Why is it important to know when to text, call or email candidates?

Understanding when it’s appropriate to call or email candidates versus texting or meeting with them in person is an important part of your company’s hiring strategy. There are specific scenarios when it’s more effective to call candidates directly rather than send them emails, and on occasion, sending concise text messages can illicit quicker responses than long-form email communication.

Knowing when to choose each type of communication demonstrates your respect for the candidates’ time and improves their overall interviewing experience, making them more likely to accept a job offer from your company. 

When to email a candidate

Email is the most common form of communication between applicants and recruiters. Many candidates apply for positions via email and expect to receive the first point of contact from a hiring manager through this channel.

One of the biggest advantages of this communication method is the ability to have an open line of frequent contact without seeming invasive. While text messages or phone calls can be demanding and take up a significant amount of an applicant’s time, sending emails allows them to check for new messages only when it’s convenient for them. 

Emailing candidates is most appropriate for:

• Initial point of contact 
• Notifying them about the next stage in the application process
• Confirming the date and time of an interview 
• Requesting further materials to support their application 

There are very few instances where sending an email to a candidate isn’t the most, or one of the most, appropriate ways to communicate. Situations where you may want to consider something more personal than an email include letting an applicant know you’ve hired someone else following an intensive interview process. 

When to call a candidate 

Calling a candidate too frequently can become invasive and may cause them to feel like you don’t respect their time. For this reason, limiting calls to specific instances, like phone interviews, is ideal. Send candidates a phone interview email to schedule a date and time for a phone conversation that works for them. During that conversation, you can talk about their interest in the role and their past work experience and also give them an opportunity to ask questions. 

A phone interview is a great way to get to know a candidate better because you have a chance to hear their voice and understand their personality through how they communicate verbally. From a phone interview, you can gauge their oral communication and interpersonal skills, which are especially important for customer-facing roles. 

Besides phone interviews, other scenarios where it’s a good idea to call candidates instead of emailing them include:

• Notifying them of a job offer
• Congratulating them on getting the job

For most applicants, a phone interview is a significant step in the hiring process, so it’s not advisable to call candidates with no warning prior to a scheduled phone interview. 

When to text a candidate

Texting is a fairly new communication channel for hiring managers, but it’s becoming an effective alternative to emailing in some instances. The benefit of text recruiting and communication is having a secondary channel where you can send written messages to a candidate to ensure you’re making contact. For example, if an applicant hasn’t responded to an email in a timely manner, you can follow up with a text message notifying them of the email to ensure it hasn’t been overlooked or landed in their junk mail. 

Texting is best used for short, concise updates or notifications between the candidate and the hiring manager. Sending too much detail in a text message can result in a loss of information since texts are more challenging to reference hours or days later than finding an email in your inbox. To maximize the efficacy of using text messages to communicate with candidates, implement text recruiting for: 

• Reminders of upcoming interviews
• Notification that action is required via email 
• Confirmation that an interview has been scheduled 
• Prescreening candidates

What is text recruiting?

Text recruiting is a means of quick communication between a hiring manager and applicants. It can be used for prescreening applicants to verify that their application has been received and to confirm that their qualifications, experience and skills are accurate and true.

Text recruiting also enables candidates to ask questions while recruiters determine if they might be a good cultural fit for the company before scheduling further phone or in-person interviews. Rather than sending a recruiter email to hiring managers, employers can ask them to implement text recruiting to attract a younger generation of applicants. 

When to meet with a candidate in person

You can call or email candidates for initial interactions, but before hiring someone, most employers want to bring them in for a face-to-face interview. There are certain scenarios where an in-person meeting isn’t necessary, such as for fully remote jobs where candidates live far away. But, for positions that require in-person work or a hybrid model, asking applicants to come into the workplace for an interview is a vital part of the process. 

An in-person meeting gives applicants a chance to see the workplace, get a feel for the company culture and determine whether this is an environment they can see themselves coming to daily. For you, meeting the candidate in person is the best opportunity you’ll have to get to know them and understand their personality through reading facial expressions and their visible demeanor. 

In-person meetings are often the final step in the hiring process because this interaction helps you make a decision about which candidate is best suited for the position. The biggest advantage of holding an in-person meeting besides being able to observe nonverbal cues is the lack of interruptions. Unlike a phone call, when you invite a candidate to interview in person, you get a chance to talk with no distractions in a peaceful workplace environment, allowing them to focus entirely on your conversation. 

Alternative to in-person meetings

The prominence of remote work in the digital age means many applicants live far away from the workplace and can’t physically come for a meeting or interview. If you want to have the experience of speaking face-to-face with a candidate but can’t get together in person, you can schedule a video interview rather than a phone interview. This is a chance to read visible demeanor and facial expressions with the convenience of a phone call. 

When scheduling a video interview, make it clear to the candidate that this process will require them to turn their video camera on. Applicants need to do more preparation for a video call than a phone call, including preparing their setup, ensuring they have a professional background and refining their physical appearance.

For remote or hybrid work positions and situations where candidates would need to move to your city for the job but are currently located out of the city or state, video interviews are an excellent alternative to in-person meetings.