.svg)
.svg)
.svg)
.png)
Contents
Recruiters rely on both SMS and email every day to communicate with candidates. But when you're under pressure to fill jobs quickly, especially in high-volume or hourly hiring situations, which method works better?
What The Data Says
Open rates for SMS engagement for job candidates are more than 95%, and the majority of text messages are read within 3 minutes. Email? You're looking at 15 percent to 25 percent open rates on a good day, and that's assuming it didn't get lost in a promotions tab or spam filter. Response time is much the same. Candidates respond to texts as if they were conversations, particularly if the messages are brief and personalized. Email responses can take hours or, worse, never arrive.
In hourly and frontline roles, many candidates may not have regular access to email or may not check it frequently. But pretty much everyone has a phone in their pocket — and they're constantly checking it. That's why text-first approaches perform better when contacting candidates at scale.
The Real Workflow Comparison
For example, let's say you're interviewing for a position as a retail associate. You email someone to ask if they could do a 10-minute interview. Two days later, only 10% have responded. Now send that same message in an SMS. In 20 minutes, you get 60% of the respondents back. That sort of SMS engagement for job candidates is a significant deal for recruiters who need to move quickly.
When To Use What
Email and SMS both have their advantages. The key is knowing which to use based on the style of the message, where the candidate is at, and its urgency.
Use SMS For:
- Screener questions like short, yes/no questions ("Are you available for a shift this weekend?")
- Interview, scheduling or onboarding reminder
- Urgent updates (like "New job is now available in your area!")
Use E-mail For:
- Forwarding essential documents (such as tax forms or contracts)
- Sending links to detailed scheduling with instructions
- Describing job benefits, pay rates, or multi-part application procedures
Important Trade-offs To Consider:
SMS, however, is character-limited and does not support formatting, making it a less-than-ideal option for conveying complex information. Email is slower, but it allows you space to include details, links, and attachments.
A good communication strategy involves the intelligent use of both SMS and email, empowering recruiters to be in control of their communication strategies.
Where Voice + Automation Fit In
If you're doing outreach for hundreds or thousands of candidates, not even the best social media and email strategies can circumvent this problem. That's where layering in end-to-end AI screening tools can be useful.
Through an AI candidate screening process, you can automate, and customize two-way conversational messages to your candidates at various stages without needing to manually write and send them. So when candidates apply to a role, AI recruiters like HeyMilo can automatically start engaging and screening for fit interactively. Resumes can be screened during this stage, and if they are qualified, they’re then invited to do an AI voice interview that can assess them and ask follow-up questions in a way that feels conversational and human to get deeper insights. Processes like these allow you to fill in those gaps in between different touchpoints for further efficiency.
Example Use Case:
Let's pretend you're trying to fill a role for a delivery driver, and candidates start applying. HeyMilo automatically sends a series of qualifying screeners through SMS, with the last one being: "Are you available to start next Monday?" If the interviewees say "yes," and they meet the other requirements, an invitation to an AI interview is initiated.
You also want to make sure they have at least 5 years experience before they interview, and its AI resume analysis shows 100% fit as the candidate has 7. After completing all stages, all responses are transcribed, scored and detailed for you immediately either in HeyMilo or within your ATS—for fast, data-backed decision making.
In practical use, the winning strategy incorporates a mix of tools, often in conjunction, especially when automated and conversational. That's how more recruiting teams are running modern processes to achieve efficient results without compromising on candidate experience.
SMS vs Email: What's Best For Candidate Engagement
If you're hiring at scale, reliable AI for candidate engagement and AI candidate screening tools that blend conversational text and voice can help you connect with more candidates with minimal extra effort. Automated texting can manage preliminary outreach; voice tools can then be used to follow up with screening questions.
The right channel at the right time keeps the hiring process moving smoothly, for both recruiters and candidates. You don't have to pick between SMS and email. And each has its place, depending on your candidate, type of message, and urgency. SMS is the fastest and most visible medium; email is still necessary, especially for in-depth conversations.
Need a helping hand that does it all for high-volume hiring? HeyMilo is designed for hiring top talent by the best recruiting teams – think about automated engagement through SMS/email/WhatsApp, AI resume screening and interview automation, scaling your recruitment so you can make more hires in less time.
.png)
