Recruiter Survey: Text Messaging Increases Candidate Response Rates

A recent survey for SMS for Bullhorn was conducted in order to understand how recruiters are using the channel and what is important to them as a business. The survey, carried out by Dialogue Communications, revealed that text messaging is a vital tool for recruiters to maintain instant communication with candidates and that it helps increase response rates.

What is SMS for Bullhorn?

SMS for Bullhorn is a text messaging application which allows recruiters to communicate with candidates and clients through their existing Bullhorn software.  It is used by recruitment agencies around the globe and across a broad range of verticals. The top five verticals currently using SMS are: Accounting and Financial Services, Office Professionals, Legal & HR, Technology and Sales & Retail.

What recruiters thought:
Nine out of every ten respondents stated that their main use of the SMS channel is to communicate with candidates for job vacancies, interviews, contract information and reminders.

The survey showed that over 78 percent of respondents said that it is important for their company to use text messaging for scheduling interviews between candidates and clients, and over 76 percent said they found it important for confirming the interview. As a result of this, 80 percent found that text messaging was very important to follow up with candidates once they had their interview.  71 percent of recruitment agencies also stated that the tool was important for sourcing.

“I like the quick input of messages”

Recruiters indicated that their most liked feature was that all inbound and outbound text messages are recorded within the Bullhorn software using the 2-way SMS functionality. They also highlighted the fact that the application is simple, easy and convenient to use.

“Simple, easy and convenient to use”

More than 76 percent said that the application was easy to set up, while almost 90 percent said that the application is simple to use, with nearly 70 percent confirming that it helped to save the business time. Consequently, almost 90 percent said they would recommend SMS for Bullhorn.

“Ability to reach out to candidates quickly”

By adding SMS for Bullhorn to their daily activities, three quarters of recruiters found that it has helped increase candidate response rates, and 75 percent said time was saved through the automatic storing of outgoing and incoming messages. Additionally, half of the respondents stated it actually helped their business fulfill job placements faster and over 87 percent found that it enhanced the speed of communication.

This Bullhorn Blog post was written by Pinder Takhar. Pinder Takhar has been with Dialogue Communications Ltd. for nearly 10 years and is today responsible for the company’s international marketing activities, including developing strategies, identifying target markets, monitoring business performance and driving brand management. Since joining the global mobile messaging solutions specialist, Pinder has spearheaded marketing activity and introduced new sales procedures. Pinder has a degree in Business Management from the University of Derby.