Keep silver-medalist candidates warm for the next role

A slow-cadence email sequence that keeps your best rejected candidates warm until the next role opens — so the shortlist starts from a relationship, not a job board.

When to run it

Every filled role produces a runner-up you'd have happily hired — vetted, interviewed, liked by the team. Six months later a near-identical role opens and the process starts from a cold job board, because the silver medalist lives in a closed ATS ticket nobody re-reads.

Why it works

A silver medalist is the cheapest strong candidate you will ever source: the screening is done, the interviews are done, and the rejection was circumstantial, not qualitative. What kills the channel is silence — a candidate who hears nothing for six months applies elsewhere and remembers you as a no. A light cadence keeps the relationship warm at near-zero cost, and the tone can be honest precisely because you're not selling a live role.

The play

1. Flag the silver medalist in your ATS at rejection time, while the judgment is fresh — that flag is what the sequence keys off.
2. Two days after the rejection, send a personal note that says the true thing: strong candidate, close call, we want to stay in touch.
3. Every couple of months, send something with no ask in it — team news, a relevant role at a friendly company, a launch.
4. When a matching role opens, the re-approach is warm: "you were our next call."
5. Exit the moment they're hired or ask to be removed.

Ship it with Hogsend

import { days, defineJourney, hours, sendEmail } from "@hogsend/engine";

export const silverMedalist = defineJourney({
  meta: {
    id: "silver-medalist-keep-warm",
    trigger: {
      event: "candidate.rejected",
      where: (b) => b.prop("silverMedalist").eq(true),
    },
    entryLimit: "once",
    suppress: hours(0),
    exitOn: [
      { event: "candidate.hired" },
      { event: "candidate.opted_out" },
    ],
  },
  run: async (user, ctx) => {
    await ctx.sleep({ duration: days(2), label: "let-rejection-land" });
    await sendEmail({
      to: user.email,
      userId: user.id,
      template: "talent/stay-in-touch",
    });

    for (const touch of ["check-in-1", "check-in-2", "check-in-3"]) {
      await ctx.sleep({ duration: days(60), label: touch });
      if (!(await ctx.guard.isSubscribed())) return;
      await sendEmail({
        to: user.email,
        userId: user.id,
        template: "talent/keep-warm-note",
        idempotencyLabel: touch,
      });
    }
  },
});

The waits are durable — a journey that spans six months survives every deploy in between, which is exactly why this play doesn't work as a calendar reminder.

How you'll know

Track re-engagement (a reply or a re-application) against the keep-warm cohort, and time-to-fill on roles where the shortlist opened with a silver medalist versus a cold search. One rehire from the pool beats a sourcing fee, and the events to prove it are already flowing.