According to Recruiter.com, 79% of smartphone owners have their phones with them 22 hours a day. Times are changing, and now, more than ever, many people prefer texting over a phone call. Texting is a great way to leave someone a quick note without having to worry about them listening to your voicemail if they don’t answer.
Below are a few examples of how I think recruiters should be enaging with candidates with text messages.
- An interview reminder – Sending a quick, “Good luck at your interview tomorrow with Mr. Smith!” will go a long way and show the candidate that you are truly invested in his/her success during the job search. Bonus: TextRecruit allows you to schedule messages to be sent, so you can set aside a few minutes on Friday to schedule the texts to be sent for all interviews the following week.
- Paperwork reminders – If you are waiting for the new hire to complete all or some tasks, send them a quick note with what needs to be completed.
- An interview follow-up – While I strongly recommend calling the candidate directly to provide the detailed feedback, if a few days have gone by and you still haven’t heard anything, send the candidate a quick text letting them know you haven’t forgotten about them and will be in touch as soon as possible. I can guarantee that the person will be happy to hear from you, even if you have no news yet. This can also apply to any feedback delay that you may have after submitting a resume for a candidate to a manager.
TextRecruit is a tool I’m currently using for mobile engagement. It’s a simplified way to attract and engage potential and active candidates. It allows you to send a text message to anyone via a platform (instead of your personal cell phone), and includes real-time reporting dashboard to track your response rate, open and click-through rate, team usage and time to respond.
A tool like TextRecruit automates messages and makes the process seamless. However, these are steps you shouldn’t skip even if you’re doing them manually.
You can have the perfect job for someone, but if you don’t engage them during the hiring process, there is a chance they may become uninterested.
What other ways can you think of to use texting for candidate engagement?
Share your thoughts below!
Disclaimer: I don’t work for TextRecruit but have researched many solutions for candidate engagement and this tool seems to solve a lot of the issues I encounter as a sourcer and recruiter. It is not a free tool, but with packages starting off at $27/month, it is certainly an affordable one and worth the money.