In our digital world, most of us are dependent on our phones whether we like to admit it or not.
That is why recruitment text messages are a worthwhile part of the strategy. We are so connected with our phones; it would be unusual to go anywhere without them. The average smartphone user looks at their phone around 58 times a day. This number even increases to a staggering 160 times a day for many American Gen Z, Gen X and Millennials!
As a result of this, more companies are utilising text messaging to connect with their customers, employees or job candidates.
In this blog post, we look at the benefits of texting in recruitment and introducing it into your recruitment strategy.
Texting vs Email which communication is better?
Why is this?
While both text and email serve the same purpose of facilitating communication, there is a much faster response time with SMS. In the context of recruitment, SMS is a great way to engage with candidates and keep communication channels open and swift.
Mobile browsing makes searching online more convenient and easy. It’s no wonder mobile job applications are soaring as a result.
Effective recruiters are recognising the importance of mobile, and are using text to connect with candidates.
Why use text in recruitment?
Text isn’t new. But using text in a commercial context is a relatively new step, with many advantages.
Recruiters use text to inform users about job positions, communicate with them throughout the recruitment process and maintain contact afterwards.
So why isn’t text utilized more?
Text is a personal channel and many recruiters feel that using SMS may be seen as invasive or annoying to candidates.
While this is a worry for recruiters, it seems the opposite is true in commercial use. In fact, research shows that up to 54% of US consumers receive at least one branded SMS message a day. However, 50% of consumers receiving these commercial texts convert into buyers.
Text in recruitment is used for a variety of reasons. These are to:
1. Improve efficiency for volume hiring
Most recruiters use the “post and pray” technique for searching for high volume candidates on job ads.
Job ads are one of the less effective techniques of recruiting, resulting in an applicant-to-hire ratio of 100:1.
This is due to these ads targeting the same candidates each time.
Instead of spending money on job ads, use texting to re-engage with people for little to no cost.
2. Contact candidates who are harder to reach
There are many candidates who aren’t on social media or on job boards. Texting proves to be an effective way to get in contact with the masses, share job opportunities, and set up interviews.
3. Set up interviews
All recruiters have experienced the dreaded complications with setting up interview dates and the candidate no shows.
The time wasted rescheduling and wasting the recruiter's time is irreplaceable.
Texting can help by sending reminders the day prior or on the morning of their interview. It may not sound like much, but it can make a huge difference in attendance improvements.
We see text appointment reminders used in many appointments, so it makes sense for it to be used in recruitment too.
Benefits of texting in recruitment
As well as accelerating your time to hire, there are many more reasons to use text in recruitment. These are:
1. Get faster responses
As we’ve discussed already, the time to respond to a text is significantly higher than email. As well as this, the open rate for texts is 90% higher than email. But this doesn’t mean text should replace email either. You can simply add an additional communication channel to improve your hiring process.
2. Improve candidate engagement
Text messaging is effective an effective tool as candidates can receive and respond to messages at a convenient time for them. This is usually outside of business hours. Especially for passive candidates.
3. Improve the candidate experience
Avoid poor candidate experiences which lead to bad social media reviews and the domino effect of influencing potential candidates. The best way to achieve this is to make sure you have an amazing candidate experience.
A massive 81% of candidates say if the communication were to improve in recruitment they would have a better experience. - Especially if the communication is through automated status update messages.
This helps candidates to feel important, engaged and prioritised.
4. Personally connect with candidates
Connecting with candidates is more important than it initially seems. Failure to connect properly with a candidate can result in them not accepting a job offer.
For top talent to accept an offer they must initially get a good vibe from their recruiter. Effective communication is important throughout the recruitment process.
Recruiters can urgently send important information for the candidate to view too.
Tips for Text Recruitment Strategies
Legality- get permission
Before you introduce an SMS management system you need to check your individual SMS regulation laws. There are many consumer protection acts in place to protect consumers rights.
So before sending texts out to potential candidates, be sure to check in with them first to have their consent.
Include a check box on your application form for candidates to opt-in to recieve future job alerts.
Make it personal
Many recruiters are afraid of using text due to it being a personal communication channel. However, it actually works in the recruiter’s favour to be personal.
You can engage with candidates better which can help them decide if they see themselves aligning with your company culture.
Text recruitment strategy
It's important when introducing texting to your candidates that you have a recruitment strategy in place.
A great text recruitment strategy has the following:
1. Short but professional messages
Even though recruitment text messages are an informal process, the messages themselves should be easy to digest and professional. That means using proper grammar and correct spelling, not abbreviated text lingo.
2. Include a CTA
Your call-to-action should be always with the intent of improving the experience of the candidate. Therefore, if you’re informing a candidate of a job opening you should include a link to the application page. Or likewise, if scheduling an interview, send a link to the calendar of available slots to book into.
The simpler you make the application and recruitment process for candidates the more effective you’ll be at hiring.
Job offers or declines
When it comes to offering candidates the role or informing them they weren’t successful, we don’t recommend communicating this via text.
It’s always best to make a phone call and a follow-up email.
Texting someone the bad news they weren’t successful is a little too informal and insensitive. It may feel disrespectful to the candidate and turn a great candidate experience into a poor one.
Recruitment message template
Now you can see the reasons and benefits to using text for recruitment, next comes how to structure your messages.
Below we look at the different recruitment text message templates you can use in your text recruitment strategy. Use the below templates as inspiration and change to suit your branding.
1. Templates to introduce yourself
Hi (first name), my name is (recruiter first name) from (company name).
We recently have had a new role become available in our (name of department). We think you may be perfect for it! Here’s a link to the role (Link job ad). Feel free to text with questions.
2. Templates to schedule a job interview
Hey (first name), this is (recruiter first name) from (company name). I really enjoyed our chat today. Let’s get you scheduled for an interview. Here’s a link to my calendar to get yourself booked in! (Link to interview calendar).
Hey (first name), this is (recruiter first name) from (company name). Thank you for taking the time to discuss the (Job title) position with us. We’d like to invite you for a second interview with (Manager’s name), head of the (department). Here’s a link to my calendar to get yourself booked in! (Link to interview calendar).
3. Templates to reduce no shows
Hey (first name), this is (recruiter first name) from (company name). Just a friendly reminder of our scheduled interview (day, date and time). Looking forward to meeting you!
4. Templates for communication throughout the recruitment process
Hi (first name), this is (recruiter first name) from (company name). Just updating you on the hiring process. We have passed the interview stages and now reviewing all candidates. We’ll be in touch shortly to update you on your progress.
Getting started
Where to get candidate phone numbers?
Candidate permission permitted, many recruiters gather candidate numbers from their applicant tracking system (ATS) from candidate CVs. With an automated messaging service, you can send out an SMS template to all contacts in your ATS.
This works better than you think it would as you have an existing relationship with the candidates from your ATS. Meaning they’re more likely to open and read a message from you.
Many candidates also give permission to be contacted on future job vacancies. So when they get contacted it may be a nice surprise, but shouldn't be a total shock.
If you’re a young company, you may not have much data collected through your recruitment process. Resulting in a limited contact list.
But you can still use text in your recruitment process for communication with candidates later in the process.
Conclusion
Should you include text recruiting in your hiring process?
Texting opens up the recruiter’s options to find more potential candidates while improving the communication throughout the recruitment experience.
You can be flexible with using text in your recruitment process, choosing techniques that suit your recruitment plan and style.
By using our guide, you can get started on initiating text into your recruitment process and improving your candidate experience.
We hope you enjoyed this post on recruiting text message examples.
For more information on improving the candidate experience, check out our post here: Candidate experience survey best practices.