Email Asking About Job Openings Template (UK 2026)

Why this matters

Asking about openings is one of the most common UK candidate behaviours and one of the most poorly executed. Recruiters get dozens of generic 'looking for a job' emails per week and respond to almost none. The candidates who get useful responses are specific about what they want, why they're approaching this contact specifically, and what makes them placeable.

Email template

Subject: Looking for [specific role type] — [Your name]

Dear [Recruiter / contact name],

I'm reaching out because [reason you're approaching this person specifically — they recruit in your space, you've worked with them before, you were referred, you saw their post about the field, etc.].

I'm currently looking for a [specific role type, level, sector] role. Specifically:
- Function: [e.g., Senior Backend Engineer, Head of Marketing, Operations Director]
- Sector: [e.g., B2B SaaS, fintech, healthcare]
- Stage: [e.g., £20-100m ARR scale-up, large enterprise, mid-market]
- Location: [e.g., London hybrid, fully remote, M25 commutable]
- Salary range: [e.g., £75-95k base, £120k+ OTE]

[Optional: One sentence on what makes me placeable — current visibility, notice period, recent achievement, distinguishing experience.]

If anything in your current network matches, I'd love to hear about it. Happy to share my CV directly or jump on a 15-minute call.

Best regards,
[Your name]
[Phone number]
[LinkedIn URL]

Replace bracketed text [like this] with your details. Specificity is what gets responses.

Step-by-step

1. 1 Address to a named person, never 'Dear recruiter' generic
2. 2 Explain why you're approaching this specific person
3. 3 Be specific about role type, sector, stage, location, salary
4. 4 Include one line on what makes you placeable
5. 5 Offer the CV directly or a 15-minute call — low-friction next step
6. 6 Don't mass-send — recruiters spot template patterns
7. 7 Send during weekday working hours

Common mistakes

• ✗Generic 'looking for opportunities in tech' — too broad to act on
• ✗No salary range — recruiters won't waste calls on candidates whose budget doesn't fit
• ✗No location preference — most UK roles have geographic constraints
• ✗Generic praise of the recruiter or company — adds nothing
• ✗No clear next-step offer — leaves the recipient to figure out what to do
• ✗Sending to 30 recruiters with the same email — eventually gets noticed