A New York Times article from earlier this year declared that “Americans can’t quit SMS” — the humble text message is still the preferred means of communication in the US. Since the pandemic, more people prefer texting over email, phone calls, social media messaging, etc.
This presents an excellent opportunity for recruitment teams to reach candidates through text recruiting, in real time. The benefits are evident in Gartner’s findings which show that open rates for SMS can be as high as 98%, with response rates of 45%. These rates clearly win over email, which only provides 20% open and 6% reply.
Connecting with candidates via text messages helps recruiters:
In order to achieve greater success, organizations need a robust, consolidated texting platform.
Since not all texting platforms are created equal, ask the following questions:
Most texting platforms available today tend to be customer service or marketing-oriented. This rigidity can be unsuitable for recruiting. While choosing a text message recruiting platform, check if it is designed for hiring with features customized for recruiters. Look for features like targeting based on open roles, text-to-apply etc.
Check if the recruiting text messaging platform has bi-directional integration with your recruitment stack such as the applicant tracking system (ATS). This will help personalize messages dynamically on the texting platform, while retaining archives of all conversations on the ATS for compliance and record keeping.
Recruiters speak to dozens of candidates each day. To engage meaningfully, they need to personalize these text message conversations. A text recruiting platform’s broadcast messages must allow for dynamic variables such as name, job role, etc., emojis, and custom signatures.
The larger the recruitment team, the more complex hiring pipelines get. To manage this seamlessly, check if the texting platform includes a shared inbox. Also make sure recruiters can manage multiple hiring lines using two or more phone numbers.
If you’re recruiting at scale, accessing an individual or a particular conversation from a robust database is a must. A good texting platform must enable this quickly, even from the mobile app.
Ask if the texting platform can create AI-powered and customized messages and templates, set up automated check-ins, and schedule messages to save recruiter time and effort.
The Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) guidelines apply to texting. Make sure your texting system protects you from compliance breaches.
Armed with that list, let us see the best texting platforms for recruiting out there.
Sense Messaging is an AI-driven talent engagement platform built by Sense for recruiting. It has helped hire over 3 million candidates for its’ 600+ customers. Sense Messaging has helped increase response rates and grow hiring with proven ROI within one year.
Sense Messaging offers:
Two-way text messaging: Available on Android and iOS, the Sense mobile app allows for 1:1 text conversations on the go.
Dynamic text broadcasts: Instantly sends personalized recruiting texts to hundreds of candidates with customization by name, job role, signature, etc. This includes a scheduling tool to communicate at optimal times for all parties.
Shared inbox: Ensures enhanced team collaboration with effortless handover from recruiter to recruiter.
Precise targeting: Advanced candidate search using various keywords such as phone number, name, tags, etc.
Recruiter-driven visibility: Enables recruiters to sort and view text messages instantly based on activity status.
Text-to-apply recruiting: Lets candidates text-in and apply to jobs conversationally via text.
Bi-directional integration with other software platforms: Leverages up-to-date candidate information from the ATS for hyper-personalization, and writes back all conversation data to ensure compliance and record keeping. When candidates text to apply, Sense automatically collects information from them and creates profiles on the ATS as well.
Sense is also the best-reviewed text recruiting platform on Capterra with a rating of 4.8 out of 5, ranked the top performer for 2021 in the category. Sense is also a top-rated platform in multiple categories on G2.
TextRecruit is one of the earliest entrants to the texting platforms for recruiting market (acquired by talent cloud company ICIMS in 2018).
Text messaging: Across SMS, Facebook Messenger, and WhatsApp.
Text-to-apply: Candidates start their application process by simply texting a keyword to a mobile number.
Virtual career fairs: Recruiters meet multiple candidates at once on chat.
Automation: Schedules broadcast message campaigns to candidates and employees.
Internal texting: Connects recruiters with HR reps and hiring managers.
TextRecruit has been reviewed on Capterra with a rating of 4.3 out of 5.
Textus is a general-purpose texting platform. In addition to standard two-way messaging, the module offers hire-driven features such as:
Broadcast messages: Sends text message announcements to multiple candidates at once.
Analytics: Reports on candidate response, recruiter performance, etc.
Textus can be white-labeled for resale. It has a rating of 4.75 out of 5 on Capterra.
Jobvite brought its text recruiting platform to market in 2018. Jobvite Text offers:
Two-way text messaging: Interacts with candidates via text messaging, including broadcast messages.
Textbots: Automates screening and initial interaction with candidates through text.
Text-to-apply: Enables candidates to apply for open job positions using a shortcode phone number.
Auditability: Provides clear audit trails, text recruiting templates, and shared documents.
While Jobvite has a rating of 4.1 out of 5 on Capterra, most reviews are for their ATS.
Brazen is a virtual career fairs and events company offering a wide range of products, such as live chat and recruiting chatbots. In addition to real-time functionality, it also offers:
Control: Enabling recruiters to keep live chat open only for specific positions using customizable job rules.
Shift-to-SMS: If a recruiter is offline, the app automatically shifts the conversation to SMS.
FAQ Concierge: Chatbot answers frequently asked questions automatically.
Analytics: Tracks candidate quality and recruiter performance.
Brazen is rated 4.6 out of 5 on Capterra, most reviews are about experience conducting virtual events.
The above list should give you a head start on choosing the right texting platform for your recruitment team. Be sure to research and shortlist those that best suit your needs. A live demo and testing will help ensure the best decision: to see how Sense Messaging can accelerate your recruiting, schedule a chat with our team today!
