Recruitment Chatbots & Text Recruiting – A Combo Worth Investing

Recruitment chatbots and text recruiting, is this worth investing in for 2019 and beyond?  

According to SIA, it most definitely is! Staffing and recruiting agencies are investing more than $100 million in funding for chatbots…why? The fact that 90% of consumers prefer texting over calling and email probably has something to do with it. 

Just think about it… consumers are increasingly choosing (if available) to interact with staffing professionals via non-direct channels like text recruiting and chatbots. Considering that around 30-50 percent of Americans identify as introverted, this makes a lot of sense. Not every candidate is comfortable talking on the phone (at least initially) or would prefer time to think about their responses in a text interview setting.  

Let’s consider the following text recruiting scenario: 

10:15 AM: Abby is a Software Developer that’s been in the same job for a few years. Just like the roughly 70 percent of American workers, she doesn’t feel engaged in her job. While she’s not actively looking, she’s considering new opportunities. Out of the blue, Abby receives a text message at work from her friendly neighborhood recruiter letting her know about a new job opportunity. 

10:20 AM: Abby happens to be a part of the 68 percent of the candidates who prefer texting vs calling so she’s quick to respond back to the recruiter letting them know she’s interested in the new position.   

10:25 AM: The recruiter sends Abby the job description to her via email. Abby takes some time to look it over and really likes what she sees.  

1:00 PM: Abby responds back to the recruiter letting them know she’s open for an interview and attaches her resume and cover letter. 

1:30 PM: The recruiter schedules the first interview! 

In this scenario, think about the experience for Abby. She was able to respond at her own time, received fast responses from the recruiter and ultimately, had an interview lined up within a few hours – all part of fantastic candidate experience! What’s even better? This scenario is ideal on the recruiters end too since it’s so fast and cost-effective. 

With an open rate of 98%, text recruiting is a fantastic tool that can have immense benefits but it’s extremely important to use best practices. Be sure to download our tip sheet, 7 Best Practices For Texting Job Candidates, for guidance.  

Additionally, having the right text recruiting software gives you a unique advantage over the DIY approach, especially since you’ll be able to better track candidate interactions, send mass texts and protect personal data.  

Now that we covered text recruiting, let’s take a moment to look at another scenario, this time of a candidate experiencing chatbot recruitment: 

1:06 PM: Adam is a forklift driver who is currently earning $14 an hour but he’d like to find another forklift driver job that pays higher. He finds his way to an online job board from a local recruiter and views a number of forklift jobs but he just wants to know how much they pay before he applies. 

1:08 PM: On the job board page, Adam notices a chatbot in the bottom right corner of the page. He clicks on the bot and asks, “How much does this Forklift Operator position pay per hour?” 

1:09 PM: A recruiter responds within a few moments letting him know that it’s between $15-17 an hour. Adam immediately lets the recruiter know he’s interested in the position via the chatbot conversation.  

1:10 PM: The recruiter collects Adam’s information and begins to interview him. 

1:20 PM: After the interview, the recruiter discovers that Adam is qualified for the job and extends a job offer via text. 

In this scenario, Adam was able to quickly find the information he needed to apply for the job. While this scenario is only one instance of using a chatbot to place more candidates, there’s so much potential. Gartner forecasted that by 2021, more than half of enterprises will spend more each year on chatbots and their creation than on traditional mobile app development.  

So now that we know chatbots are effective and not going anywhere anytime soon, what’s the best chatbot for recruiting? The answer truly depends on your business needs, size and investment. One option is starting with a free chatbot service like Drift and seeing how it goes. You may find that chatbots are a huge revenue generator or a potential bust. But if you start for free, you have nothing to lose other than a bit of time.  

Bottom line: Emerging channels like chatbots and text recruiting are convenient for candidates to save money and automate several manual, time-sucking tasks for the recruiters. It’s a win-win for candidates and recruiters.  

About Avionté

Avionté is a leader in enterprise staffing and recruiting software solutions, offering innovative end-to-end staffing solutions to over 900 customers and 25,000 users throughout the U.S. and Canada. Avionté delivers a robust platform for clerical, light industrial, IT and professional staffing firms to maximize profits and boost productivity.