This post was published in June 2018. It was updated with new text message recruiting statistics in March 2023. It’s no secret that engaging qualified candidates is more difficult than ever. Layoffs are in the news, but unemployment is low and 95% of firms with less than 1,000 employees say they don’t have plans to slow hiring significantly, according to research from Lighthouse Research & Advisory. HR execs expect hiring entry-level and hourly employees to be a challenge this year.
HR execs expect hiring entry-level and hourly employees to be a challenge this year. Use #TextRecruiting to reach more candidates and hire faster:Moving to digital processes is also a top priority once again this year as HR continues its digital transformation that was put into overdrive during the pandemic. Talent acquisition professionals need to look for modern technology tools to adapt to the rapidly changing hiring landscape, one of which is text message recruiting.
Texting is often part of a successful recruiting strategy because it simplifies time-consuming processes: applications and candidate communications. Text message recruitment appeals to generational groups like Millennials and Gen Z who want to get quick responses and feel connected to their employers.
Text recruiting helps businesses connect and converse with candidates on a personal level faster than ever before. It helps improve your employer brand, positioning your company as approachable, responsive, and agile, the kind of organization that cares about its employees and innovates quickly.
The best way to bring the importance of text recruiting into perspective is with facts. So, we compiled market statistics to lay out the crucial numbers.
“Though labor market shifts will persist, it’s clear that companies must continue to compete more fiercely than ever for the best talent in any market — talent that has become savvier than ever and less responsive than ever to the same old tactics.”
- Debora Roland, VP of people operations, CareerArc, via HR Brew
Almost everyone texts…
Just about everyone has a cell phone today, and it’s nearly always within arms’ reach, too. That means text messages are a common, familiar way to communicate, and they don’t go unseen — or unanswered — for long. Many companies are using texting for marketing purposes, too, so most people are accustomed to getting texts from businesses.
The ubiquity of cell phones and texting means that they’re a natural way to communicate about jobs, too. Text messaging also allows recruiters to reach candidates who lack computer access. Check out the stats to find out just how prevalent mobile devices have become:
1. 97% of U.S. adults have a cell phone.
2. 15% of American adults are smartphone users who do not have home internet services.
3. There are six billion active smartphone subscriptions globally, a number expected to exceed 7.6 billion by 2027.
4. In the U.S., mobile phone users sent more than two trillion text messages in 2021.
5. Texts have a 98% open rate, compared to 20% on average for emails.
6. Text opt-ins have increased for 41.3% of businesses.
7. Texting is the top form of communication for Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X, and Boomers
Did you know texts have a 98% open rate? That’s not the only reason recruiters should use #candidatetexting:…And texting works for recruiters
Staying in touch with candidates is incredibly important. If they don’t hear from you, they lose interest in the position or accept another role — and you lose out on a great candidate. Good communication leaves a good impression and makes it more likely that rejected candidates will reapply or be interested in another role at your company.
Texting is great for candidate experience, enabling more fast, consistent updates from recruiters and lowering the barrier to application for job seekers. Recruiters can also ask screening questions via text, eliminating the back-and-forth of scheduling phone calls and cutting screening time from days to minutes.
The statistics show that texting can have a big impact on the entire candidate experience:
8. 71% of applicants want to know as soon as possible if they didn’t get the job, which is easier to do with texting tools.
9. Response rates for text messages are more than four times higher than for emails.
10. Texting enables faster hiring processes, which saves more than 70% of candidates from ghosting.
11. Screening candidates via text takes as little as 4.4 minutes.
12. Companies see up to 50% higher response rates from candidates with texts vs. emails.
13. 89% of candidates prefer texting to phone calls or emails.
14. Millennials and Gen Z say they see texts as a more personal form of communication.
15. 70% of candidates use their cell phones in their job search.
16. Experts say good communication is the differentiator when it comes to excellent candidate experiences.
17. ClearCompany clients see nearly four times as many candidates when they use our texting tools.
ClearCompany Texts 99% of Candidates
Learn how our Talent Acquisition team uses text messaging with 99% of our candidates: ClearCompany's Recruiting Strategies for Talent Success™
Another Powerful Recruiting Tool
In today’s candidate-driven job market, it’s in your company’s best interest to implement tools that help recruiters reach candidates as quickly and efficiently as possible. Because of the popularity of cell phones and texting, recruiters are seeing great success when they implement text recruiting software like an applicant tracking system (ATS). This software can enable job applications via text and candidate texting with recruiters.
Text messaging tools enable recruiters to stay in touch with candidates, keeping them updated and engaged throughout the interview and hiring process. With text messaging, recruiters can:
- Reach a wider audience of potential candidates
- Simplify job application processes
- Schedule interviews quickly instead of emailing back and forth
- Send interview reminders to candidates to reduce no-shows
- Save recruiters tons of time spent communicating with candidates
- Nurture talent pipelines with texting strategies
This data doesn’t mean you should throw out emails, job board postings, or other channels that work for your talent pools. Text recruiting is simply another rapidly-growing facet of the recruiting process.
If you’re looking for a solution that does it all, you need ClearCompany. ClearCompany Recruiting powers your text recruiting strategy and integrates it with phone and email communications. That means all of the messages between candidates and recruiters live in one cloud-based platform, no matter which mode of communication was used.
Your recruiters get access to valuable text recruiting features with our ATS:
- Text message templates with dynamic fields for fast messages that are still personal
- Bulk texting so recruiters can contact many candidates at once
- Texting numbers to protect recruiters’ personal phone numbers
Interested in learning more about how you can instantly text interested candidates? Sign up for a demo of ClearCompany Recruiting to see how our texting features can help your recruiters improve candidate communications.
