Are you hitting a hiring wall? With 46% of staffing firms reporting a talent shortage as their biggest hurdle in 2021, just behind COVID, it’s safe to assume you’re in the same boat. (Bullhorn) And if you’re not, The Great Resignation would like to have a word with you.
If you're like most companies, or a hiring agency working on their behalf, streamlining the time-to-hire process is paramount. And odds are, you’ve been focused on digital transformation for your talent acquisition — which has seen a 236% increase in adoption in just the last two years. That means you’re on the right track. However, with ‘Gathering requirements from clients’ as the second-biggest challenge for hiring teams, SMS messaging is a quick, cost-efficient method to hit two birds with one stone. (Bullhorn)
We’ll tell you how.
The benefits of SMS messaging
When compared to email, SMS sees a 750% higher response rate. Now, that’s not just a little better, that’s a game-changer for companies that need to hire a lot of employees – and do it quickly. And, as popular as email remains for engaging new candidates or onboarding those freshly hired, it’s always a great time to complement all of those outreaches with SMS – or even better, allow SMS to take the lead.
But why SMS? Here’s why:
We’ll spare you all the SMS facts, but with an all-but-guaranteed higher ROI, it’s time to see how versatile this approach can really be.
Create a full candidate journey
While a traditional recruitment process typically involves multiple touchpoints over email, phone, and various web pages designed to capture data, SMS messaging brings all of these pieces together under one (digital) roof.
EMAIL | Rather than wait around for a candidate to come across your email (after all, who has email notifications anymore?), you can send them a text they’ll be sure to see right away. As former candidates, we all know the power a responsive hiring team can wield.
PHONE | Ready to get the candidate on the phone to really dig into their personality? Well, with SMS – you’re already within their reach. You can also send a text that opens up a one-on-one chat, a multi-party conference call, or even link them to a private video platform like Zoom.
LANDING PAGES | While there’s still no way to bypass the resume stage and gather important legal information, SMS can help you streamline this step. With a simple in-text URL, you can direct candidates to personalized web pages where they can fill out forms and find information.
These are just a few of the primary ways you can facilitate an easy recruitment process, but the benefits should already be evident. By integrating even one of these into your SMS messages, you can take a candidate from the interest stage into the vetting process and then right on through to the onboarding journey.
Save on overall recruiting costs
With only so much time in the day, your team’s efforts must be carefully prioritized. This is even more important when you realize that 6 in 10 hiring managers are finding it challenging to fill open roles. So, instead of chucking applications aside, try to hit as many targets with as few arrows as possible. And the arrows in question? You guessed it – SMS.
Reduce reliance on resources
If you’re a company trying to reach sustainability goals or simply an advocate for cutting down your carbon footprint, going digital is a quick win. SMS allows you to keep track of entire conversations without wasting paper. Not to mention, you’ll save on energy spend by reducing your reliance on multiple platforms that have to be kept running in the background.
So, for the sake of your sanity (and the rainforest), let’s make sure “Put it on top of the pile” is a term that goes the way of parachute pants, socks with sandals, and unironic berets. However, if you happen to be wearing all of those while reading this, you are the sole, applauded exception.
Create higher productivity
By going the SMS route, you can set and forget various aspects of your hiring (and onboarding) processes by letting candidates take a journey via their phone – whether it’s sending and receiving files, communicating next steps, nurturing a non-hire, or setting up interviews.
Not only will you see savings in hard costs, it also saves your team from having to remember multiple logins, learning how to navigate platforms of varying user-friendliness, and more. This all adds up to higher efficiency and less time spent on redundant tasks.
Leverage timely two-way communications
As any member of an internal hiring team or talent recruiting agency can attest, there are two pieces to recruitment that can make or break an opportunity; a personalized journey and fast response times.
SMS messaging helps you accomplish both by creating more authentic interactions unencumbered by subject lines, sign-offs, and pre-planned company pitches. When chatting via text message, you’re doing just that – chatting. A lot of the pressure is alleviated as conversations become more informal. Not to mention, whether you’ve employed an automated workflow software or not, candidates will either feel or definitely know that they’re speaking to someone on the other end in real-time.
As you can guess, this is key to creating an atmosphere of trust that also shows candidates you value their time and want to nurture their interest in joining your team. Plus, if you can partner with a communications platform that offers live data and analytics, you can monitor every conversation to ensure nobody is left hanging in hiring limbo.
Let Whispir take the wheel
While we’ve touched upon it a few times already, it’s worth repeating that a proper communications platform should be able to take a lot of this weight off your shoulders. For instance:
Bulk SMS sends with an 80% deliverability rate that also keeps you compliant
Engagement Scores that allow you to track metrics and adjust accordingly
Smart Reporting that keeps your messaging as effective and efficient as possible
HR and recruiting experience to ensure you don’t lose out on valuable talent
Tone of Voicesoftware that helps you create conversations that are on-message
If you’d like to see how Whispir can streamline your recruitment efforts with SMS, our sales team will be happy to walk you through a demonstration. Just fill out the form below!
