Nearly everyone has a smartphone in their hands today. These devices have significantly reshaped the way we do a lot things, including how we shop, work and communicate. This technology has also impacted recruiting – it has shifted how candidates look for jobs and how recruiting teams interact with talent. When it comes to smartphones, text recruiting is one element that is changing the relationship between job seekers and businesses – for the better!
Whether it’s establishing first contact with a candidate or continuing to nurture the relationship, text recruiting has a wide range of benefits:
- It gives candidates a way to get information quickly and efficiently from anywhere.
- It provides businesses with an effective way to schedule and confirm phone screens and interviews.
- It’s a great platform for following up with candidates.
- It’s what candidates want! A survey from Nexxt found that 73% of candidates say they would prefer to receive targeted jobs via text message.
Companies are starting to see the benefits of text recruiting and other automation technology, and how these tools can help build lasting relationships with candidates and encourage them to apply. We feature 7 businesses that have implemented automation to improve the experience for talent in our ideabook: 9 Ways Automation Transforms the Candidate Experience.
Below are two companies included in the ideabook. Read on to learn how their adoption of automation tools – specifically text recruiting – is helping them to create ideal experiences for candidates at various stages of the journey and the positive results they are seeing from their efforts.
Dierbergs Markets
Based on your business, your customers may also be potential candidates. If you’ve got retail locations, it’s a great opportunity to capture a candidate’s interest on the spot. How realistic is it to expect people to pause their shopping to type in your careers site URL? Not very! People are more likely to send a quick text to kick-start a conversation, and automation can let you quickly respond.
Dierbergs Markets has signage placed throughout their stores, both inside and out, that invites shoppers to text “TEAM” to 97211 (Standard Msg & data rates may apply) to inquire about employment opportunities. It helps build their talent pipeline with candidates who already know the standard of customer service that Dierbergs expects from employees. But Dierbergs also includes their text shortcode as their call to action across all of their digital and social ads, because they’ve learned that conversational recruiting is the fastest way to move interested candidates into their funnel.
Dierbergs Markets helps build their talent pipeline with candidates who already know the standard of customer service that Dierbergs expects from employees.
Their automated recruiter assistant, affectionately named “Ellie,” responds to texts immediately using an upbeat, conversational tone, and directs candidates to an apply link if they’re ready to take that step, or continues to be helpful by answering common questions like:
- What do you pay?
- Is a background check required?
- Do you provide training?
- How quickly do you respond?
“Ellie” responds to texts immediately using an upbeat, conversational tone, and directs candidates to an apply link if they’re ready to take that step, or continues to be helpful by answering common questions.
What automation can do:
- Eliminate the need to use your personal phone number to text candidates
- Manage multiple messaging streams simultaneously without any manual effort
- Prioritize candidate follow-up
- Alert a recruiter to take control of the conversation when required, so no opportunity is missed
Result: 31% year over year increase in applications for Dierbergs using text recruiting
For more insight into the company’s text recruiting strategy, check out this RallyFwd sneak peek blog featuring Dierberg’s Markets Talent Acquisition Manager Erica Campbell, then watch her RallyFwd session on demand!
Fast Pace Urgent Care
When you’re recruiting for hard-to-fill healthcare roles like Fast Pace Urgent Care, speed to connect with candidates and move them through your hiring process can give you an advantage. But accessibility and responsiveness have also become expected by today’s candidates, especially those considering an opportunity with a company that prides itself on moving fast.
With more than 1,200 employees, Fast Pace Urgent Care operates over 80 urgent care clinics across Kentucky, Mississippi and Tennessee and makes approximately 600 new hires each year. The recruiting team needs to ensure that their employer brand is consistent with Fast Pace’s consumer brand and provide a “fast” candidate experience, too. So the Fast Pace Urgent Care recruiting team began using text recruiting in May 2018. It has enabled them to respond faster to candidates, but it also means they receive a faster response from candidates.
Text has become their primary communications method. It works really well in healthcare to reach candidates before and after their shifts and during breaks. The recruiting team has tested and optimized their messaging templates and calls to action in order to increase the response rate and to screen and schedule candidates faster. Once a candidate has gone through the automated screening, they receive a link to get a phone interview scheduled with a recruiter, shortening the time to hire.
Fast Pace Urgent Care uses text recruiting from TextRecruit to contact candidates and move them through the hiring process faster.
What automation can do:
- Schedule interviews faster by eliminating back and forth emails and phone tag
- Recommend available times on your calendar or your hiring manager’s calendar
- Determine the best messaging templates to use by analyzing response rates
- Notify internal candidates as new jobs become available in the ATS
Results:
- 78% candidate response rate within the first hour
- 92% candidate response rate within 7 hours
- 8 X-Ray tech positions filled in 22 days for a new clinic opening. Industry average is approximately 37 days.
Want to see more examples of how text recruiting and automation can help you create a better experience for candidates? Download our ideabook 9 Ways Automation Transforms the Candidate Experience to learn more about how companies like Eventbrite, Aurora Health Care and TTEC are using the technology to provide fast, easy and relevant communications to top talent. You’ll also learn how automation tools have a positive impact on the recruiting process by encouraging candidates to apply.
Note: TextRecruit is a sponsor of Rally and supports our efforts to provide educational content and events on Recruitment Marketing.