Want to Hire Millennials? Don't Call, Don't Email. Text!

It has recently been 24 years since the first SMS was sent. Although in the world of technology and communication that is an eternity, text messages are still doing well. In recruitment – even better than well. One of the main reasons SMS is enjoying a renaissance is the preferences of young workers.

The communication habits of generations Y and Z

Members of generation Y (born between 1984 and 1999) and Z (born after 2000) still love texting. It is estimated that American millennials send as many as 67 messages a day. The rest of the world is not far behind. Young people, however, make phone calls less and less often, and are increasingly reluctant to answer calls from others.

As the British telecommunications giant O2 found, the phone icon used for making calls is only the fifth most popular application on smartphones. First place has invariably been held for years by texting. According to a survey conducted a few months ago by Open Market, as many as 75% of millennials would prefer a phone that can only send texts over a device that could only make calls. In their view, calling is invasive, takes too much time, and does not give them the freedom to respond at a moment of their choosing.

The young generation has not yet abandoned email, but its effectiveness is declining. Millennials are often said to need instant gratification, a quick response, and immediate resolution. In this respect, an SMS of at most 160 characters is more practical than email. Text messages are also harder to ignore. Another noticeable trend for generation Y, and even more so for Z, is the tendency to avoid formalized communication. Email in a way imposes polite forms of address and a specific text structure – millennials do not feel comfortable with these aspects of communicating.

How to incorporate SMS into candidate communication

We have already established that millennials have neither the time nor the patience for complex processes – and that includes the processes of applying for job offers. An employer should not expect a candidate to click through the entire careers page and then fill in a long form, having first made a few tweaks to their CV.

To engage potential employees in a dialogue with the brand quickly and efficiently, it is better to give them the option of applying by SMS. It takes 10 seconds of their time and involves no filling in of documents or producing attachments. It is enough to place a "send SMS" button in an online ad or provide a number on a poster with a simple call to action: "text APPLY to XXX XXX XXX".

By adopting this approach, we can conduct a dialogue with "gen Y-ers" on their preferred terms: quickly, non-invasively, placing them at the center of the process. Here the candidate feels like a customer who is to hear out an offer, and the recruiter like a salesperson whose job is to "warm up" the acquired recruitment lead. Of course, this should be understood as a process – not everyone will apply right away. But if we have them in our database, and we have consent to process their data, we can follow up after some time and look for opportunities to start a dialogue. It is becoming clear to employers that in today's realities, the key to success – even more than effective recruitment – is easy access to candidates. But if that access is to be and remain easy, we cannot pile up obstacles in front of potential employees, such as long forms, the need to have and update a CV, and so on.

The effectiveness of SMS recruitment has already been verified by the market. ShareHire clients using the ShareHire SMS service, which enables applying via text message, attract up to 370 candidates a month and hire 25% of them. Further research confirmed that over 95% of respondents consider the SMS process convenient and easy to understand.

Another key factor in SMS recruitment is response speed. So let us make sure there are automated notifications confirming receipt of the application, and later informing about the candidate's progress in the process. Some companies go a step further – they abandon phone screening in favor of SMS-based screening. The simple questions that need to be asked at the early stages of recruitment can easily be handled by a bot. Its task is then to qualify leads – recruiters take over only those that meet the initial conditions. This way, an organization can "process" applications from far more candidates than when it uses traditional methods. According to Canvas, an American provider of SMS candidate screening systems, this can mean up to five times more initial conversations with potential employees per day.

When replying, remember that the division between form and content is illusory. Since millennials dislike formalities, a pompous style, and polite forms of address – let us drop them. Let us not be afraid to use emojis either, if they are appropriate. However, let us avoid a forced imitation of youth slang – the younger generation is very sensitive to such false notes.

Candidate experience should not be forgotten either. Research presented by eRecruiter confirms that 8 out of 10 candidates expect a reminder of the date and place of a job interview by SMS, and 9 out of 10 would welcome a meeting reminder sent the day before.

Of course, SMS has its uses beyond recruitment, in HR processes in the broad sense. It works brilliantly during onboarding and is an increasingly important internal communication tool. But that is a topic for another occasion.

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