SMS recruitment: The future of mobile HR

Wouldn't it be nice if while the economy remained in turmoil, the demand for jobs from recent post-secondary graduates slowed down a bit?

But the reality is that millions of graduates from all over the world are hoping to put their degrees to work, and are being forced to compete for the limited number of jobs available.

Until recently, human resource managers relied on sites like Monster, CareerBuilder and Indeed to recruit, soliciting hundreds, if not thousands of resumes for high profile, entry-level jobs. Some areas still relied on local newspaper classifieds or maybe ventured into the market of radio recruitment.

In some segments of the job market, thousands of applicants would rush to submit resumes for a single position, while in others HR managers were lucky to find just one qualified person.

Today, mobile apps and websites, and even text messaging are being used to help manage the influx of applicants and to help recruit qualified candidates.

SMS-Recruitment

The texting arena, known as SMS-recruitment, is enticing tech-savvy HR managers, giving them an opportunity to quickly eliminate many of the resumes that would ultimately land in the shred box.

SMS is making the recruitment and hiring process faster, more efficient and most importantly, cheaper. Communicating with job applicants? Never been easier.

On the flip side, job-seekers can now sign up for text alerts, notifying them when job positions that meet their search criteria become available.

Since it can mean saving money while finding the best of the best in a pool of candidates, there's no doubt that in the future, more job postings will include instructions for texting applications.

How it works:

The way SMS-recruitment works is simple. After a response to a job post is received, the company can remotely send a list of questions via text message, to see if the candidate is suitable for the role. From there, further instructions are sent to appropriate candidates on how to complete the next step in the hiring process. 

In markets where temporary or as-needed positions are critical, such a healthcare, this type of recruitment can help quickly fill gaps. For example, if a hospital has a shortage of nurses because of vacations, illnesses or call-offs, a quick text message can be sent to their pool of as-needed workers.

Within moments, they can gather enough responses to make sure staffing levels are where they need to be. The alternative to SMS: spending hours on the phone calling each PRN employee, leaving messages, and awaiting callbacks, all in hopes of getting enough staff to cover the open shifts. 

But do these types of recruitment process discriminate against those who may not be able to participate in an SMS recruitment program?

For some, the idea of uploading a resume to the internet is still foreign, let alone using their smartphone or cell phone. And although for some people it may be unimaginable, there are still remote areas of rural America that simply do not have access to modern cell phone service.

Sadly, those who can not adapt to these new technologies may be locked out of an increasingly tight job market. SMS for recruiting is only going to gain momentum. The use of cell phones, smartphones and tablet computers will continue to bring innovation to small and medium businesses.

 

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