Communication and the Candidate Experience

It is an interesting time in the employment market. With open positions outnumbering active jobseekers, organizations are looking at ways to stand out as employers of choice. As organizations look to reimagine talent acquisition, candidate experience is emerging as a competitive differentiator.

While some may argue that candidate experience has always been key to attracting and hiring talent, the pandemic and resulting changes in candidate behavior have made candidate experience even more important for organizations. 

Unfortunately, in the quest to automate the recruiting process, the candidate experience is often a casualty. A recent survey found that only one percent of the companies communicated the status of the application to the candidate using email, text, etc. beyond the automated initial email confirming submission.  

As humans, we crave social connection. It is no secret that candidates want better communication from their recruiters. The challenge is delivering personalized communication at scale. And that’s where text recruiting software comes into the play. 

Improving the Candidate Experience with Communications: Is Text Recruiting the Answer?

The consumerization of technology over this past decade has played a major role in shaping candidate expectations. When candidates have access to instant feedback and communication in their private lives, they expect the same level of personalization and thoughtfulness when applying for jobs. 

While communication and feedback remain an integral part of the candidate experience, recruiters struggle to respond to each applicant due to a variety of reasons – high applicant volume, understaffed recruitment teams, high-time and effort requirements, etc. 

Technology solutions like Emmissary.ai offer a powerful solution for talent acquisition teams looking to improve their candidate experience. At its core, text recruiting uses short messaging service (SMS) to inform applicants about open positions, communicate with them, and keep them engaged through the application processes. 

Text recruiting makes even more sense when you consider the fact that nearly 90% of candidates today use a mobile device to search for jobs.  And these people actually read text messages. Research suggests that 90% of the recipients read a text message within the first three minutes of receiving it. Texting is clearly one of the most effective ways to engage with active and passive candidates.[image_with_animation image_url=”9944″ animation=”Fade In” hover_animation=”none” alignment=”” border_radius=”none” box_shadow=”none” image_loading=”default” max_width=”100%” max_width_mobile=”default” img_link=”https://www.bankmycell.com/blog/how-many-phones-are-in-the-world”]

5 Ways Text Recruiting Improves the Candidates Experience

1. Timely feedback: Are you still waiting to hear from that company you applied to in 2019? You’re not alone – nearly 99% of companies fail to communicate with their candidates on the status of their application. Text recruiting software helps recruiters send out automated updates that keep candidates informed about their application status. 
2. Omnichannel communication: Candidates land on jobsites or jobs from various platforms – social media, job boards, newsletters, and forwards/shares. Text recruiting tools allow recruiters to connect and engage with candidates wherever they are through direct messaging. 
3. Provides better contextual information: Larger recruiting teams often spend a significant amount of time just validating candidate information – multiple recruiters may ask similar questions to the candidate. This leads to a fragmented experience. Text recruiting software has a central record of candidate communications that provides recruiters with all the context they need to have more meaningful conversations with candidates.
4. Drive personalization at scale: Text recruiting platforms offer the best marketing technology has to offer. Recruiters can segment candidates and send out highly personalized and targeted communication to inspire applications or improve engagement. 
5. Streamline workflows: The best text recruiting platforms integrate with leading ATS, HCM, and other HR solutions, allowing recruitment teams to streamline their workflows without duplicating efforts and improving team productivity.  

3 Best Practices for Candidate Communication

Despite the promise of text recruiting, over 65% of companies still don’t have a formal strategy in place to leverage bulk messaging. If you’re looking to add text recruiting to your HR tech stack, you may want to keep these best practices in mind to maximize impact:

1. Keep your messages short and to the point: While mobile phones have done wonders for communication, they are also notorious for shortening our attention spans. Try to keep your messages shorter than or equal to 160 characters. However, we recommend avoiding abbreviations or SMS slang like gr8, ttyl, and brb. Use more characters if you must. 
2. Include a CTA: What action do you want your candidate/s to take after they read your message? Include a clear CTA – apply, visit our career site, call me for more details etc. in your text message. 
3. Be patient: Text recruiting is asynchronous, and it is very likely that candidates are texting you from work or may be busy. Don’t pressurize your candidates to respond – this might come across as pushy or aggressive. 

Conclusion

Text recruiting addresses a very real pain-point for both candidates and recruiters – instant and accessible feedback. While there is no substitute for in-person communication, text recruiting is the next best thing. You can experiment with use-cases ranging from cold messaging to engagement and nurture campaigns, and even text interviewing. 

As the world of work transitions to a remote, location agnostic experience, text recruiting is perhaps the most powerful tool at recruiters’ disposal to attract, connect, and engage with candidates wherever they are.