Custom Tokens enable you to personalize your outreach by using dynamic variables that can be inserted anywhere in your sequence stages. These tokens are pulled from the Candidate Info and Your Custom Tokens fields in a candidate’s Gem profile. Note that the data that populates the Candidate Info fields is typically parsed from a prospective candidate’s LinkedIn profile when you add them to Gem, though it can also be sourced from other sites supported by the Gem Extension - including GitHub, AngelList, Indeed, Meta, and more.
How Custom Tokens work in Gem sequences
All available Custom Tokens for sequences can be found in the sequence stage editing window, directly above the sender field (you can access additional token options through a dropdown menu). You can insert sequence tokens anywhere in the subject or body of any message at any stage by placing your cursor where you’d like to drop the token and then clicking on the token to insert it.
For example, rather than opening your email with a generic “Hi,” you might say: “Hi, {{first_name}}, happy {{day_of_week}}!” As long as the candidate’s First Name field is filled out within Gem, the message they’ll receive will be personalized (“Hi Nikki, happy Tuesday!”).
Note: If you choose to use a token and the corresponding information is missing from a candidate’s Gem profile, the candidate will see a blank space in your outreach. For example, if you write, “I see you’re working at {{company}}” and their Company field is empty, the candidate’s message will read: “I see you’re working at.” To prevent this issue and account for cases in which a profile field is blank, we recommend setting up token fallbacks. You can learn more about how to do this in our Blank candidate token fallbacks article.
A note on the {{reason}} token
In addition to the more commonly used tokens, Gem also offers the {{reason}} token, a powerful tool for delivering scalable, targeted messaging. The {{reason}} token allows users to personalize messages based on why a particular candidate was sourced.
To streamline your workflow, you can input a reason directly in the Gem eExtension while on a prospective candidate’s profile. Reasons typically specify why this particular candidate is an excellent fit for the role — such as the skills they’ve demonstrated or the experience they have with certain technologies. These token types can significantly enhance how a candidate perceives your message, demonstrating that you’ve carefully considered why they’d be a good match for your company.
Note: The {{reason}} and {{extra}} tokens are specific to each individual user and are not shared across team members. Any information entered into these fields in the Gem sidebar is unique to your own account, and will not be visible or usable by any of your colleagues.
Previewing your message
Curious to see how the tokens will populate once your message is sent to candidates? Select Send me a preview from your sequence edit window and Gem will send a copy of it to your inbox.
➡️ Next, you’ll learn how to send Sequences!
- How Custom Tokens work in Gem sequences
- A note on the {{reason}} token
- Previewing your message