Recruiting Outreach at Volume, Run Through Instantly
Recruiting firms run two cold motions at once: outreach to candidates and business development to hiring companies. Both are high-volume, both live or die on deliverability, and both can torch your agency's primary domain if you run them from it.
Instantly is where you build and rotate those sequences. ColdRelay is the infrastructure beneath it — the secondary domains, mailboxes, and dedicated IPs Instantly sends from. This guide covers wiring the two together and keeping candidate outreach and client BD cleanly separated.
Why Run Instantly on ColdRelay Infrastructure
Instantly is a sending and sequencing platform with strong inbox rotation and a unified inbox — but it sends from whatever mailboxes you connect. It doesn't provision the domains or guarantee mailbox-level deliverability. That's the infrastructure layer.
ColdRelay is that layer. Rather than hand-buying Google Workspace seats and configuring DNS per domain, you order dedicated mailboxes on isolated Azure tenants with dedicated IPs, fully DNS-configured and live in about an hour. Connect them to Instantly and send.
For recruiting specifically, this matters because volume is high and the two motions need isolation. ColdRelay lets you stand up separate domain pools — one for candidate outreach, one for client BD — and rotate each through Instantly independently.
Visit Instantly →Connecting ColdRelay Mailboxes to Instantly
Provision two domain pools on ColdRelay
Order one set of secondary domains for candidate outreach and a separate set for client business development. At 100-150 mailboxes per domain, a busy desk often runs 2-4 domains per motion. Everything provisions on isolated Azure tenants with dedicated IPs in about an hour, DNS pre-configured.
Export mailbox credentials per pool
Export each pool's mailbox list with SMTP/IMAP credentials from the ColdRelay dashboard. Keep the two CSVs separate so the motions never get mixed inside Instantly.
Add mailboxes to Instantly as two account groups
In Instantly, add the mailboxes under Email Accounts (bulk SMTP/IMAP import via CSV). Tag or group the candidate-outreach accounts separately from the client-BD accounts so campaigns only rotate within their own pool.
Match daily limits to ColdRelay's budget
Set each mailbox to 2 outbound sends/day in Instantly to mirror ColdRelay's per-mailbox budget — 4 sends/day total, 2 outbound + 2 warmup. Let ColdRelay's network handle warmup rather than enabling Instantly's warmup on top.
Launch separate campaigns per motion
Run candidate sequences off the candidate pool and BD sequences off the BD pool. Instantly rotates sends within each pool; ColdRelay capacity scales by adding mailboxes to whichever motion needs more reach.
The Recruiting Instantly Playbook
Wall off candidate outreach from client BD
Use separate ColdRelay domain pools and separate Instantly account groups. A deliverability problem on one motion should never drag down the other — and the messaging is completely different.
Lead with the role, not the firm
Candidate replies come from a specific, relevant opportunity. Structure Instantly steps around one concrete role and a low-friction 'open to hearing about it?' CTA rather than a generic recruiter intro.
Keep the primary domain for placements
Offer letters, candidate submissions, and client contracts go from your real domain. Everything cold runs from ColdRelay secondary domains so a placement email never lands in spam because of outbound volume.
Refresh lists faster than you burn them
Recruiting lists decay fast — people change jobs constantly. Pair Instantly's sending with frequent list refreshes so you're not sequencing stale contacts and tanking reply rates.
Typical Recruiting Outreach Benchmarks (Instantly + ColdRelay)
| Metric | Benchmark | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Inbox placement rate | 95%+ | Dedicated IPs and isolated tenants beat shared provider pools at volume |
| Candidate reply rate | 4-8% | Higher than B2B norms when the role is specific and relevant |
| Client BD reply rate | 2-4% | Lower-volume, higher-value motion; worth its own domain pool |
| Outbound capacity per mailbox | 2/day | 4 sends/day total per mailbox — 2 outbound + 2 warmup |
| Time to first campaign | Same day | ~60 minutes to provision both pools, plus sequence setup in Instantly |
What It Costs: Instantly + ColdRelay
Billed per mailbox per month for both domain pools, with volume tiers that fall as total mailbox count rises (see the table below). DNS, dedicated IPs, and isolated Azure tenants included.
Instantly is a separate subscription for sequencing, inbox rotation, and the unified inbox — priced per its current plans.
Running two motions means more mailboxes, which moves you into lower per-mailbox tiers faster. Instantly's cost scales with seats and features independently of infrastructure.
| Mailboxes | ColdRelay price / mailbox / month |
|---|---|
| 1–199 | $1.00 |
| 200–999 | $0.85 |
| 1,000–4,999 | $0.70 |
| 5,000+ | $0.55 |
Each mailbox sends 4 emails per day — 2 outbound to prospects + 2 warmup. ColdRelay provisions mailboxes on isolated Azure tenants with dedicated IPs; Instantly handles the sending, sequencing, and inbox rotation on top.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I run candidate and client outreach from the same mailboxes?
You can, but you shouldn't. Use separate ColdRelay domain pools and separate Instantly account groups so a deliverability issue in one motion never affects the other, and so messaging stays clean.
Does ColdRelay compete with Instantly?
No — they're complementary. Instantly sends and sequences; ColdRelay provides the domains, mailboxes, and dedicated IPs it sends from. Recruiting firms use both together.
How many mailboxes does a recruiting desk need?
At 2 outbound sends/day per mailbox, capacity scales linearly: 100 mailboxes is 200 sends/day. High-volume desks running two motions often run several hundred mailboxes split across candidate and BD pools.
Will high-volume cold email get our agency domain blocklisted?
Not when cold email runs on ColdRelay infrastructure. Outbound goes from separate secondary domains and dedicated IPs on isolated Azure tenants, so your primary agency domain — used for placements and contracts — stays clean.