Learn Why Texting Works for Staffing Agencies and Recruiters + 17 Templates and Examples
Timely communication is crucial for recruitment and staffing, especially when jobs need to be filled.
But consider this: job candidates spend 28% of their day reading and responding to email.
This means you’re fighting for attention in an already overcrowded and time-sensitive inbox.
And if you’re only emailing, then all you can do is keep your fingers crossed and hope for a response. 🤞
So what more can you do when it comes to sending time-sensitive staffing and recruitment messages?
This is where business text messaging can help you reach and respond to hundreds of people at once.
In this post I’ll go over:
- What business text messaging for staffing agencies and recruiters is
- 5 reasons why text messaging works for staffing agencies and recruiters
- How staffing agencies and recruiters can get started with business text messaging
- 17 free staffing and recruitment text message templates (copy & paste)
By the end, you’ll know how to send hiring messages, texts for talent acquisition, staffing shortages, job placement, text-to-apply campaigns, and how to improve the candidate experience with texting.
Read on for more.
What is Business Texting for Staffing Agencies and Recruiters?
Business text messaging is a short messaging service (SMS) built for businesses and organizations. Business texting software makes it possible for staffing agencies and recruiters to send mass texts and have two-way conversations with contacts, prospects, recruits, employees, and staff members. Staffing agencies and recruiters use business texting to inform about open job listings, arrange and manage interview appointments, update candidates about application statuses, and more.
5 Reasons Why Text Messaging Works for Staffing Agencies and Recruiters
Staffing and recruitment are all about getting the right people into the right position at the right time.
But…
- What do you do when your message recipients aren’t always at a desk?
- What if your contacts don’t have direct access to email?
- What if they don’t return your call or listen to their voicemail?
This is where business texting has clear advantages. Texts have up to a 90% open rate and a near 45% response rate. Compare that to email with around a 20% open rate and 6% response rate.
Are email and voice calls dead when it comes to staffing and recruitment?
No.
Emails will always be the standard for longer, more formal communications. They’re easy to compose and you can send email blasts to hundreds of contacts.
But email isn’t necessarily great for getting quick responses and sending short, direct, messages.
And there will always be a need for phone calls. But phone calls aren’t scalable. You can’t easily automate or personalize calling when you need to quickly reach hundreds of people and get responses.
Need more proof? Here are five additional reasons why texting works.
5 Reasons why text messaging works for staffing agencies and recruiters:
- Easy to start conversations and engage with people
- More convenient and discreet
- Reduces missed calls and limits voicemails
- Easy to personalize relationships with candidates
- Helps staffing agencies and recruiters fill positions faster
1. Text messaging makes it easy to start conversations and engage people
Email inboxes get flooded with hundreds of new messages every day from personal emails, newsletter subscriptions, and shopping receipts.
Not to mention, most people manage multiple email addresses: personal, work, and that one junk email address from forever ago.
But phone numbers? Most people only have 1 cell phone with one phone number.
This is where SMS can help you break through all the noise and start more text conversations.
Texting makes it easy to:
- Quickly confirm a candidate's interest
- Fill an open time slot
- Schedule in-person or virtual meetings or interviews
- Send out an update with open job posts, positions, or shifts
Bonus: a click-to-text button on your website can help you start text conversations even faster.
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2. Text messaging is more convenient and discreet
If a job candidate is already employed, they may not want to answer their phone or check personal email at their workplace. Especially if their computer is provided by their current employer.
This is where text-to-apply text recruiting campaigns can come in handy.
Text-to-apply and text-to-hire autoresponder keywords make it easy for potential candidates to quickly get more info and get logged into an applicant tracking system.
Once you have a list of quality candidates it’s easy to text them about new job opportunities, remind them of upcoming scheduled interviews and keep them updated during the application process.
This is also where text messaging works well for employee communication.
When phone calls or emails aren’t possible, text message recruiting and staffing is a faster way to get in touch.
It’s not just the recruitment and staffing industries that benefit from texting’s ease of use. Many job seekers and employees say they’d prefer to receive messages via text.
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3. Text messaging reduces no-shows, and limits missed calls and voicemail
Ever call a candidate about a personal interview just to leave a voicemail that gets no response?
No one likes playing phone tag. It’s a waste of time and it leads to frustration for callers on both ends.
Text messaging helps with call management and reducing call volume. It eliminates missed calls and the “Sorry I missed you!” voicemails.
And voicemail itself is losing popularity, especially among millennials. They’re less likely to leave a voicemail, let alone listen to one.
In fact, 1 in 4 people won’t listen to voicemails from unknown callers. But texts from an unknown number are 7 times more likely to get a response than a voicemail.
If the voicemails you’re leaving candidates or employees are in regard to interviews or meetings, then consider text messaging to reduce your chances of no-shows.
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4. Text messaging makes it easy to personalize relationships with candidates
Employees and job seekers all prefer conversational experiences. But 67% of people would rather text with a business than talk to them on the phone.
And business texting makes it easy to personalize and save custom text messages as templates.
This means it’s possible to create conversational experiences at scale with hundreds of contacts.
Here’s an example:
Let’s say you’re sending out a text message SMS for job interview reminders. There are a bunch of candidates and they’ve all got different interview time slots. Instead of typing and sending a single text message to each, you can customize one mass text message with personalization {{ tags }} and auto-insert each interviewee’s time slot.
Here’s what that looks like when sent as a mass text to all candidates using MessageDesk:
Hey there, {{ FirstName }}, Just reminding you of your interview with {{ OrganizationName }} on {{ InterviewDate }} at {{ InterviewTime }}. We’re looking forward to meeting you!
5. Texting helps staffing agencies and recruiters fill positions faster
Many employers find themselves periodically short-staffed or needing to fill open shifts or time slots. Timing and speed are always important and this is where text messaging can help.
Data shows that 43% of smartphone owners use their devices to look up information about a job. If you’re not using mass texts to reach job candidates or employees, then you’re missing out on a fast-action communication tool.
Mass texting is different from group texting. But for staffing and recruitment mass texting is similar to SMS marketing. In this scenario, you’re sending a one-way text blast to many phone numbers at once.
All it takes to send a text blast is organizing contacts and phone numbers into groups. Again, this is where mass text solutions for staffing agencies and recruiters make things easier.
Platforms like MessageDesk allow you to sort and filter contacts both manually and automatically based on contact information or even custom data fields.
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How Staffing Agencies and Recruiters Can Get Started with Business Text Messaging
Some staffing agencies and recruiters start texting from their personal phones or even Google voice. But there are drawbacks and liabilities associated with these.
- You can track or assign messages across team members with a personal phone.
- You have to text from a personal number that’s different from your business number.
- You can’t send mass texts from a personal phone.
So it's best to text from a dedicated business text messaging service.
Here’s how you can get started.
1. Choose a business text messaging provider
Your first step is to choose a recruitment or staffing text messaging solution.
There are many great business texting services out there, including MessageDesk. But you’ll want to find one that has the SMS tools that suit your team’s staffing and recruiting needs.
If you’re looking to get your whole team texting, then you’ll want a service with a shared team inbox.
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2. Text-enable a business phone or select a new text number
Next, you’ll need to get a text number for your business communications.
You've got a bunch of SMS phone number options. But to text from your existing business number or landline, you’ll need to submit a number porting request.
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17 Staffing and Recruitment Message Templates
I’ve covered why texting works for staffing and recruitment agencies and how to get started.
The following are recruitment message examples and text templates that cover the most common use cases recruiters and staffing agencies encounter.
Your call to action and message details will vary, but these are some of the best staffing and best recruiting messages I’ve seen MessageDesk users send. I've also got a list of 100+ business texting templates you can use here.
Note: I’ve formatted these message templates with brackets to work with MessageDesk’s personalization tag feature. This is a great way to customize messages and automatically personalize texts.
Job announcement
Hi {{ FirstName }}. This is {{ MyFirstName}} from {{ Company }}. A client of ours in CITY has a JOB TITLE position open. Would you be interested in learning about it? If so, I can send you the details.
We are hiring text
Hey there {{ FirstName }}, just wanted to let you know that we’re hiring for the following positions POSITION 1, POSITION 2, and POSITION 3. If you’re interested, respond 1, 2, or 3 to this text for more information and a link to apply.
Sample SMS for Job Interview availability
Hi {{ FirstName }}. This is {{ MyFirstName }} from {{ Company }}. Are you available for an interview next week with COMPANY? Please reply to this message with your availability.
Job interview confirmation
Hi {{ FirstName }}, this is {{ MyFirstName }} from {{ Company }}. I’m confirming your interview for DATE at TIME. Please bring your resume and a photo ID. Here’s the address:
Job interview reminder
Hi {{ FirstName }}. This is a reminder about your interview with COMPANY on DATE at TIME. If you need to reschedule, please let me know as soon as possible. {{ MyFirstName }} from {{ Company }}.
Re-schedule interview
Hi {{ FirstName }}. We apologize for the change, but COMPANY needs to reschedule your interview. Are you available on DATE AND TIME instead? {{ MyFirstName }} from {{ Company }}.
Job interview follow-up
Hi {{ FirstName }}. I hope everything went well during your interview today. Please let us know how it went. We look forward to hearing from you. {{ MyFirstName }} from {{ Company }}
Job offer (SMS format)
Good news, {{FirstName}}! You’ve been offered the job with COMPANY. More details will be sent to you in a separate message, but I wanted to congratulate you on this wonderful achievement. {{ MyFirstName }} at {{ Company }}
No job offered (SMS format)
Hi {{ FirstName }}. Unfortunately, the hiring manager chose another candidate for the position with COMPANY. I know this is difficult news, but there will be other opportunities in the future. I’ll let you know about upcoming positions that fit your qualifications. I’m sorry things didn’t work out this time. {{ MyFirstName }} at {{ Company }}
Sample text message for hired applicants
Hi {{ FirstName }}, just letting you know that you got the job! Congratulations. Be on the lookout for a formal email with the subject line “Next steps”. It’ll have information regarding details and the next steps. We’ll be in contact soon. Looking forward to having you on the team!
Text message document request
Hi {{ FirstName }}. Please send a digital copy of your DOCUMENT so we can proceed with your employment application. Let me know if you have any questions. {{ MyFirstName}} at {{Company}}
Job fair follow-up
Hi {{ FirstName }}, this is {{ MyFirstName }} from {{ Company }}. We received your resume at the recent job fair and wanted to know a good time to set up a phone interview. Please provide a few dates and times that work for you.
Job starting reminder
Hi {{First Name}}, this is {{My First Name}} from {{Company}}. Please confirm that you’re all set to work at COMPANY on DAY at TIME by replying to this text. Thank you.
Assignment ending
Hi {{ FirstName }}, this is {{ MyFirstName }} from {{ Company }}. The JOB TITLE assignment is ending today. Thank you for your hard work! Please text or call this number if you have any questions.
Timecard reminder
Hi {{ FirstName }}, this is {{ MyFirstName }} from {{ Company }}. This is a friendly reminder to submit your timecard by the end of the day today.
Candidate referral
Hi {{ FirstName }}. We hope you’re enjoying your new job. If you have friends who are interested in a new position as well, please share their contact info with us to be entered into our referral bonus program. {{ MyFirstName }} from {{ Company }}
Online review request
Hi {{ FirstName }}. This is {{ MyFirstName }} from {{ Company }}. Thank you for letting us help you find your new job. We would appreciate it if you could share your experience with others by leaving a review on this online review site:
Final thoughts and next steps
Ready to put these templates to work and send out your recruitment or short-staffed message?
Start using a dedicated business text messaging solution to solve all your staffing and recruiting needs.
For questions, you can always meet with a MessageDesk messaging expert to discuss your team's communication and inbox needs.