Talent acquisition is all about building relationships. So, good talent acquisition technology needs to make that process easier in order to be worthwhile. The challenge is that communications preferences change constantly, so the tools required to build relationships effectively must also change.
For the last 20 years or more, email and phone calls have been the ‘go to’ tools for recruiters looking to communicate with candidates and prospects. However, changing communication habits have made both dramatically less effective in recent years as email/phone have been replaced by texting as the communication medium of choice for most users.
Here are several statistics that illustrate the how pervasive texting in recruiting has become, confirming that it’s an essential tool for modern hiring teams.
81% of Americans own a Smartphone1
In 2011, only 35% of Americans owned a smartphone. Today, 92% of adults age 30 to 49 own one, while 96% of those aged 18 to 29 do. Even devices that aren’t ‘smartphones’ support text messaging, so virtually all mobile phone users are reachable by text.
292 million people in America use text messaging2
292 million represents 80% of the US population. On average, each American office worker receives 121 emails, with an average open rate of 20% or 24 emails.3 By comparison, the average American sends/ receives 94 text messages per day, with an astonishing 80% response rate.4 The divergence in response rates illustrates the fact that users attribute significantly more importance to texts than emails.
Messaging is the #1 reported use of smartphones5
The average American has installed between 60 to 90 applications on their smartphone. Yet in that crowded field of choices, native text messaging apps are the most popular. Clearly, any recruiter that ignores the most popular mobile communication tool available is putting themselves at a massive disadvantage.
Americans spend 55 minutes a day texting on average6
Research indicates that Americans spend 3 hours and 35 minutes on their phones each day, 25% of which is spent texting.7 That time represents an enormous window of opportunity for recruiters to get the attention of candidates that are otherwise distracted and hard to reach.
Average response time for texting is 60X faster than for email.8
What’s your own response when you get a new text message? How about when you get your 200themail of the day? Job seekers have the same reaction! The average response time for text messages is only 90 seconds. If you’re serious about reducing time to hire, you need to take advantage of that fact.
89% of people like to text with business and service providers9
Texting is easier than communicating by other means. We can do it in the elevator, when we’re standing on line at the store… we can do it whenever is convenient. That’s why people prefer texting. And, if we have a relationship with a business (or want one), there’s no reason not to prefer it in that case too. Clearly there are exceptions… most people don’t want to be texted by a business for pure marketing purpose. But, if there’s something in it for the consumer, then most people are on board. Today’s job seekers want that convenience in their interactions with prospective employers too.
60% of employers are currently texting candidates
According to a recent CareerXroads survey, 36% of companies have been texting candidates for some time now and 24% are just starting to integrate text recruiting.
The bottom line is that texting is pervasive. If your organization doesn’t embrace text recruiting then your competitors will. That will make your job harder and harder over time. The good news is that it’s easy for recruiters to get started with texting.
54% of consumers want text messages from marketers
But only about 11% of total businesses are sending them out. Jobs can be included in marketing messages. “BTW, we’re also hiring click here” could be a great message to send after a confirmation interaction with your customers.
This 2019 survey found that native text messaging apps are most popular among smartphone users. Usage on these apps was 3X as likely as on Facebook Messenger, 6X over WhatsApp, and 11 X versus Instagram.
23% of people wouldn’t mind receiving an SMS from a brand if they opt-in for the service
Contradictory to what is generally thought, SMS marketing trends say that users wouldn’t mind receiving an offer from a brand via text. Customers feel this way because of the personal touch of text messages, along with the fact that, for companies to reach out via SMS, consumers have to deliberately choose this means of communication. (Marketing Profs)
Emissary’s text recruiting software makes it easy. Book a demo today.1. PEW Research Center, 2019
2. PEW Research Center, 2019
3. LifeWire, 2019 & Emissary.ai4. TextRequest, 2018 & Emissary.ai
5. Axway, MarketingCharts
6. TextRequest, 20187. Marketer, 2018
8. CTIA, HubSpot
9. PEW Research Center, 2019
10. Small Business Trends
