Blame it on iCIMS’ recent acquisition of TextRecruit. Blame it on millennials. Or blame unbeatable open rates, deliverability rates, and response rates. Hell, blame them all, but there’s no hiding the fact that texting is red-hot in recruiting right now.
Jumping into the action this month was Seattle-based Jobalign, giving TextRecruit, Canvas, and a few others some new competition. The new solution is called Candidate Messenger.
“As an established expert in mobile and text-based recruitment within the hourly space, we are excited to hand this additional power over to recruiters,” says Douglas Johnson, CEO of Jobalign. “Candidate Messenger is a new game-changing communication tool to more efficiently connect organizations with hourly workers. This solution was developed from real needs voiced by our customers struggling with reaching candidates, as well as the real frustrations that job seekers experience in communicating with companies. With Jobalign Candidate Messenger, we solve the communication gap, improving efficiency in hiring for companies and satisfaction for job-seekers.”
Jobalign’s business is focused on helping companies hire hourly workers, which tends to be a younger demographic, which fits text-messaging like a glove. Study show millennials and younger prefer texting to email and phone conversations.
The company says it found that the No. 1 frustration from hourly job seekers is not hearing back from an employer in a timely manner. With Candidate Messenger, recruiters communicate with hourly candidates on their own terms, allowing for immediate conversation in order to schedule interviews, answer questions, and fill roles more efficiently Jobalign says “this increases candidate engagement and reduces post-apply applicant abandonment.”
The text messaging trend is showing no signs of letting up, but where exactly the industry goes in the future is still a mystery. No doubt messaging will still be popular for the foreseeable future; however, bets are also being placed on the side of automation with the likes of Mya and Hello.
Regardless of how messaging happens, it certainly seems like this is the way of the here-and-now, as well as the future, for companies of all sizes.
“Nearly every type of job and company can benefit from text-based recruiting,” said Aman Brar, president and CEO at Canvas. “Since our launch seven months ago, we’ve been used in a broad array of industries and organizations of all sizes, ranging from small startups to large Fortune 500 companies. From nurses to engineers and even hourly employees, such as machinists, recruiters have successfully used us to hire for a wide range of positions.”
Jobalign added that its solution is fully TCPA and EEOC compliant with all data and text history available for search and audit. It also gives recruiters and management reporting capabilities to determine efficiency of the recruiting process. Pricing has not been made public.
