What is text recruit?
Text recruit is a modern approach to talent acquisition where the recruiter uses text messages as a communication medium to engage and stay connected with the candidates. It is a way to quickly and easily communicate with potential hires and has become a popular channel in recent years due to its convenience and effectiveness.
Recruiters can utilize text messaging to notify job seekers about new job openings, schedule interviews, or provide updates on their application status.
Why use text for recruiting?
Text recruitment has been around for a long time. But its actual efficiency now unlocks itself among endless emails, calls, and spam messages. As people become more familiar with the usage of texts as a means of everyday communication, it makes sense to leverage it for the recruitment process as well.
In fact, many candidates prefer text recruiting over other forms of communication. One of the prominent advantages of text recruiting is response time. Candidates often read text messages faster and respond to recruiters in a short time. Plus, text recruiting can be automated, which can save recruiters time and resources.
The 6 advantages of Text recruiting:
- Get instant attention from the candidates
- Higher open and response rate compared to emails
- Text recruiting can be easily automated using tools
- Allows more informal and engaging conversations between recruiters and candidates.
- Enables real-time updates and communication for both sides
- Easy ‘text to apply’ option which makes it easy for job seekers to apply for a job via text message
How can you implement text recruit in your existing hiring process?
To implement text recruiting in your existing hiring process, you can start by collecting phone numbers from job seekers during the application process and also by extracting the mobile numbers from the existing resumes. Once you have a list of phone numbers, you can begin sending text messages to candidates to keep them engaged and informed throughout the hiring process. Now you can use text messages to schedule interviews, send reminders, and provide updates on the status of their application. To automate the process, you can use Recruitment automation software to manage and track your communication with candidates.
Six tips to help you successfully implement text recruitment in your hiring process:
1. Obtain consent: This is very much important to kickstart your text recruitment process. Before you start texting candidates, you should obtain their consent. You can do this by including an opt-in option on your job application form or by sending a follow-up email asking if they would like to receive text messages about job opportunities.
2. Choose a text recruiting platform: There are several text recruiting platforms available in the market. Choose the one that best fits your needs and budget.
3. Create a text recruiting strategy: Develop a texting strategy that includes the types of messages you want to send, the frequency of messages, and the tone and voice of the messages, categorizing the candidates based on the stages in the recruitment funnel.
4. Set up automated messages: Text recruiting software allow you to set up automated messages to be sent to candidates at different stages of the recruitment funnel, such as when they first apply, initial screening, and when they are invited to an interview.
5. Monitor responses: Be sure to monitor responses to your text messages and respond promptly to any questions or concerns. You can also use text recruiting platforms to track engagement and measure the effectiveness of your text recruiting strategy using analytics.
6. Evaluate and adjust: Evaluate the effectiveness of your text recruiting strategy regularly and adjust it as needed. This can help you optimize your hiring process and improve candidate engagement throughout the recruitment process.
Let’s explore different types of Text recruitment methods
There are several different types of text recruitment methods that recruiters can use to communicate with candidates via text message. Here are some examples:
Automated text messaging:
These are pre-written text messages that are sent automatically to candidates at various stages of the recruiting process. Recruiters usually use them to send reminders to candidates about interviews or notify them when a position is filled.
Text-to-apply:
This allows job seekers to apply for a job by sending a text message with a ‘text to apply’ call to action. Recruiters can then review the application and follow up with the candidate if they want to move forward.
Mass texting:
Mass texting can quickly and efficiently send messages to a large group of candidates, such as notifying them about new job opportunities or upcoming career fairs. Most text recruiting software provides all of these features, plus additional tools to help recruiters communicate better with candidates.
Key steps to follow when choosing text recruiting software
- Have a clear goal: Determine what’s your end goal. What is missing in the current hiring process is that you need text communication. It can be anything—improving the open rate, getting better responses from the target audience, or, automating certain parts of the hiring process to engage efficiently with candidates. Knowing your goals will help you find software that meets your needs.
- Recruitment software with ease of use: Nowadays, for any software to be successful it has to be user-friendly. Your users should be able to figure out easily. how to use it. It should be easy to use and integrates seamlessly with your existing recruiting process.
- Integration with existing tools: If you are already using an applicant tracking system(ATS) or any other HR software, look for a text recruiting software that can integrate with these tools to streamline your entire hiring process.
- Check for compliance: Ensure that the text recruit software is compliant with relevant laws and regulations, such as the Telephone Consumer Protection Act.
- Testing before going live: As a preventive measure, first test the software with a small group of audience and check whether it is meeting your needs and expectations effectively.
Key features to look for in a Text recruiting software
Like any other software, it is important to evaluate if the software you are purchasing has the features that’ll help you improve your business process. The text recruitment software should include the ability to send automated text messages, two-way text messages for candidate engagement, text options to apply, and integration with existing HR software. Also, look to see if it offers other features such as analytics and reporting, compliance with relevant laws and regulations, and the ability to customize messages based on the stages of the recruitment funnel.
Top benefits of using text recruiting
Faster communication with candidates
By using text recruiting software, recruiters can quickly and efficiently communicate with candidates in a more direct and personal way. Text messages have a much higher open rate compared to email, meaning that candidates are more likely to read and respond to a recruiter's message. Furthermore, text recruiting enables recruiters to reach candidates on-the-go, making it easier for them to schedule interviews and follow-ups without having to rely on email or phone calls.
Higher response rates and engagement with candidates
In comparison to emails and phone calls, which are naturally time-consuming tasks with lower response rates, text messages get high open and response rates. Improper responses are the primary reason behind candidate ghosting. With text recruit, businesses are more likely to receive a response from candidates to minimize ghosting.
Improved candidate experience and satisfaction
With the right updates at the right time for both employees and candidates, text recruit can offer a fast and positive experience throughout the recruitment process right from applying for the job to getting selected.
Reducing unwanted workload for Human Resource professionals(HRs)
Text recruit can automate many communications that HR teams typically handle manually, freeing up time and resources for other tasks.
Employee engagement
Not only limited to candidates, but text recruiting can also help human resource professionals (HRs) to have regular consistent engagement with employees in different ways like sending reminders on special occasions, training-related updates, company news, opportunities in their career development, etc.
Increase in productivity
With automation and sequence settings, companies can save a lot of time spent on following up the candidates and automate the mundane tasks, which impacts in increasing the day-to-day productivity of recruiters.
Improved hiring outcomes
By staying connected and having healthy conversations with candidates, leakages in the recruitment funnel can be minimized a lot, resulting in improved hiring outcomes for the company. Overall, text recruit is a game-changing method that can be used in a variety of ways to improve recruitment, employee engagement, and communication within organizations.
Here are the common use cases where you can utilize Text recruiting
- Job postings and alerts: With text messages, recruiters can easily notify candidates regarding job openings and share relevant links for them quickly apply. This can give better results in comparison to applications via job boards.
- Screening and pre-qualifying candidates: Recruiters can conduct the initial screening process via text with the right set of questions. It can help them save a lot of time in the recruitment process. You can use text messages with multiple-option questions and screen candidates who meet the minimum requirements for the position.
- Interview scheduling: You can easily share the virtual meeting links or calendar invites via text messages and schedule the interview seamlessly.
- Onboarding the candidates: In case of onboarding after the final selection, text messages can be used to share the latest information about the company, orientation schedules, and any other necessary updates.
- Interview updates and follow-ups: Not only limited to candidates, but text recruiting can also help HR professionals to have regular consistent engagement with employees in a variety of ways like reminders on special occasions, training-related updates, company news, opportunities in their career development, etc.
- Get timely feedback: By leveraging feedback from candidates, businesses can get a lot of insights on improving their recruitment practices and funnel efficiency. On finishing the interview process for a candidate, with a single timely message every time, you can unlock the feedback goldmine and easily analyze your process.
- Re-engage with past candidates: It’s hard to maintain the past candidates' information and reengage to attract them for any new position. Text recruiting can help in easily re-engaging with them by sending a short message about the latest opening and checking if they are interested in the newly opened position.
In today’s time and world, as more Gen-Z people are entering the workforce and millennials are moving up in the corporate ladders to senior positions, recruitment strategies and techniques also need to be updated to match the needs of the current generation. Undoubtedly, these people are more engaged in text communication than any other channel. Thus it is a wise choice to incorporate text recruit in your recruitment practices to tackle today’s talent acquisition hurdles.
FAQ
What is text recruiting software?
Text recruiting software helps recruiters to automate text message communication with all the candidates in the respective interview process, following the candidate’s stage in the recruitment funnel.
Can I text the recruiter?
Generally, from the candidate side, if you want to apply for a job, in the initial stages it is better to select any other mode of application other than texting. Once you get the response from the recruiter, it is good to communicate via text messages. At the same time, if you receive an incoming message from the recruiter, it is good to reply via text after verifying the sender.
How do you write a recruitment text?
If you are about to reach the candidates via text messages, it is better to send messages after getting consent. Based on the candidate’s knowledge about you, and their stage in the hiring process, customize the text message and add a personalization layer to get more connected with the candidate.
What is a text-based interview?
A text-based interview is an initial screening process conducted by a recruiter through text messages, to screen potential candidates who meet the minimum requirements. Generally, this kind of screening happens if the pool of candidates is large enough for the position opted for.
