Text Messaging for Recruiting: Best Practices to Rock Your Recruiting Season

Email outreach still reigns supreme as the commonly used method to reach candidates. Email’s little brother, text messaging, is somewhat overlooked as a communication tool, yet SMS has some powerful advantages for communicating. With an open rate of around 98%, adopting text messaging for recruiting is a great way to share brief but essential information or issue a call to action that motivates your candidates.

In recruitment, this open rate is unheard of! Think of how many missed interviews there are every year. When you use SMS in recruitment, you can almost guarantee that your potential employee turns up! Read on to see how text messaging for recruiting can transform the hiring process.

What is Text Recruiting?

For the uninitiated, SMS recruiting, or text recruiting, involves using text messages to communicate with candidates during various stages of the recruitment process. From promoting job openings to scheduling interviews and facilitating onboarding, SMS recruiting offers a direct and efficient way to engage with potential hires.

Benefits of SMS Recruiting for Recruiters

• Instant Communication: SMS recruiting allows recruiters to reach candidates instantly, making it an ideal channel for promoting job opportunities and sending timely updates.

  Imagine you're a recruiter with an urgent job opening to fill. With SMS recruiting, you can send out a quick text message to notify qualified candidates instantly, ensuring timely responses and faster hiring decisions.

• Personalized Engagement: By addressing candidates by name and tailoring messages to their interests, recruiters can create personalized experiences that resonate with job seekers.

• Efficient Pre-Screening: Text-based interviews enable recruiters to conduct pre-screening assessments quickly and gather essential information from candidates, streamlining the hiring process.

  Suppose you have a large pool of applicants to review. With SMS pre-screening assessments, you can quickly send out a series of questions to candidates and gather essential information in a matter of minutes, helping you identify top talent more efficiently.

• Streamlined Interview Scheduling: With automated scheduling tools, recruiters can arrange interviews seamlessly via text messages, minimizing delays and enhancing the candidate experience.

  With SMS recruiting, you can use automated scheduling tools to send out interview invitations and confirmations via text, simplifying the process and reducing delays.

• Enhanced Candidate Experience: SMS recruiting provides candidates with a convenient and accessible way to interact with recruiters, leading to improved satisfaction and engagement.

  Being able to communicate quickly and easily via text can make the recruitment process feel more engaging and user-friendly, leading to a positive candidate experience.

• Improved Response Rates: Compared to traditional communication methods like email or phone calls, text messages often yield higher response rates, ensuring better engagement with candidates.

  On one hand, you do not need to fumble into an email app to read your email while avoiding the urgency of a phone call, text recruiting is the most optimal way to provide a streamlined recruitment experience while ensuring your candidates always get your messages.

8 Ideas to Incorporate SMS Recruiting into Your Recruitment Process

• Instant Job Alerts:

Utilize SMS to swiftly notify candidates about new job openings, especially during peak hiring periods or seasonal demands. Personalize messages based on candidate preferences and automate audience segmentation to target specific talent pools effectively.

Tip: Craft concise and engaging text messages to grab candidates' attention. Include key details about the job opening and a clear call-to-action. Utilize automation tools to schedule and send alerts at optimal times for candidate engagement.

• Personalized Communication:

Offer candidates a personalized experience by engaging with them via text messages. Respond promptly to their inquiries and provide updates on their application status. According to recent surveys, a majority of job seekers prefer text messages over emails or phone calls for communication.

Tip: Maintain a human touch in your text messages by addressing candidates by name and tailoring the content to their interests and qualifications. Respond promptly to inquiries and provide personalized updates to enhance the candidate experience.

• Streamlined Pre-Screening:

Optimize your pre-screening process by conducting text-based interviews. Use pre-selected questions to assess candidates' qualifications and record their responses instantly. Implement textbots to automate screening, allowing recruiters to manage multiple conversations simultaneously.

Tip: Design clear and relevant screening questions to gather essential information from candidates. Ensure candidates understand the purpose of the text interview and provide instructions for recording their responses.

• Efficient Interview Scheduling:

Enhance the efficiency of interview scheduling by leveraging SMS technology. Send interview invitations and receive confirmations promptly, reducing the time spent on coordinating schedules. Automated scheduling systems ensure quick responses and minimize delays.

Tips: Use SMS reminders to minimize no-shows and reschedule appointments promptly when needed. Choose a scheduling platform with SMS integration for seamless communication.

• Seamless Onboarding:

Facilitate the onboarding process for hired candidates by delivering essential information and instructions via text messages. Provide details about company policies, benefits, and orientation procedures to ensure a smooth transition into the organization.

Tips: Create an onboarding plan that includes sending important information and documents to new hires via SMS. Rakuna’s Text Recruiting can automatically deliver onboarding materials at each stage of the process. Encourage candidates to ask questions and provide feedback through text messages to address any concerns promptly.

• Feedback Collection:

Gather feedback from candidates about their recruitment experience through SMS surveys. Use this valuable input to improve your hiring process and enhance candidate satisfaction. Quick surveys sent via text messages are more likely to yield responses compared to traditional methods.

Tip: Keep SMS surveys short and focused to maximize response rates. Ask specific questions about the candidate's experience and provide options for rating satisfaction levels. 

• Talent Relationship Management:

Maintain ongoing communication with candidates even after the recruitment process is complete. Use SMS to nurture relationships with potential future hires, keeping them engaged with your organization's updates and opportunities.

Tip: Build and nurture relationships with candidates by sending regular updates and relevant content via SMS. Share company news, industry insights, and career development opportunities to keep candidates engaged. Personalize messages based on candidates' preferences and interactions with your organization.

• Event Promotion and Follow-Up:

Promote recruitment events such as job fairs or informational sessions through SMS invitations. Follow up with attendees via text messages to thank them for participating and provide additional information about job openings or upcoming events.

Tip: Use SMS invitations to promote recruitment events and encourage attendance from targeted candidate groups. Follow up with attendees after the event to thank them for participating and provide additional information about job opportunities. Include links to relevant resources or application portals for easy access.

Text Tips For The Perfect Message

If you’re used to conducting your recruitment through emails and phone calls, it’s important to note that the rules of engagement for text messaging are a little different. Let’s take a look at some top tips for text messaging for recruitment.

Keeping Applicants Updated

Nobody likes being left in the dark and with long, challenging recruitment processes. It helps a lot to separate you from other employers if you can deliver a positive candidate experience through the efforts of keeping candidates in the loop. 

Candidates appreciate timely updates on their application status. Use SMS to provide quick updates on the progress of their application or to notify them about future job opportunities. By keeping candidates informed, you demonstrate professionalism and foster a positive candidate experience.

• Try: After reviewing your application, we're excited to move forward with the next steps. Expect to hear from us (input the amount of time here) regarding scheduling an interview.

Interview Reminders 

Reduce the likelihood of missed interviews by sending automated SMS reminders to candidates. Schedule reminders in advance to ensure candidates are prepared and punctual for their interviews. Concise messages are key to maximizing the effectiveness of these reminders.

• Try: Just a friendly reminder about your upcoming interview with us tomorrow at (input your time here). Please confirm your attendance by replying to this message.

Discreet Communication

The world of recruitment sometimes calls for discretion - after all, many of your candidates will be exploring potential roles while working full-time elsewhere, and they may not want words getting out that they’re looking to move.

Text messaging provides the perfect platform for discrete communication when phone calls and even emails might stand out. One of the challenges of recruiting is that you’re likely working the same hours that everyone else is. Phone calls during working hours can be tough to navigate with discretion.

Enable Text Responses

Simplify the candidate's journey by enabling them to respond to your SMS messages directly. Avoid redirecting candidates to other platforms, as this can lead to disengagement. Keep the conversation flowing within the SMS thread to encourage ongoing interaction.

Short and Sweet

Respect candidates' time by keeping your SMS messages concise and to the point. Aim to convey your message clearly within a limited character count, focusing on essential information that resonates with candidates. It is best to put the core message at the top of the SMS so candidates can quickly get the message when they preview it on their phone’s home screen.

Be Personal

When you’re using text messaging for recruiting, it pays to be personal. Due to a human’s desire for control and the inherent information overload of the internet, most people have a major preference for simplifying and easing personalized experiences. 

By personalizing your recruitment SMS messages, you’ll stand out from other business dispatches applicants are receiving in their inboxes, and you’ll instantly begin building a connection with your candidates. Personalized emails will lead to a higher rate of responses, and they’ll ensure the crucial information you include hits home.

Call Your Candidates To Action 

Every SMS message should prompt candidates to take action. Whether it's scheduling an interview, updating their resume, or exploring a job opportunity, include a clear call to action that motivates candidates to engage with your message.

• Try: Interested in joining our team? Reply "YES" to schedule a phone interview or "MORE" for additional details.

Provide Clear Opt-Out Instructions

Respect candidates' preferences by providing clear instructions on how to opt out of receiving further SMS messages. Include opt-out language at the end of your messages and ensure compliance with relevant privacy regulations.

• Try: To unsubscribe from future messages, reply "STOP" at any time. We respect your privacy and will promptly remove you from our SMS list.

Regularly Update Contact Lists

Keep your contact lists up to date to ensure that messages reach the intended recipients. Periodically review and clean your contact database to remove inactive or incorrect numbers, maintaining the integrity of your SMS communication channels.

About Rakuna Text Recruiting 

Text recruiting is on the rise! Get your prospective candidates' immediate attention and reach them wherever they are with Rakuna's Text Recruiting Software.

With Rakuna’s Text Recruiting, you can: 

• Send mass text messages in seconds, grow engagement rates exponentially, and make more placements - all with less manual work and in less time.
• Build relationships and keep your candidates engaged from their very first touchpoint to the end of the recruiting process. Customize your campaigns and set yourself apart by providing the human touch to every message you send!
• Optimize your text recruitment campaigns at strategic points through real-time, reliable, and comprehensive data analytics. Harness the power of data with Rakuna’s intuitive data charts.

Want to see Text Recruiting in action? Book a FREE demo with us!

Wrapping Up

Text messaging for recruitment is a valuable tool that lets you connect with clients in an instant. Thanks to a high open-rate that leaves emails dead in the water, text messages are the perfect medium for getting across essential information such as interview times and scheduling phone calls. You can use text messages to guarantee your candidate arrives at the interview and keep them up to date on future opportunities! Message received?

If you liked this article, why not check out our other post about how to plan your next campus recruiting strategy.

Images used in this post: Freepik