A recruitment email deliverability checklist before your next mailshot

1. Name the message and its audience

An interview reminder, a candidate availability mailshot and a speculative client sequence have different purposes. Record which one you are releasing. Ask why these recipients should expect this particular message and whether the list reflects current information.

Check suppressions and opt-outs in the sending system. Keep list quality and recipient expectations separate from address validity: an address that exists does not establish that the person wants the campaign. This is an operational checklist, not a determination of the legal basis for your outreach.

2. Confirm the actual sending route

Record the product, connection and visible sender. Name the specific ATS or automation product, rather than writing only “CRM”. Have the owner check the settings issued for that account.

The Bullhorn, JobAdder, Vincere and Loxo notes help frame the platform-specific questions.

3. Check a real message, not just a DNS screenshot

Ask the administrator to inspect authentication for a message sent through that route. A domain checker can inspect published records, but the received-message evidence shows what happened for the particular message.

Do not add a second SPF record or copy a DKIM selector from another agency's instructions. Use your provider's values and verify the intended domain identities. Read the SPF, DKIM and DMARC guide if the distinction between a pass and alignment is unclear.

4. Review the finished message

Send a controlled preview with synthetic data. Check the From and Reply-To details, merge fields, role description, links, signature and attachments. Click through your own links to confirm the destination is what the recipient would expect.

Check that the opt-out process used by your campaign works. Google's personal Gmail requirements distinguish ordinary senders from bulk senders and include additional authentication and unsubscribe requirements at higher volumes. Do not assume one provider's personal-account rules describe every client's business mailbox.

5. Test placement when it answers a live question

If the concern is where the message lands, a controlled seed test can add evidence. Use the same route, record the selected environments and avoid confidential candidate or client information.

The GlockApps walkthrough covers a manual process. The report guide explains why a good seed result cannot certify an entire real audience. If you already have a sending restriction or complete rejection, investigate that evidence first.

6. Assign the after-send check

Name who will review rejections, recipient complaints and platform warnings, and what would cause the team to pause the next batch. Keep a baseline so an unusual change can be compared with something concrete.

For a delivery incident, preserve the exact time and time zone, message reference, route and complete error. Use approved internal channels for recipient details. Our IT handoff builder prepares a brief in your browser without uploading it.

Keep one release record

Download the blank test and release record. Fill it in privately for the campaign, keeping secrets and candidate lists elsewhere. The aim is to make the next decision easier: who checked what, what remains uncertain and who owns the response.