Emails and phone calls can go unanswered, but 95% of text messages are read within 3 minutes of being sent, and 45% get a response. The way your candidates communicate has changed, and you need to meet them where they are in order to elevate your candidate experience and win top-tier talent for your team.

1. Texting for Talent: How to Build Your Talent
Pipeline Through Mobile
Jen Dewar Naba Ahmed
With: Moderated by:
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2. TextRecruit helps businesses recruit more talent by allowing job seekers to
research career opportunities, engage recruiters via text messaging, and
complete job applications directly from their mobile devices. TextRecruit was
created to provide a central location for recruiting teams to send, manage
and track candidate text messages at scale, without use of a personal
network.

3. Click on the Questions panel to
interact with the presenters
https://www.recruitingbrief.com/webinar-series/texting-for-talent/

4. About Jen Dewar
Jen Dewar is a marketing consultant in the HR technology space with a focus on developing educational content
for HR professionals and recruiters. She is passionate about diversity and inclusion, lifelong learning and
development, and treating people like people throughout the candidate and employee experiences. Outside of
work, you can find Jen snowboarding in Tahoe, enjoying a glass of wine in Sonoma, or hanging out at home with
her husband and son.
About Naba Ahmed
Naba went to Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo and majored in Journalism and minored in Integrated Marketing
Communications. After working as Editor-in-Chief at the campus newspaper, she became interested in developing
content across multiple platforms, and now works as a Content Marketing Specialist at Aggregage, providing some of
the most interesting thought-leaders across a wide variety of industries with a space to celebrate the diversity, depth,
and experience of their professional cultures, personalities, and passions.

5. 5
Our Agenda
01 Housekeeping
02 Why Texting, Why Now?
03 5 Use Cases for SMS in the Recruitment Process
04 Best Practices for Text Recruiting
05 Q&A

6. 6
Why Texting, Why Now?
High Competition for Talent
There are 7 million job openings and 6.5
million people unemployed.
Emails Go Unanswered
Email has a 7.3% open rate, and a 2.1%
response rate.
Text is the Preferred
Method of Mobile
CommunicationText messaging has a 99% open rate, a
37% response rate, a 12 minute
response time, and is preferred over
voice calling.

7. 43% of employers
have used texting to
reach out to
candidates

8. 5 Use Cases for SMS in
the Recruitment Process

9. 9
Attract Talent
Convert candidates at job fairs right away,
by inviting them to apply to a specific role
or to be added to your job distribution list.
Job Fairs
If you’re constantly hiring for a given role,
such as nurses or salespeople, allow
candidates to join your talent network and
receive job alerts via text.
Evergreen Roles
using short codes
If your company is frequented by
customers, who could also become
employees, such as a retail store, a short
code allows them to apply on-the-spot.
In-location Hiring

10. 10
Engage Talent
Candidates are more likely to open and
respond to text messages than emails,
making them ideal for cold outreach.
Cold Outreach
Candidates don’t always respond after the
first outreach, even if they’re potentially
interested. A quick ping via text message
can be just the ticket to a response.
Follow Up
Your candidate database is likely a
goldmine of talent, with past applicants
and sourced candidates who weren’t
previously a fit—but may be now. A quick
note via text message can re-engage
these candidates.
Re-engagement

11. 11
Convert Talent
Invite your candidates to apply for a given
role on your mobile-optimized career site.
Invitation to Apply
Remind candidates to complete an
application, if they’ve expressed interest in
the role.
Complete Application
Bypass the formal application altogether,
and ask the candidate a series of
qualifying questions via text message.
Ask Qualifying
Questions

12. 12
Interview Talent
Take the headaches out of interview
scheduling, and let text bots do the grunt
work for you.
Interview Scheduling
Send candidates interview reminders,
complete with the start time, interviewer
names, and location.
Interview Reminders

13. 13
Onboard Talent
A quick “welcome” text message bridges
the gap between candidate and new hire,
and provides critical next steps.
Welcome
A mobile invitation to your onboarding
platform can provide new hires with
information about their new company and
colleagues.
For instance, some information about
company values and history make them
feel more connected, while an org chart
and people directory can help them get to
know their new team.
Integration
Invite new hires to complete paperwork
during the pre-boarding process, so their
first day can be filled with learning and
celebration.
Pre-boarding

14. Best Practices for
Text Recruiting

15. 15
The Basics
A text message is not the place to write a
novel. Keep your messages short and
sweet.
Keep it Simple
Your text messages may be 1:1, or mass
messaged. Make them all fee like the
former.
Personalize your
outreach
Always include a call-to-action in your text
messages, so candidates are crystal-clear
on next steps.
Outline the next steps

16. 16
Get Creative
A/B test your outreach messages to
improve response rates. For instance, try
adding a link to your employer branding
materials, before ending with a call-to-
action to apply.
Test your messaging
People are increasingly communicating via
emojis and gifs in text messages. Try
adding in some of these visual elements
to see if candidates respond well to them.
Try adding visual
elements
Timing can be everything. Rather than
sending text messages right as you source
candidates, try scheduling them for a later
time to see if response rates improve.
Play around with timing

17. 17
Automate, Automate, Automate
Scheduling is a headache for
organizations that do it manually, and
technology is the best medicine. Modern
text bots can schedule interviews, while
maintaining an excellent candidate
experience.
Scheduling
Candidates can get busy and forget to
respond—even if they’re potentially
interested in speaking with you.
Automated follow-ups can significantly
improve your response rate, helping you
build a healthy talent pipeline with very
little additional effort.
Follow-ups
Candidates tend to ask the same
questions you’ve been asked time and
again. A text bot can easily answer those,
and transfer anything more complex to a
live recruiter.
FAQs

18. 18
Go All In With Mobile
Many candidates will do research on an
organization before applying. Make sure
your career site is optimized for mobile, so
they can learn more about your company,
culture, and team. It also helps to have
employer branding content across social
channels and review sites.
Career Sites
Candidates will drop out of your
application process if it’s not easy to
apply. Walk yourself through the process
of finding, and applying to, jobs on your
career site—on desktop and mobile.
Applications
Your recruiters, hiring managers, and
interviews are also on-the-go, and often
need to access your recruiting tools
outside the office. Give them the same
convenience, with mobile-optimized tools
and processes.
Give your Hiring Teams
the Same Convenience

19. Q&A
Naba Ahmed
With: Moderated by:
CEO and Principal Consultant, Jalydew
Linkedin page: linkedin.com/in//jenadewar
Twitter ID: @JenADewar
Email: jen@jalydew.com
Website: http://jalydew.com/
Jen Dewar
Site editor, Recruiting Brief
Linkedin page: linkedin.com/in/naba-ahmed
Twitter ID: @recruitingbrief
Email: naba@aggregage.com
Website: recruitingbrief.com
https://www.recruitingbrief.com/webinar-series/texting-for-talent/