Of all the ways to speed up hiring now, one may not be getting the attention it deserves: using messaging, not email.
We took a look at our customers’ time to hire, defined in this case as the time between when a candidate applies, or is contacted, and when they are hired. We compared hires who were contacted, and communicated with throughout the hiring process, using SMS, versus those contacted via email.
On average, time to hire is 20 days when using messaging, and 49 days on average using email.
With the competition for talent now raging, that 29-day difference is enormous, and not just because it means hiring faster. The candidate experience is better, as applicants spend last time waiting for answers, and waiting to move on to the next steps.
Faster responses
The dramatic numbers beg the question: why such a difference?
The answer comes down to response times.
Gartner says that only 1 out of 5 recruiting and staffing emails are opened by candidates.
Text messages, on the other hand, get opened. Text messaging has a 97 percent open rate and a 60 times faster response rate than email.
And they’re opened quickly. People don’t wait until later to read texts.
When analyzing one of our customers, we found that the median time taken by candidates to respond to the first SMS message sent by a recruiter is 18 minutes, compared to 418 minutes for an email.
In short, recruiters using SMS are more likely to get a response. And they can take quick actions such as scheduling interviews, advancing the candidates to further rounds, or sending job application statuses.
Expand your reach globally with WhatsApp
With more than 2 billion users worldwide, WhatsApp is the most popular instant-messaging application in the world.
In many countries outside of the United States, WhatsApp is the preferred means of communication. So it’s hardly a surprise that 3 million organizations use WhatsApp to reach end consumers.
The average user checks WhatsApp more than 23 times a day. If you want to schedule an interview, or update candidates, WhatsApp is more likely to get a speedy response than an email or, worse, a phone call at work.
Plus, a lot of recruiters aren’t using WhatsApp for recruiting, so it gives you an advantage.
With built-in end-to-end encryption, WhatsApp is a secure communication platform for recruiter and candidate conversations.
Eightfold.ai just launched some exciting new messaging capabilities helping organizations contact candidates more effectively, track conversation history, and reduce delays. Let us know if you’re interested in learning more.
Photo by Alexander Schimmeck on Unsplash