Simple Yet Effective Ways to Recruit, Onboard & Engage Employees with SMS
SMS text marketing use cases and examples for your HR department to get started.
Now that smartphones have become essential to the 24/7 cadence of our lives, it only makes sense that SMS text marketing has evolved to include employer-employee communications.
From keeping employees safe with real-time text alerts, to streamlining the interview and onboarding processes, texting is a fast, seamless, and reliable way to reach employees (and potential employees) in a more efficient and effective way than email or posting announcements on a virtual bulletin board.
SMS texting is extremely versatile, making it the perfect human resources tool for the hiring and onboarding process. SMS for HR can also be leveraged to quickly and easily send out important communications all throughout the year. SMS for HR can be used for things like alerting employees of upcoming announcements, internal initiatives, or simply reminding personnel about annual benefits enrollment or sharing good news.
Texting is an especially engaging way to communicate with virtual employees and staff. As remote workforces become the new norm, it’s even more essential for HR teams to be able to quickly and effectively communicate to a geographically dispersed talent base.
We’ve created the following SMS for HR Guide to help employers use text to engage and communicate with current and prospective employees alike.
SMS for HR Guide
1. Simplifying the Hiring Process
In a job market that’s favoring employees, employers need to stand out from their competitors during the recruiting process. This means making the hiring process as seamless as possible.
Reaching out to a candidate via text means they will likely see, read, and respond to your communication quicker than by way of email or voice. Hiring managers can use SMS texting to link a calendar app to a message and seamlessly schedule interviews. Recruiters can use SMS for human resources to send reminder texts and important documents prior to the interview.
2. Onboarding & Streamlining Employee Opportunities
Getting all the necessary documentation in place prior to a candidate’s start date can be challenging. Texting can be a convenient way to reach your future hires quickly and ensure all documents are in place before their first day on the job. You can quickly text a link to a portal to allow them to finish the onboarding process from their phone. You can also use text messaging to send critical reminders out for outstanding documents.
SMS can also be useful for managing ongoing employee ops, whether it’s helping internal candidates on their career-path assent, or simply making sure everyone in the organization knows about a new job posting.
3. Distributing Internal Comms with Confidence
Ever feel like your email messages are disappearing into a void, with dismal open rates and minimal feedback? Just like email, texting allows you to track open rates. But unlike email, texting has an impressive open rate at 98% (compared to email’s 18%). This means that not only will your employees see your communications and read them, but because 70% of people read new texts within five minutes you can be assured they will do so in a timely manner.
Rule of Thumb: Your internal comms should always provide value to your employees, or they may begin opting out.
Communications may include company news or initiatives, sharing weather-related emergency information, or raising awareness on a new company-wide initiative. When you need to reach everyone quickly and all at once, you can simply send a mass text.
4. Engaging with Contract or Contingent Employees
SMS for HR can be a lifesaver when you need to reach talent quickly. When you need to urgently fill a role, sending a mass text will do the job.If you need to find talent that can hit the ground running, try sending a mass text to those who have worked with your company in the past, or who may be looking to pick up an extra shift work or part-time hours.
5. Asking for Internal Referrals
In a tight labor market where filling roles can be a struggle, your greatest potential for recruitment may come from your current employees. It can be easy to overlook an email or flier, but a text can easily be shared between old coworkers, friends, and family.
Advertising referral bonuses and other incentives can also motivate employees to reach out to their networks and deliver worthy candidate options.
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