Text Recruiting: An Ultimate Guide To Engage With Candidates

06
Jun
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Text messages are a sneaky mode to talk to someone. It is a so-called "fingered speech." in this modern world, we have now found a way to write as we talk. You might have seen that nobody really worries about adding upper case letters or grammatical errors when we text somebody. But again, do you think about these things when you talk? If so, then what does text recruiting mean? According to studies, there are only 24 out of 121 emails are opened per day by an employee. In comparison, a person sends and receives an average of approx. 94 text messages every day, with a response rate of 80%. Yes, isn't this amazing? 80% of the response rate! If it is used as a major tool, then text recruiting can be a show stopper for hiring managers and may help in reducing time-to-hire.

What Is Text Recruiting?

Text recruiting is the process of engaging with job candidates before, during, and after the recruiting process. Text recruiting can be used in many different steps of the entire hiring pipeline. This includes a job applicant's outreach, screening, interviewing, follow-ups, and re-engagements as well. The time this process takes is generally reduced as nowadays, potential recruiters or hiring managers are starting to switch to text recruiting, especially implementing a chatbot.

What Are The Pros And Cons Of Text Recruiting?

While the advantages definitely outweigh the negatives. You should still consider both pros and cons of using text recruiting in order to attract more candidates as soon as possible.

Pros Of Text Recruiting

  • Text recruiting speeds up the entire hiring progress: Text recruiting uses automation at a few stages that do not need a candidate to recruiter or hiring manager interaction. This means that most of the processes such as screening, interview scheduling, follow-ups, and more can be handled by a chatbot by a recruiter. As a result, it can save a lot of time that can be used for more important tasks. 
  • Text recruiting improves the candidate experience: Making a phone call or sending an email are not seem like good options. Both (phone calls and emails) which a candidate can easily miss or overlook. Text recruiting provides the fastest and easiest way for a recruiter or a hiring manager can stay in touch with candidates. And then, you will be able to create a positive candidate experience. Also, it shows your concern for the job seeker's valuable time.
  • Text recruiting makes a good impression on your firm: With text recruiting, it will become so easy for candidates to reach your firm. And this leaves a great impression on top talents. Even at last, if you do not end up hiring that particular Candidate for a specific job role for your firm, they can still give positive feedback about their experience interacting with you. In the future, it will be a beneficial point for recruiters in order to re-engage these candidates if they know how efficient your hiring process is.

Cons Of Text Recruiting

  • Apart from text recruiting, Email is still important! No doubt, text recruiting has the power to make your recruitment process more efficient. But, it cannot and will not wholly replace emailing process to engage more candidates. Email is still important in order to exchange essential data. Essential data such as legal documents or other sensitive data. This is why that may not be secure over text. 
  • Not every recruiter supports text recruiting. You must know that most Americans do own a mobile device and text messaging on a daily basis. There is still a minority that is out of the way with texting. This could affect your response rates, as these potential candidates do not check their messages as often. Hence, it is important to be mindful of your targeted audience and tailor your hiring strategy based on whom you are trying to reach.
  • Text recruiting is another channel to manage. Suppose your team is depending on your other mediums to engage with candidates. At the same time, adding an additional text recruiting method may 100% affect your team's ability. This way, your team's power can be affected in order to organize and be on top of every Candidate's profile. As a potential recruiter, you must discuss how you should go about using the text recruiting method in an efficient and effective way. Many recruiting software companies integrate with your current ATS (applicant tracking system). Therefore, there is no need to manually create/update your candidates' profiles.

How To Use Text Recruitment? (Tips & Tricks)

Text recruiting empowers a faster and more suitable recruitment process, not just for potential candidates but for recruiters and hiring managers also. Text recruiting enables an easier and faster recruitment process for you and your candidates. Text recruiting is the best method as it helps in keeping candidates engaged with your business and other stages of the hiring process of a specific candidate. Here are the top tips for effective hiring using text recruiting:

Tip 1: Keep Applicants Updated About Their Progress

No doubt, sometimes a recruiter needs to manage a lot of applicants' resumes. This is why your Candidate might need to wait a few weeks to know if they are selected by your company or not. This is the situation they will likely find a job somewhere else. Most job seekers will give up if they have not gotten a response back within a fortnight. That is why you need to keep in touch with them using text recruiting.

Tip 2: Talk To Candidates

Most candidates are already working as full-time employees and will not be able to receive calls during normal working hours. In addition, if they are only able to access the internet via their office network or devices, they might not be able to check even their personal emails during the day either. Here, text recruiting is a much more effective way in order to reach candidates in this kind of certain situation.

Tip 3: Send Interview Reminders

Missed interviews may waste your time as well as money. Scheduling interview reminders using text recruiting for the day of the interview can surely reduce the number of missed interviews. Also, with the help of text recruiting, you can also provide candidates with other several useful information at the same time.

Tip 4: Keep It Short And Simple

In text recruiting, you have learned to keep your messages short and straight to the point. This way, candidates will be able to extract useful information at a glance. Your business name must always be part of the key information at the beginning of your text because your Candidate may have recently applied for several similar job positions. This way, it is helpful to mention the position they are applying for in your text. This is the most important and useful part of your text recruiting.

Tip 5: Respond Quickly To Candidate

Most job seekers expect a quick response via text to arrive much faster than Email. Suppose you are offering two-way text recruiting with candidates. You have to always respond to their queries within one working day, even if it is about just saying that you will get back to them as soon as possible with more information.

Final Words

Text recruiting is a more effective method than email or a phone call since people have their smartphones with them for an average of five hours a single day. A text recruiting average response time is only 3 minutes. In comparison to an email, its response time is 47 minutes on average. This is how you will get a quicker response than if you contact a recruiter or a hiring manager through Email. I hope this ultimate guide on text recruiting helped you in the same you expected. To get more information in this regard, you may simply visit - E Global Soft Services.

Text recruiting is an important automated messaging method that recruiters use to engage candidates. Candidates are not always available to check emails or able to receive phone calls, but answering texts is much easier for them.

Following are the top practices on how should you use text recruiting:

  • Don't use your personal phone. 
  • Stick to the rules.
  • Make it personal. 
  • Identify yourself.
  • Stay on point.
  • Stay professional.
  • Keep them in the loop.

Following are some of the top benefits of using text recruiting in order to attract more candidates in less time:

  • Increases Candidate Engagements
  • Educates Candidates about Corporate Culture
  • Increase Candidate Apply Rates
  • Creates a "Concierge Candidate Experience"

Following guidelines are the most considerable while starting with implementing the text recruiting method:

  • Reply promptly to candidates
  • Text candidates only during business hours
  • Avoid symbols and emojis
  • Double-check autocorrect
  • Build text message templates to combine messages.
  • Do not use hashtags or abbreviate slang, jargon, or acronyms
  • Avoid inappropriate and sarcastic topics.
  • Do not be afraid to show personality and humor
  • Use proper grammar, capitalization, and punctuation

Keep your message in brief and focused while being your friendly and engaging self. When a text is too long or covers more than one topic at a time, it would be best to switch from text recruiting to an email method or over a phone call.