Center for Policy Research

Policy Brief

How Can Public Sector Employers Improve the Effectiveness of Email Recruitment?

Leonard M. Lopoo, Robert Bifulco, Hannah Patnaik, Ashraf Haque, Christine Ashby, George Theoharis

C.P.R. Policy Brief No. 18

April 2025

Public Administration & International Affairs Department

Center for Policy Research

United States

Leonard M. Lopoo

Robert Bifulco

Hannah Patnaik

Ashraf Haque

With the constant deluge of listservs, email advertisements, and phishing scams, many email recipients have become accustomed to deleting emails from unknown sources without ever reading them. Knowing what can increase the likelihood of email engagement may improve the effectiveness of email communications in job recruitment. This brief summarizes findings from a study that reports results from a randomized controlled trial (RCT) of a mass email campaign to recruit applicants for a training program for K-12 teaching jobs. The authors compared email open rates between emails that contained a letter with university logos signed by a university official versus emails that contained an informational flyer with a photograph. They found that emails presented in an official letter form increased email open rates by 15%.

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CPR Policy Briefs present concise summaries of findings from recent research conducted by CPR affiliates in the areas of crime and the law, economic wellbeing and poverty, education, energy and the environment, families, health, public finance, social welfare, urban and regional economics, and other policy-relevant domains.