Dos and Don’ts of Text Hiring for Healthcare

As per Emissary, an American exchanges an average of 94 text messages every day. To everyone’s surprise. Their response rate is 80%, which means that the placement agencies or recruiters can have most of the openings filled up via text recruitment.

What is Text-to-Apply or Text Hiring?

Text-to-apply, text hiring, or recruiting refers to engaging candidates through texting, while speeding up response times and ensuring a more responsive hiring process. In short, it’s about promoting communication with job seekers. These days, it’s done through software, or any communication tool that can text to candidates.

It can be the most useful hiring tool overtime for any retail, pharmaceutical, automobile, or medical job consultancy. But, this can never be as simple as picking up a call and sending a message. It’s more than that. You can build a reputation via a faster and more cost-effective hiring process, or vice versa if used incorrectly. 

To maximize its usage and benefits, you should know what to do or not to do.

Do’s of Text Recruiting

• There are regulations like Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) that mandates determining that your customer is happy to communicate through text. With this, you may also start communicating and pushing them to opt-in for getting updates.
• Start with salutation or greeting. Then, introduce yourself. Let candidates feel that you know who they are, where they are from, and why you are texting them.
• As aforesaid, prompt them to opt-in to the text recruiting software (tool) for exchanging messages in the future. Together with it, you must express that the entire communication is protected under TCPA compliance.
• Always be humble, polite, and message professionally so that your actual personality can be seen as a gentleman.
• Ensure that every candidate gets the relevant, appropriate, and personalized message in regard to the job opening.
• Let your messages be concise and personalized. The shorter message will have more chances to convert into a higher response rate. For long messages, there is a mailing option. You may switch to it. 
• Choose normal working hours for communication. Sometimes, it may not be possible. Then, you may text them, but neither too early, nor too later. 
• You may integrate this text tool with emailing to follow up on some important emails. It ensures that the candidate has received the message.
• Be quick in responding to text messages. It shows that you value them a lot. This message lets this happening go on and on, engaging job seekers with your consultancy.
• Integrate specialised text recruiting tools, like Rectxt, or GoHire. It can help you to communicate and engage them relentlessly. There are some advanced features available with it as add-ons, like message templates, and mass messaging. These can save many hours of yours. Besides, these text messages are saved as a record, which you may analyse later for improving or filling up gaps.

Don’ts of Text Recruiting

• Avoid texting the ones who are not interested in communication via text messages.
• Don’t send any message to the ones who rejected opting in for this alternative. You may adjust settings to prevent this from happening. 
• Avoid messaging on a personal contact number unless you know the candidate and trust him.
• Don’t send any text messages to the contact details that seem unprofessional or spammy.
• It’s OK to send emojis, as they personalize the entire messaging experience. But, too many emojis in a message won’t show you a professional. So, avoid it.
• Don’t skip the positive role of recruitment communication with candidates. Despite using emails, phone and messaging are equally significant. Together with these, the messaging can let you have 100% of your communication. It deeply connects and engages, especially when it’s time for salary negotiation.
• Carefully and skillfully use CAPs, punctuation, and special characters because it may make you appear unprofessional. So, avoid practicing it if you do so. 
• Never send messages before and after working hours, or during weekends, unless the candidate is OK with it.
• Don’t continue communicating through text if multiple messages are unanswered. The job seeker may feel being harassed.

Avoid using a personal phone number for the hiring process via text communication. Integrate software for making it hassle-free.