Recruiters and staffing firms are choosing to text candidates more than any other time in history, and this trend will continue as more Millennials and Gen Z workers make up the majority of the candidate market. Texting candidates at key moments in the recruiting process has the potential to be disarmingly personal and familiar, which can lead to unbeatable response rates and speed. But done wrong it can have precisely the opposite effect.
Text Messaging Stats Recruiters Should Know
- The average SMS campaign conversion rate is 45% (Salesforce)
- 98% of all SMS messages are read, compared to only 20% of emails (Adobe)
- The average person takes 90 seconds to reply to an SMS message – but 90 minutes to respond to an email. (GSM)
Let’s run that last stat back as a ratio for recruiters seeking edge: candidates respond to text messages on average 60X quicker than email.
In order to fight to the top of a candidate’s conscious attention, let alone earn a response, building a sharp multi-channel communication strategy in both message and medium is a must. Texting, as a means to nurture existing relationships, or accelerate you through a job req should very much be part of that.
Commonly known as ‘Text Recruiting’ – agency recruiters use the speed and response rate of texting to gain an edge over their competition, and candidates handled with care love how convenient and discreet it is.
But text “recruiting isn’t as simple as sending a candidate a text from a cell phone – in fact there’s a lot more to it. If done right, having an effective text recruiting strategy will help your recruiting team win more placements and generate more revenue.”
Excerpted from an upcoming ebook – Guide to Text Messaging for Recruitment
A word of caution. Texting offers us instantaneous communication with friends, family, colleagues, and associates. But history tells us that this last bastion of privacy will be breached in time. As recruiters, we shouldn’t try to hasten its fall.
In collaboration with Crelate integration partner Rectxt, we’ve produced this infographic to educate, inform, and inspire our recruiting and staffing community about the Do’s & Don’ts of texting as part of the overall recruiting process.
Remember: receiving an initial unsolicited text can result in the candidate completely shutting down or blocking your communication. Whatever you do, don’t just lead with a cold, non-personalized text.
Instead, develop your sequence of communication. It should be part of your secret sauce as a great recruiter. When and in what order do you use the tools are your disposal? Perhaps your unique playbook leads off with a LinkedIn message or InMail on Day 1, the next day a call, a voicemail, a follow-up email, and a text. Or will you go texting all the way?
That’s all for now. We hope you’ve found this both informative and inspiring about how you can take your candidate relationship management game to the next level by adding or improving text recruiting as a core practice.
