4 ways smart recruiters use SMS Marketing to engage candidates

The barriers to entry for using technology within recruitment have never been so low. Recruiters can take advantage of candidate databases, online job boards, and even Skype-like interviews. As technology in recruitment is now the standard, it’s more important than ever to use technology alongside tried and tested methods. Engaging candidates is what really matters. From sourcing candidates to immediate feedback, SMS marketing can be used to make the process seamless and straightforward for candidates.

We all know open rates for SMS (90%) over email (20%) are much higher on mobile phones: it's not even close! This eye-opening statistic forms the basis for all communication between the candidate and the recruiter. Here we look at four ways SMS Marketing can add value to any recruitment process.

Begin a private conversation

Can there be anything more awkward for a candidate than when a recruiter calls them up at work? Openly having a conversation with you about a 'new exciting role', whilst being at work in their existing role, is somewhat risky for the candidate to say the least, and makes you look unprofessional too.

Recruiters can take advantage of text messaging by contacting candidates, asking firstly about the candidates circumstances and lead into asking for a suitable time to talk about the specific role. Head Hunters especially should be asking if there is an appropriate time to discuss a role.

SMS Marketing works well for candidates as it is private, organised and gives the recruiter credibility.

Segment Lists

If you need to source a high number of candidates quickly, what better way than via SMS? If you’re still contacting candidates through bulk email, chances are the role will have been filled by the other agency using SMS. It’s all down to the open rates again!

If you are like many other recruitment agencies you will have several types of roles that you offer, such as Sales, Marketing, Digital and legal to name but a few. If you can segment a list and send your bulk message out to all candidates within a specific list, you can contact the most relevant candidates in the shortest amount of time.

(The above bulk messaging tactic already assumes that candidates have opted in to receive communication from your recruitment agency.)

Interview Reminders

Every recruiter knows about candidates not turning up for interviews. If you’re new to recruitment: this will happen, even if very infrequently. You simply can’t eradicate this completely. If the reason a candidate didn’t attend an interview was due to poor time-management, and they somehow ‘forgot’, you can use SMS as a fool-proof way to remind the candidate of exactly where they need to be and at exactly what time. 8

Ultimately, all recruiters understand that the product is people, and people can be unpredictable. By reminding candidate at specific intervals, (a week, a day, an hour before!) you can minimise your risk and know when a candidate missing an interview is likely to happen, saving your reputation with the client. If a candidate ignores all SMS reminders, you may need to move to Plan B.

Quick Reviews

Recruiters are busy people. It’s important to make it easy for candidates, but why not make it easy for yourself too? If you're busy working on another project, why not contact the candidate and get a quick summary, and plan to have a detailed catch up later on. You can’t always catch up with every candidate the second they leave an interview, so be smart with your time. Get a quick ‘how did the interview go?’ and have a full briefing when it suits both you and the candidate.