Text Recruiting: The Ultimate Guide

If you’re unfamiliar with text recruiting, then buckle up; it’s time to catch you up to speed. Recruiting via SMS effectively meets candidates where they are in today’s fast-paced, mobile-friendly world. It’s an efficient way for businesses to quickly get in front of busy candidates and tackle a high volume of reqs.

In this guide, we’ll cover everything you must know for successful text recruiting and provide best practices for incorporating this approach into your recruitment process. 

What Is Text Recruiting?

Text recruiting involves using text messaging to communicate with candidates and facilitate the hiring process. It can be used in a variety of applications, including scheduling interviews, sending quick updates, and answering candidate questions.

It’s a great way to reach a large pool of candidates in a short amount of time with quick, convenient communication. While recruiting via email and phone calls might’ve been the norm in the past, the tides are shifting; nearly 66% of candidates consider it acceptable to be contacted by a recruiter via text.

Advantages of Text Recruiting

Need some more convincing before you get on the text recruiting train? There’s a wide range of advantages to SMS recruitment. Here are just a few:

More Convenient for Candidates

When it comes to the most convenient communication channel, text messaging wins by a landslide. Recruiters texting candidates experience response rates of 60% to 70%. For job seekers who don’t have access to email throughout the day, such as those in manufacturing and healthcare, SMS may be the only channel that they check frequently.

Improved Hiring Process Efficiency

Acting too slowly in communication with talent strikes a blow to your hiring efficiency and might even cause candidates to lose patience and seek out other opportunities. Recruiters who use text recruiting software can reduce their time-to-hire and fill positions faster with quick, real-time responses. 

Greater Candidate Reach

Sending bulk texts to candidates is a game changer for overburdened high-volume recruiters. But regardless of if you use text recruiting for one-on-one conversations or bulk messaging, SMS recruitment allows you to reach large pools of candidates in no time. 

Upgraded Candidate Experience

Text message recruiting is a user-friendly way for candidates to communicate with your company. Making communication as streamlined and modernized as possible helps improve the candidate experience and makes your company more attractive to top talent.

When To Use SMS Recruitment

When does recruiting via text come in handy? Here are several scenarios where texting candidates can efficiently move the hiring process along:

• Interview scheduling: Say goodbye to scheduling delays. The convenience of text messaging makes coordinating interviews via text highly effective.
• Sending candidates updates: Even if you don’t have major news to share, candidates appreciate being kept informed on their status in the hiring process.
• Answering applicant questions: Candidates want to feel that your hiring team has their best interest in mind. Encouraging candidates to message any questions that they have about the process fosters trust and transparency.

Text is a great tool for initial communication and scheduling interviews, but it’s not the most appropriate channel for every stage of the hiring process. For instance, you may want to switch to a more personal communication channel, such as a phone call or a virtual meeting, for more in-depth conversations or for making a job offer.

Best Practices for Text Recruiting

Ready to reach hiring success at scale? Here are several tips to keep in mind when introducing text recruiting into your hiring process:

Before Your Initial Outreach

• Get permission first: Don’t text candidates without their consent. One of the easiest and most common ways to get their permission is by getting them to opt-in to your SMS list or by including a contact number field on the job application form.
• Keep it professional: Speaking in acronyms and spamming emojis might be normal for everyday texting, but text recruiting is a professional communication channel. Speak in plain, easy-to-understand language and leave the slang at the door. 
• Communicate with brevity: Candidates don’t want to read essay-length texts (and personally, we don’t either). Text messages should be brief and to the point to encourage responses and avoid overwhelming candidates.
• Make templates your friend: Leverage customizable templates for common messages, such as your initial outreach in scheduling an interview. This not only saves time but adds consistency to your communication.
• Even texts must be proofread: Sending candidates text messages riddled with grammatical errors delegitimizes your outreach and whichever job posting you’re referencing. Proofread, proofread, proofread.
• Get the timing right: Sorry, but candidates don’t want you to blow up their phones with texts at midnight. Take note of their time zone and keep your communication limited to business hours. 

After Your Initial Outreach

• Respect a candidate’s time: A candidate might’ve seen your text, but that doesn’t mean they’ll respond right away. The ability to respond at whatever time is most convenient is the beauty of texting; be respectful of their time and avoid sending multiple messages all in one short period.
• Be responsive and available: Candidates like it when recruiters go the extra mile to make them feel heard. If candidates have questions or concerns, make sure to address them in a timely manner. This demonstrates that you’re invested in their potential as a candidate.
• Follow through: If you say you will send additional information or schedule a call, keep yourself honest and do so in a timely manner. This gives off the impression that you view your candidates as high priorities.
• Know when to follow up: So you’re trying to schedule an interview with a candidate, and two days go by without any response back. Now that you’ve given them an appropriate window of time to respond, it’s time to follow up. Send a brief message asking if the candidate received your previous message and if they have any questions or concerns.

Add a Best-in-Class SMS Solution to Your Tech Stack

Successfully recruiting via text is a lot easier when you have the right text recruiting software by your side. GoodTime Hire’s SMS capabilities take high-volume hiring to the next level. Teams can contact candidates in seconds and schedule a time to meet without ever leaving the conversation.

Communicate one-on-one or through bulk texts, directly share your calendar availability and allow candidates to self-schedule interviews, and send automatic reminders to both candidates and interviewers. 

Learn more about GoodTime Hire’s texting and scheduling automation for high-volume hiring today.