Mobile phones have become a dominant force in our everyday lives. According to Pew Research, 90% of U.S. adults now own a smartphone, making it an essential tool for communication and connectivity.
Mobile phone usage is especially prevalent among younger people. A study from Adobe reveals that 84% of Gen Zers and 73% of Millennials prefer text messaging over any other form of communication. And older generations are increasingly moving toward texting too, with 63% of Gen Xers and 43% of Baby Boomers saying it’s the best way to get in touch.
With Gen Z and Millennials now accounting for nearly half of the workforce, it's clear that hiring companies and recruiters need to adopt a mobile recruiting strategy. What does that mean exactly? The end-to-end job search experience—starting from the moment a candidate learns about your opportunity all the way until they prepare to join your team—should take place completely on their mobile phone.
A comprehensive mobile recruiting strategy is now possible with the emergence of AI and recruiting automation. Recruiters can continuously communicate with candidates via text messaging and mobile-first experiences from a centralized platform that includes multiple features.
Let’s start by exploring the candidate-centric functionality offered by an AI-powered mobile recruiting platform. Recruiters can leverage various features to drive a candidate text messaging strategy—providing them with the mobile-first experience they expect in today’s day and age.
Connecting with passive talent is one of the most effective ways to source qualified candidates for high-priority roles. However, reaching out to candidates one by one is not only incredibly time-consuming. Emails and phone calls from recruiters are increasingly going unnoticed or ignored as candidates are overwhelmed by the volume of outreach they receive.
Mass texting empowers recruiters to reach groups of qualified candidates on today’s most popular communication channel. Outreach text messages are populated with relevant details—like the candidate’s name and the location and job title for the role—so the message feels personalized and captures their attention. When they respond to the text and express interest in moving forward with the opportunity, an AI chatbot will instantly engage them and schedule an interview.
Mass texting is particularly useful for engaging talent pools in your Candidate Relationship Management (CRM) platform or those who have shared their contact information at career fairs, hiring events, or through another recruitment marketing initiative.
The classic “We’re Hiring” sign is still a great approach for generating applicants in the real world. But expecting them to come into your brick-and-mortar location to complete an application or visit your career site when they’re back at their computer has no place in the era of the mobile phone.
Text-to-apply and QR-code accessible applications allow candidates to apply on the spot from their phone, while your opportunity is fresh in their minds. They simply text a dedicated number or scan the code and an AI chatbot instantly responds and collects their application details by asking a few simple questions.
Text-to-apply and QR-code accessible applications are ideal for businesses that advertise job openings in physical locations, such as retailers and restaurants, as well as for companies that attract candidates at in-person hiring events.
Mobile recruiting extends beyond sourcing and automates the initial stages of the hiring process. Candidates are no longer expected to wait days or weeks to hear back after applying while recruiters evaluate every applicant and struggle to coordinate interviews. These stages are now automated by a recruiting chatbot and take place completely through text message.
Here’s how it works. After a candidate applies, the chatbot will continue the text message conversations with some basic pre-screening questions. If they’re qualified, it will then text them available interview slots based on the hiring team's availability. AI-powered interview scheduling can even coordinate panel or sequential interviews so candidates complete their interview obligation as quickly as possible and continue to progress toward getting hired.
With a mobile recruiting strategy supported by an AI recruiting chatbot, candidates can apply, be pre-screened, and have an interview scheduled all from their phone—within minutes of learning about your opportunity.
Today’s candidates are demanding more frequent communication from hiring companies. And they increasingly want that communication to take place through text message.
Using mobile recruiting technology, recruiters can automatically send updates, reminders, and check-ins throughout the candidate journey. For example, you can text interview reminders to reduce no-shows and send updates when candidates advance in the hiring process so they stay invested in the role. If the candidate replies to the text message (perhaps to reschedule an interview or ask a question about their status) the AI chatbot will respond and instantly accommodate their request or provide them the information they’re looking for.
Automated text messages go a long way in meeting the communication expectations of today’s candidates. Keeping candidates informed via mobile reduces drop-off and provides them with the engaging experience they want and deserve.
HealthTrust is a high-volume healthcare staffing firm that communicates with as many as 25,000 candidates and on-assignment clinicians each day. They transitioned from phone calls and emails to automated texting and saw a massive increase in engagement.
“Not everybody has a chance to answer the phone all day every day—candidates might be at work,” shares Tathiana Rivera, Enterprise Operations Specialist. “Sending a text is easier and more effective. We introduced it everywhere from point A to point Z, and saw the difference in response volume and speed almost right away.” Check out the full story from HealthTrust
The hiring process isn’t necessarily complete after a candidate accepts an offer. There is still the chance they could continue applying for other roles and not show up for their start date. While this is unfortunate for the hiring company, ceasing communication plays a big role in drop-off late in the hiring process.
Continuing to stay in touch when a candidate transitions to a new hire maintains their excitement about their upcoming start date. With mobile recruiting, you can share important information via text that better prepares them for their first day (e.g., when to arrive, what to wear, or what to expect throughout the day). You can even send check-in text messages to see if new hires have lingering questions or concerns—putting any uncertainty about their new job to rest.
Managing a mobile recruiting strategy on a large scale requires leveraging a comprehensive AI-powered Talent Engagement Platform. This centralized hub allows recruiters to send and receive text messages, track conversations, and collaborate effectively. Let’s explore the different features recruiters can leverage on their end to drive a successful mobile recruiting strategy.
Shared inboxes ensure that all text message conversations are visible to the entire recruiting team. This feature allows team members to respond to candidates when the primary contact is unavailable and prevents recruiters from duplicating efforts with the same candidate.
Color-coded and filtered messages make managing and locating conversations simple, promoting collaboration and efficient workflows.
Messaging templates help recruiters send clear and consistent text messages to every candidate they engage. Templates are auto-populated with relevant details so messages are personalized to individual candidates. You can also A/B test different templates to determine what messaging and calls to action resonate with candidates.
Need to send a quick one-off text message to a candidate? Instead of writing it from scratch, you can use generative AI to instantly create compelling content. An AI messaging generator within a mobile recruiting platform aligns with your brand’s tone and style and ensures text messages are optimized for responses and deliverability.
As we covered in the previous section, AI-powered chatbots automate interactions at scale and seamlessly advance candidates through the hiring process. In addition to collecting application details, conducting pre-screening, scheduling interviews, and providing updates and reminders, AI chatbots will match candidates to relevant jobs and answer frequently asked questions.
All in all, AI chatbots make mobile recruiting texts a conversational experience for candidates by keeping them engaged in real-time with no effort required from recruiters.
While SMS is by far the most popular text messaging platform in the U.S., global candidates tend to be more active on WhatsApp. Mobile recruiting technology enables recruiters to text candidates on both platforms, broadening outreach and boosting response rates by reaching candidates on their preferred texting app.
While mobile recruiting technology is powerful, recruiters still need to work on the fly and engage candidates when they’re not logged into the platform. A mobile app and Chrome extension enhance productivity by enabling recruiters to respond to candidate messages or even launch mass texting campaigns on the go or directly from their browsers.
Messaging analytics provide insights into the effectiveness of your mobile recruiting strategy. Recruiters can use interactive charts and dashboards to analyze data on both the campaign and user levels, helping identify key trends and big wins to share with organizational leadership. Combining messaging analytics from the mobile recruiting platform with ATS/CRM data can inform your overall recruiting strategy and lead to better hiring outcomes.
To ensure that your mobile recruiting efforts are effective and well-received by candidates, it's crucial to follow best practices for text messaging. Here are some key points to consider before you put your mobile recruiting strategy into action.
Personalized messages are a must for capturing candidates’ attention and driving response rates. Including the candidate's name and relevant details makes the text feel like it was written specifically for them, even if it’s a templated message or comes from a mass texting campaign. For example, a message that starts with "Hi [Candidate's Name], we’re hiring a [Job Title] at [Company]" comes across as a legitimate text rather than spam.
Finding the right balance in message frequency is essential in mobile recruiting. Sending too many messages can overwhelm and annoy recipients, leading to higher opt-out rates.
Conversely, infrequent messages may result in candidates forgetting about your organization and job opportunities. It might take some time but use messaging analytics to find a balanced approach that keeps candidates informed without flooding their inbox.
Your website should have a clear and compliant privacy policy that covers your mobile recruiting strategy, especially if you share candidate data with third parties (e.g., recruiting technology providers, background check providers, or skill assessment platforms).
This policy should outline how data is collected, used, and protected. By being straightforward and transparent in your privacy practices, you’ll build trust with candidates and ensure compliance with legal requirements (we’ll cover compliance in more detail in the next section).
When you think about a typical text exchange, messages are brief and part of a back-and-forth conversation. That means you should avoid sending long messages that look like blocks of text on a phone screen.
Instead, keep your messages short and to the point. For example, "Hi [Candidate's Name], we received your application for the [Job Title] role. Are you available to interview on Tuesday at 3 PM?" The candidate can then respond and you can follow up with additional details about the interview.
Mobile recruiting is at the forefront of Advanced Group’s talent engagement strategy. As they implemented texting into their communication approach, they provided their team with a toolkit of best practices.
The crux of their strategy? Simply being human. People communicate differently via text, so it’s important to match the informal nature of the medium and make your content bite-sized. Check out the full story from Advanced Group.
Speaking of back-and-forth conversations, you should ensure your mobile recruiting strategy is engaging by allowing candidates to respond to your text messages. AI chatbots can manage a high volume of conversations by providing instant responses and automatically advancing candidates through the hiring process.
This interactive approach keeps candidates engaged and provides the conversational experience they’re accustomed to when texting.
While emojis and special characters might seem engaging, they can be interpreted as spam by both mobile carriers and recipients. This can even occur due to using excessive exclamation points and dollar signs. This means you should avoid messages like, "Hi [Candidate's Name]! 😊 We’re hiring a [Job Title] with a salary starting at $50,000 🚀"
Stick to standard text copy to ensure your messages are delivered and received positively. This can be as simple as, “Hi [Candidate's Name]. We’re hiring a [Job Title] with a salary starting at USD50,000."
While following the best practices outlined in the previous section is important, understanding and adhering to both legal requirements and carrier rules are the foundation of a successful mobile recruiting strategy.
The Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) mandates that companies engaging U.S.-based candidates obtain explicit written consent (opt-in) before sending them text messages. In simple terms, this means that candidates must voluntarily provide their phone number and knowingly agree to receive text communication.
Additionally, each mobile carrier has specific guidelines that must be followed to maintain compliance and ensure the deliverability of texts. In most cases, carriers require clear opt-out instructions, such as a simple "reply STOP to unsubscribe" option in the initial text to the candidate. This ensures that uninterested candidates can easily let you know when they don’t want to receive any more messages from your organization.
More importantly, you need to respect these opt-out requests. Ignoring them can lead to complaints, damage your organization's reputation, and even result in penalties or deliverability issues. Fortunately, most mobile recruiting platforms automatically remove opt-outs from send lists, ensuring ongoing compliance with both legal and carrier requirements.
As talent engagement has become increasingly challenging, early adopters of mobile recruiting have gained a significant edge. By integrating text messaging and mobile candidate experiences into their recruiting strategy, these teams are driving hiring success in a variety of ways:
Incorporating mobile recruiting into your hiring strategy modernizes the way you attract and engage candidates. By connecting with candidates directly on their phones, you’ll capture their attention, provide an outstanding experience throughout their journey, and welcome them to your team faster than ever before.
