The candidate asked when they will hear. The hiring manager has your notes and has not answered. Your assistant drafted a full recap of the interview. The manager already sat in the interview. What they have not done is own the next step.
Recruiting fails in the gap between "interesting" and a calendar hold. Write the gap as a choice.
Advance, hold, or decline — one name
Open with the decision. "I need you to choose whether we advance Priya to the work sample, hold her for two weeks, or decline. I need that by Wednesday because she has another process." Wednesday is an honest deadline only if something real happens then. If nothing happens, do not write Wednesday.
Give the two or three facts that are not in the room they already sat in: a constraint she named, a timeline she has, a gap against the scorecard you both already use. Then your recommendation and what would flip it. Name the response shape: a decision, not "thoughts when you have a minute."
Do not attach the résumé again. RelayLink does not carry attachments. Describe the document they already have — role title, last company, the one line that is in dispute — so the ask stands on a phone.
One candidate per message
A slate of three with no question is a meeting invite waiting to happen. If they must compare, write three named options and still ask for one next step for the person whose clock is shortest. The others can be the next briefing.
Mark the premises. You assumed the headcount is still open. You assumed the other internal candidate dropped out. You assumed the manager still wants the skill they named last month. A labelled line gets a correction. A paragraph of enthusiasm about "culture add" does not.
You send it; they reply from the inbox they already live in
You approve the wording. Use the candidate's name as they use it. A nickname you keep for the hiring manager stays on your side of the list; it does not appear in the package.
They do not need an account. Most hiring managers will never open RelayLink. They get email and a link, and they can reply there. If this person already has an activated account, you need an accepted pair before a new thread. Either way, the reply is the step you tell the candidate.
If you follow up, send the same three options and the same Wednesday. Do not add a second candidate to the reminder to make it worth their time. That is how both clocks slip.
What you are not asking
You are not asking them to rewrite the scorecard in email. You are not asking them to justify a feeling in prose. You are asking them to pick the next action so a person waiting on you is not waiting on a recap.
If they want a debrief, book it, and put the same closed list in the invite. The meeting should start on the disagreement, not on finding the question.