How common is it for you to text a candidate verse by emailing him? Is it normal for you to send a text message or does it seem out of place? If you’re not texting candidates regularly, you may be missing out on a great opportunity to streamline your hiring process. 95% of text messages are read within 3 minutes of being sent.¹ And text messages are the most used form of communication by American adults under the age of 50.² These are important statistics to keep in mind account when communicating with candidates and opens up the opportunity for recruiters to use text messaging. as a source of communication compared to sending an email or a call. Texting candidates will help you recruit more efficiently and make every recruiter’s life easier!
Speed up your recruiting process
Think about your typical communication with a candidate. Are you often waiting for an answer? The average response time for an email is 90 minutes, but only 90 seconds for a text.³ Emails are not seen immediately and are often lost among the hundreds of other emails that are received every day. For every hour that goes by without an email response, the chances of getting a response drop rapidly. 4 Almost everyone has their phones within arm’s reach, so why not send a text for a quick response instead of an email? Eliminate the waiting game.
Let’s paint a picture. Let’s say you have a new job order to fill out and you want to know if one of your top candidates would be interested in the position. You can send them a text and hopefully receive a response within minutes. This lets you know right away if they are interested in the position or if you should continue searching for another candidate. The same is true if you are trying to schedule your appointments for the week. Sending quick text messages to candidates can allow you to schedule your appointments faster and spend more time recruiting!
Recruiters can also send short, simple screening questions via text message before a phone interview. This will reduce phone interview time and allow you to receive answers to screening questions in advance if needed.
Eliminate phone tagging
Gallup research indicates that half of American employees are actively looking for a new job.5 This means 50% of your candidates cannot answer your call during business hours. Texting gives the candidate a better chance to respond to your message and bypasses phone tagging issues altogether. If a recruiter calls during work, a candidate may try to call you back at lunch and then miss you while you’re eating lunch. Then the recruiter calls back after lunch, but the candidate is at work and can’t answer. These are typical phone tagging issues you have when your candidate currently has a job. Sending a quick text about a job opportunity or checking availability for an interview will make a recruiter’s life so much easier! Skip the unnecessary back and forth.
Helps eliminate ghost images
Also, text messages are a great way to send reminders about meetings or interviews. If you have a phone interview scheduled for the next day, consider sending that candidate a text to confirm your availability and ask them to respond at a certain time. If you don’t respond confirming, then you can plan your time with another candidate.
It also eliminates the awkwardness between you and a client if a candidate doesn’t show up for an interview. You can warn the customer ahead of time that you didn’t receive a confirmation, instead of the customer ghosting your lead.
Set up text templates and timesheet reminders
Enterprise text messaging technologies allow you to set up text message templates. This eliminates taking the time to write redundant text day after day. Instead, templates let you quickly select the type of text you want to send in seconds, further speeding up your hiring process. Standard templates can be made to send texts about availability, interview confirmations, inquiries about interest in a position, etc. A template can be made for anything!
Additionally, once a candidate is placed, text templates can be made to send reminders on how to complete their time sheets. A quick text reminder can help fill out more time sheets on time.
Improve the candidate experience with your organization
Texting will also help improve the overall impression you make on a candidate. Think about the points above and how texting will help in the life of a recruiter. The same points are applicable from the perspective of a candidate. It will speed up their job search process, eliminate phone tagging hassles, and allow them to receive confirmation that interviews are still taking place. From a candidate’s perspective, all of this expedites his job search and eliminates frustration.
Plus, it’s a more personal way to communicate. Millennials and Gen Xers often prefer texting to calling and it comes more naturally to them. Businesses can be seen more positively if they use simpler and more preferred methods of communication.
In general, texting candidates is the new way of communication for staffing and recruiting. It must be hugged. The sooner you implement text messaging, the more agile your hiring process will be.
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single point study
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Gallup study
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ctia.org
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PonyMail Studio
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Gallup study
