3 reasons to use SMS to engage candidates

 

Text messages are one of the most common forms of communication today. They are easy to use, provide a fast channel for communication and are more effective than email. Here are three reasons to leverage SMS to engage medical job seekers:

1. Everyone uses text messages

The ubiquity of mobile devices is undeniable. According to Pew Research, 95 percent of U.S. adults own a smartphone. Likewise, Medical, Marketing & Media reported that 87 percent of physicians use their smartphone at work. In other words, SMS represents a channel capable of reaching the vast majority of medical job seekers.

Compared with email, another ubiquitous channel, SMS messages have a much higher open rate. According to Business2Community, text messages have an open rate of 98 percent, while only 20 percent of all marketing emails are ever opened. There's just something irresistible about an unopened text message.

2. SMS speeds up the pre-screening process

Pre-screening potential candidates can be a time-consuming task, especially if you receive a large number of referrals from current employees. Managing the talent in your recruitment pipeline requires close communication, but that's not always possible when everyone's on a different schedule. SMS allows you to quickly pre-screen candidates by asking if they are willing to apply for a specific position.

For example, let's say you have four referrals from current staff members. None have given their explicit consent to be contacted by you. You could send each candidate a brief text message with a link to the position description and ask if they are interested. If two candidates decline and two accept, you can immediately devote resources to the two that responded in the affirmative, and you never have to bother the others again.

3. Keep candidates engaged throughout the process

No one likes to be kept waiting to hear about a position they applied to. However, it's also not possible to give every single candidate a timeline. One way to keep candidates engaged while they are waiting is to send them content relevant to the open position. For instance, you could send candidates more information about your brand, the position they applied to, or another relevant topic.

SMS allows you to quickly send out a link to everyone in your candidate pool, reminding everyone that you haven't forgotten about them. Likewise, if candidates need to take a test or undergo some other screening task, you can send scheduling reminders and follow-up notes as needed.

To effectively engage candidates across all channels, you need the support of a well-written job description. Post your next one at myHealthTalent.com today. Here are three reasons to leverage SMS to engage medical job seekers.