your reply rate?

A few habits sink outreach before it starts. Most recruiters make at least one. Cut these and your reply rate climbs.

The biggest one is the generic open. "Came across your profile" tells the candidate nothing. It is the single fastest way to get ignored. Every message needs one specific fact instead.

Another is treating the resume like a search result. A veteran resume often reads in military terms. A title like "platoon sergeant" or "operations chief" may not match your keyword search. That work does not vanish. It just sinks lower in the rack when the words do not line up. Read past the label and you will find people other recruiters skip.

The last mistake hurts most. You send a great message, the candidate replies, and then you go quiet for a week. That kills the deal. Veterans read slow follow-through as a red flag. Move fast once they engage.

For the wider picture on building a repeatable sourcing flow, see how to build a veteran candidate search process. And if a past candidate went cold, re-engaging veteran candidates you passed on uses the same message craft.

Where do you find veterans worth contacting?

Great outreach only works if the people are real and reachable. You need a steady supply of veteran candidates who opted in. That is the part most companies struggle with.

The federal labor data backs the case for sourcing veterans on purpose. The Department of Labor VETS office runs programs to help employers connect with veteran talent. Hiring veterans is a proven move, not a charity line on a report.

BMR keeps that supply fresh. Over 1,000 new veteran profiles get added every month. The platform has built more than 60,000 resumes. So when you reach out, you are contacting people who are looking and whose backgrounds are already laid out for you to read.

If you want a sharper search method before the message stage, see how to search a veteran resume database effectively and how to source veterans on LinkedIn.

Send the message that gets a reply

The veterans you want are not waiting by the phone. They are working. Your first message has to do real work. Generic notes get skipped. Specific notes get answered.

Read the record. Pull a fact. Name the role. Say why them. Keep the ask small. Follow up with patience, not pressure. Respect where you found them. That is the whole craft.

BMR gives you a pool of veterans who already opted in and laid out their backgrounds, with over 1,000 new profiles added every month. You bring the message that earns the reply. To reach the pool, connect with BMR to access veteran talent.