by Jena McGregor for The Washington Post
If a recruiter texts you about coming in for an interview, which smiley face — if any — is okay to use in response? How long is too long when texting an answer about which programming skills are your strength? If a recruiter sends you a Bitmoji avatar leaning up against a water cooler, would you be more apt to write back or hit delete?
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These and other questions may increasingly come up as more employers add text-messaging platforms to the hiring process, to coordinate interview logistics, connect with past applicants and ask initial screening questions before taking time for a phone or in-person interview. In a tight labor market, employers are looking for ways to grab the attention of potential workers, save money on managing multiple queries to candidates and better manage how they communicate with job seekers so they don’t think their résumés have fallen into a black hole.
“More and more people get spammed by job offers via email,” said Brian Kropp, group vice president for Gartner’s human resources practice. Text messages, Kropp said, are “another tool companies can use in a very tight labor market to try to get traction.”
Using text messaging in recruiting or for initial candidate screens provides some inherent advantages, say industry analysts and the companies behind the technology. People are more likely to respond to text messages than email, offering higher response rates from candidates who might overlook job-board email listings or emails from recruiters. Gartner’s research shows that candidates open and read only about 20 percent of the emails that recruiters send via LinkedIn, while the texting platforms anecdotally report response rates of 60 to 70 percent, Kropp said.
The quick, conversational back-and-forth of text messaging can also speed the process along, letting employers ask basic questions about qualifications and availability — while candidates can ask about benefits or pay — before scheduling a meeting or phone call that could be a waste of both sides’ time. The low-pressure, informal way people approach texting — especially millennials and Gen Z applicants, who prefer it to email — can also cut down the awkwardness of a first-time discussion.
Yet if companies aren’t careful, getting a text about a job or the work culture of a company seeking to hire might feel intrusive or like mobile-phone junk mail. The aspects of texting that give it immediacy and make it feel personal can also make it feel invasive if it’s unwanted.
“Somehow your phone number is more personal than your email address,” Kropp said, adding that some people still have data plans with a limited number of texts before they’re charged. “If you’re a company that’s going to go down this path, you need to be much more sensitive to the message you’re putting on that text. How do you make it feel not spammy?”
Text-based recruiting is largely being used for high-volume job categories such as retail, food service, nursing and customer service, though some companies are also using them for professional staff jobs or high-demand positions such as software programming. Brar said Canvas has been used to recruit welders, machinists, graphic designers and software engineers.
Josh Bersin, an industry analyst who studies workplace technology, said: “I don’t know if it’s been super useful for higher-level jobs yet, but it’s getting there. It’s getting sophisticated very fast. It’s more accepted than I would have expected by now.”
Asked how often the insertion of GIF video clips, the addition of questionable emoji or the perils of phones’ auto-correct systems create awkward texting exchanges, Brar said most conversations remain pretty professional.
“The funny stuff that pops up comes out when someone shows up for an interview,” he said, “and says ‘I was texting with you while I was hiking the Appalachian Trail’ or ‘I was in the middle of cheering for a March Madness game.’ ”
Source: The Washington Post
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