Get your jobs and your brand in front of the right candidates, at the right time — and nurture better relationships with prospects. See how texting is transforming recruiting.
Amanda Ranville wrote in
industries •
February 20, 2024 
In today’s competitive job market, anything you can do as a recruiter to better connect with candidates will help you hire the best people.
Well, we’re here to let you in on a secret. Text recruiting — that is, using SMS as a key channel for communicating with prospective candidates and new hires — can make a big difference to the success of your recruitment strategy.
Essentially, text recruiting is when you use SMS to support your recruitment process. You can use it to reach out to job hunters, connect with candidates, tee up interviews, and so much more.
You could even use text recruiting to send out a winning message. Like, “Great news, Sam, you’ve got the job. I’ll call you soon to nut out the details.”
Using text to recruit is a powerful addition to your broader recruiting toolkit. It’s a quick and easy way to make meaningful connections with candidates — and it might just help you land the top talent.
Text messages are the first thing people check after being away from their phones. In fact, 65% of people check their text messages at least 11 times a day, and 30% reply in 1 to 2 minutes. No other communication channel comes close.
It’s why leading recruiters are adding text recruiting to their overall recruitment strategy. With SMS, you can:
When you need to get in touch with candidates, what are your options? You’ve got the phone, of course (but, who picks up these days?). You’ve got email (but you may have to wait for a response). You’ve got social channels, too. And you’ve got SMS.
Don’t get us wrong. All these channels work. They all have their time and place in the recruitment process — there’s no winner in the ‘best channel’ stakes. But by adding SMS, you effectively boost your reach and potentially connect with some candidates that you may otherwise miss.
Certain messages suit certain channels — see what channel suits, and when.
Want to get an offer out to someone faster than your competitors do? Send a quick text message, telling them to check their inbox for the paperwork.
Need to notify a bunch of potential candidates about a new job opportunity? Send a bulk SMS to all the job hunters on your list, at the click of a button – with a link to the job description on your website. Or try sending a personalised mobile landing page.
With 90% open rates and cut through, you can rest easy knowing your text messages are more likely to be seen.
So, if you need to make a last-minute change to a job interview time, send a quick text. Or if you want to make an offer a candidate can’t resist, get on the text-line with full confidence that they’ll get the memo.
With the right SMS service behind you, texting for recruiting purposes is super simple. You can send bulk SMS from your computer, set up automated messages and replies, and reuse common templates.
To show your candidates how much you care, you can easily personalise each message. And you can track it all from one central dashboard, so you know exactly where things are at.
See more reasons why you should send text messages from your computer, not your phone.
Now that you’re sold on the benefits of SMS recruiting, let’s explore how you can hit the ground running with your texting strategy. Keep the following tips and best practices in mind.
As we explained above, using an SMS platform like Sinch MessageMedia helps you reap even more benefits from text recruiting. By making it easier to automate, personalise, and replicate messages, your team has more time to focus on what matters — building quality relationships with candidates.
Look for an SMS provider that:
Learn more about what to look for in your SMS provider.
Before you start sending SMS to candidates and new hires, you’ll need their permission. This has to do with text messaging opt-in and opt-out rules which apply to all businesses across the United Kingdom
It is good practice to confirm a candidate’s opt-in in the first message you send to them. And if you’re planning to send messages (for example, if you send out new job vacancies to all prospects in your list), you’ll need to include clear opt-out instructions.
If a candidate initiates a text chat with you — for example, they might send an SMS enquiring about a job you’ve just advertised — then you usually have implied permission to text them back.
Wrap your head around SMS compliance and best practice.
Note our rules are not complete – it’ll be up to you to know and abide by all content and consent rules.
Texting etiquette. It’s a thing. Just like you wouldn’t phone a candidate late at night, there are certain rules around when and what to send via text message.
For example, you wouldn’t want to tell a candidate who made the final round of interviews that they didn’t get the job via a text message, would you? Nor would you want to put sensitive information like salaries into an SMS. It just doesn’t look the goods.
As well as these no-no’s for recruitment messages, there are some general best practices to keep in mind — which apply to any type of text. Brush up on 10 golden rules for business texting.
Not sure what to write in your text messages? Use the templates below as inspiration — simply customise them to suit your brand and business.
To see how easy and impactful text recruiting can be, start your free trial on The Hub, our SMS platform, today. The Hub also works with WhatsApp and other conversational channels, making it easier than ever to stay connected with candidates. Get started for free.