Recruitment agencies have to take every care to ensure that their candidate database is clean and up to date. Failing to do so will ensure that the top talent find their perfect jobs elsewhere. SMS Surveys are a great way to make sure that you deliver the right jobs, to the right candidates.
Recruitment agencies’ candidate databases are a lot like kitchen cupboards. It takes time to make sure that everything is up to date, within reach and where it should be. Failing to do this will only ensure that your cupboards are full of stuff that you can’t use, and taking up space you could be using for other things.
When you consider that existing candidates ranked as the number 1 source of successful placements in the UK for recruiters in 2017 – beating employment websites and referrals on the way (source) – the importance of a clean, tidy and up to date database can’t be over-stated.
It follows, then, that failing to maintain candidate databases will potentially cause lost opportunities, and lead to a disgruntled audience who are being contacted for no good reason.
So how can SMS help?
SMS holds three main benefits over conventional ways of database cleansing like phone conversations and postal forms – these being:
It’s all automated
Making phone calls to each one of your clients is great, but is time-consuming and costly, as well as tying up team members who might otherwise be bringing in revenue. SMS eliminates this by periodically contacting each client, and asking them to provide their latest details. This functionality can also be tied into recruitment agencies’ existing in-house systems meaning no need for additional training for your team.
Much higher engagement rates
It can be frustrating for recruitment agencies to get the information that they need from their existing candidates, in order to keep their details fresh. Emails and letters being ignored, or phone calls and voicemails that go unanswered – it can sometimes feel like recruiters have hit a dead end. SMS helps solve this issue, with a 95% read rate meaning more messages will be opened – and in turn more clean data for your records.
It’s still conversational
While some recruiters might love the more personal touch that a telephone call provides, that doesn’t mean to say that SMS can’t feel the same. Using a tool like SMS Surveys, you can automate responses which feel like a conversation, and prompt further replies from the recipient.
How does it work?
SMS Survey platforms make it easy for recruiters to design a set of questions delivered via SMS. Recruiters simply define the questions that they want to ask, and also a list of acceptable responses for each question. The Survey can then be triggered or scheduled from the recruiter’s existing CRM system.
The candidate would, first of all, receive an introductory SMS which could ask them if they had a minute or two to answer some questions. If they replied yes, the next question would be sent across – and so on until all of the required information had been provided.
When candidates reply to questions, the answer can be automatically fed back into the appropriate field within the recruiter’s CRM – meaning less work for the in-house agents, and more up to date candidate data for them to use.
Like to know more?
If you’re interested to know more about how SMS can be used to help recruitment agencies build and maintain a database of candidates, please get in contact with our team today on 0345 356 5758 or email us at [email protected].
