Ask HN: Why do all recruiters start their messages with “Hope you are well”?

They're alluding to a nonexistent preexisting relationship so they can pretend they didn't illicitly obtain your contact information and retain it indefinitely to spam you.

"Hope you are well" is code for "Hey, I need something from you."

It's an expression most people open with when reaching out to someone they haven't talked to in a while.

Can't tell if this is a sarcastic question, but I'll bite anyway.

The simple answer is politeness. When you work as a recruiter you're talking to 10s (maybe 100s) of folks a day. Creating a connection and breaking the ice when talking to someone you've never met before is just human nature.

I haven’t seen that too often, but I do get a lot of slight variations on my “impressive background” compelling them to reach out