Text Recruiting Software: The HR Tech You Need Now

What is text recruiting?

Text recruiting is a modern method of utilizing text (SMS) messaging as recruitment communication. It offers a quick and consistent way to effectively identify and engage with potential candidates interested in your organization’s job openings. 

Text recruiting quickly gets notices and updates about available roles out to prospective candidates, enabling HR professionals and job seekers to quickly and effortlessly communicate with each other. Allowing for two-way conversations between recruiters and job seekers can significantly reduce time spent on recruitment processes, making the experience more efficient for everyone involved.

Ultimately, text recruiting gives HR professionals a wider reach when identifying top talent while simultaneously reducing costs associated with staffing vacancies.

For instance, a recruiter can quickly and directly engage with candidates via text messages. Instant one-on-one communication on candidates’ phones personalizes the experience for candidates, increasing their engagement in the hiring process. It also saves recruiters and hiring managers time as texts are more informal and take just seconds to write than emails.

In today’s competitive hiring market, reaching candidates faster and engaging with them regularly through the hiring process is critical to hiring success. Today’s candidate pool is mostly tech-savvy, and younger generations of workers expect to be texted as part of the process. They have been texting most of their lives and prefer to do so in business.

What does this mean for HR departments and operations? It means adding text messaging capabilities to your talent acquisition solutions is essential. This article looks at the benefits of using text messaging to engage candidates and why using a dedicated texting platform or integration is necessary to optimize text recruitment.

The benefits of text recruiting

In industries with high-volume hiring, there is often high turnover, leaving some shifts unfilled and managers overworked and stressed. This makes text recruiting with the ability to engage quickly with applicants an important hiring tactic. Most hourly workers apply for several jobs simultaneously, so hiring managers must reach them quickly. Texting can help you rise above your competition and gain candidates’ attention before they accept another position.

Let’s look at the benefits of using text recruiting as a communication and engagement strategy in the hiring process.

Texting increases engagement

First, text recruiting is beneficial because it increases communication between hiring teams and candidates simply because it reaches candidates on their phones. People carry their phones with them most of the time and they check their text notifications within five minutes of receiving a message. Emails may never be checked or opened. Once a text message is seen, it’s read. Text messages have a 98% read rate versus 20% for emails.

Texting is preferred

Text messaging is the most preferred method of communication – 88% of the hourly workforce prefers it. Receiving a text message is less disruptive than a phone call or even an email. It’s easier to view and respond to a text than an email. And it’s definitely easier to respond to a text than a phone call. Think about how you communicate with your friends and family. It’s likely via text.

Texting reaches candidates anywhere – any time

Second, texting does more than allow hiring teams to engage candidates instantly. It allows them to contact candidates, active and passive, at any time and anywhere. This is important because many hourly employees work a non-traditional schedule and are unavailable during regular business hours. They may not have access to a phone or computer while at work. Although they may receive a message immediately, they may not be able to respond right away.

Texting is less formal and increases trust

Texting improves candidates’ experience by relaxing communications with hiring organizations. Texting, being what it is, is informal communication. It helps break down barriers and build trust and relationships, far more than emails. Emails tend to be more formal, taking longer to be read and answered. Candidates can text questions to recruiters directly and receive answers quickly, sending their satisfaction with the process sky high.

Texting builds your candidate pool

Text recruiting is good for building a talent pool. Recruiters can continue to reach out to candidates in the future, even if the candidate takes a job elsewhere. Because mobile numbers rarely change, their number is in the database – forever. The candidate becomes part of a talent pool that can get notified of future open positions or job fairs.

Texting is efficient

Text recruiting also helps improve hiring teams’ experience by reducing the back-and-forth phone tag with candidates. And the problem of emails that seem to fall into black holes, never to be heard from or seen again. Texting is efficient, too – not taking too much time. It’s much easier to write a short text than to craft an email.

Texting expedites you hiring process

That brings up another benefit of text recruiting: the ability to share information faster. Recruiters can text candidates information about where their application is in the process or notify them of missing paperwork. Texting gives candidates an avenue to ask questions throughout the process. And again, recruiters and hiring managers can respond instantly to those questions. And the same goes for candidates who can respond quickly with their answers. This helps shorten the hiring process and increases the likelihood that the candidate will stick around until the end.

The benefits of text recruiting software

Recruiters have been reaching out to prospects and candidates by texting them from their personal devices for years, so that’s not new. What is new is text recruiting technology, dedicated solely to texting, that integrates directly with applicant tracking systems. This add-on technology makes it easy for organizations to add texting capabilities without having to switch their current ATS.

Today’s texting platforms offer everything you need to engage with candidates via text messaging. Because text recruiting software integrates with applicant tracking systems, recruiters and hiring managers have the ability to send texts directly from their computers as if they are being sent from a mobile device. For hiring teams, this makes creating and responding to texts effortless.

In addition to one-to-one direct messaging, a best-of-breed texting solution will include the ability to bulk or mass message prospects and candidates. Texting hundreds of candidates at once greatly improves reach while still providing a personalized experience.

Automatically syncing with applicant tracking systems, a text recruiting platform stores all text communications in the ATS. Messages can be easily searched and retrieved. Team members working with the same contacts can see an entire text history enabling them to pick up where the last conversation ended, reducing dropped candidates.

Texting platforms also include automation powered by a chatbot that can send repetitive-type messages to candidates on behalf of hiring teams. For example, an automated status update can be sent via a chatbot when a candidate completes one part of the process and advances. Automated messages are still personal and keep candidates engaged without recruiters’ or hiring managers’ involvement, freeing them to focus on other duties.

Dedicated texting solutions will automate compliance, too. It will log all text conversations for an audit trail, provide options to Opt-In or Opt-Out, and verify phone numbers.

Wrap Up

Text recruiting is the fastest way to communicate with candidates, especially hourly candidates, who may not have access to a computer or phone during regular working hours. Texting helps recruiters and hiring managers connect with candidates at any time of day and instantly respond with personalized messages. Automated texts can help keep candidates engaged throughout the hiring process with no involvement of recruiting staff.

Candidates prefer text messages to email or phone communications. Adding a text recruitment solution to the hiring process gives candidates a better experience and a shorter time to hire.

Consider adding a texting solution to your talent acquisition solution. Cadient Texting is the best text recruiting integration you can add to your hiring process. Learn more about it here.

Check out our other resources related to text recruitment. Or browse more general recruiting & talent acquisition articles.