Fresh Findings Reveal an Evolving State of Text Recruitment

With more jobs to fill and fewer recruiters to fill them, many employers are reevaluating how to effectively attract and hire talent. According to new findings by Aptitude Research, 68% of companies are rethinking specifically their approach to candidate communication this year.

Traditional forms of communication including email can negatively impact the employer brand, provide a poor candidate experience, and prevent recruiters from reaching their hiring goals. As companies look to improve communication, text-based recruitment is a strategic priority. Indeed, 40% of employers have increased their use of text in talent acquisition this year.

Text-based recruiting humanizes and personalizes the candidate experience while lifting the administrative burden placed on recruiting teams. Unlike other areas of talent acquisition, text-based recruiting provides an immediate ROI, impacting every aspect of the candidate journey, offering a significant, measurable impact in a short period of time.

Although texting is widely adopted in other areas of business, talent acquisition has been slow to respond. Email is still the preferred method of communication, and 58% of candidates receive no response at all when they are screened out of the process.

However, text-based recruitment can provide improvements to conversion rates, efficiency, and engagement. As Aptitude Research’s survey shows, companies using text see the following results:

Four times more likely to see candidates respond in the first two minutes
Two times more likely to fill positions in the first two weeks
48% improvement in the candidate experience

Below are some more of the top findings from the research:

Email is not enough. Most companies rely on email as their primary form of communication in talent acquisition. Yet, mobile usage has increased over the past year, nevermind that 43% of candidates do not always open their emails. Email limits how a company can engage with talent, slowing down time to fill, and providing a negative experience for both recruiters and candidates. Text improves response times and overall efficiency.

Text is important across TA. Many organizations look at text to support the apply process or recruitment marketing efforts. Text can also play a role in everything from employer branding to onboarding. When asked in which areas companies would use text, 1:1 communication and scheduling were top priorities. Text can help lift the administrative burden placed on recruiters in these areas and provide consistent communication when used throughout the process.

Text-based platforms deliver ROI. Companies using text see significant improvements and an immediate ROI in efficiency, experience, and effectiveness. Research shows that organizations using text over email were two times more likely to fill positions in two weeks, and more likely to improve time to fill, candidate experience, and quality of hire. Additionally, companies increasing their use of text in talent acquisition see improvements in open rates, clickthrough rates, and response times.

Text Improves the Recruiter Experience: The recruiter experience is greatly impacted by using text. Recruiters save time in communicating with candidates, improving efficiency and better identifying quality of hire. Text allows recruiters to spend time on more strategic areas of talent acquisition while providing personalization to each candidate.

Candidates have a mobile-only mindset. Candidate behavior has changed since the pandemic. More people are working remotely, and candidates rely on their mobile device to research jobs, connect with brands, and apply for jobs. In fact, 62% of candidates are using their mobile device more this year than last. Meanwhile, candidates want to be able to use one device to communicate with a potential employer, and text meets the needs of the mobile-only mindset by providing faster response and personalized engagement in real-time.

Two-way communication at scale is a reality through text. In a tight labor market where most recruiting teams are under-resourced, many candidates are not receiving consistent communication from recruiters. Companies must consider solutions that will provide more personalization and two-way communication at scale. Text-based recruiting gives every candidate an opportunity to engage in a bidirectional conversation, from applying for a job to scheduling an interview to onboarding. Sure enough, 66% of candidates surveyed would respond back to a recruiter over text.

Not all text is the same. Eighty-six percent of recruiters are using text in some way to support talent acquisition. Most of these recruiters are using informal, random text messages from their personal devices. This type of texting jeopardizes a company’s compliance, integration, and measurement strategy. It also puts companies at risk for introducing bias into the talent acquisition process. Text-based platforms help companies track and manage all text communications to stay compliant, integrate with existing systems, and measure the ROI of those engagements.