Top 5 +1 reasons for using SMS in recruitment.

Dialogue recently launched its SMS service for Bullhorn the site is great and can be found at http://www.dialogue.net/sms-for-bullhorn/. It offers close integration with the software as a service (SaaS) application in that you send and receive the SMS messages from within Bullhorn itself, and that is the key to usability of add-ins like SMS. But it is also worth reflecting on why SMS is so beneficial to a recruitment and ATS (Applicant Tracking System) context. So here are my top 5 reasons in order of priority:

 Reason #1 Reach.

A mobile phone is always with you and always with your candidates. It is also nearly always switched on and mostly within network coverage. Also, every cellular phone supports SMS and unlike voice calls, the messages can't be diverted. Add to this the research findings that nearly everyone knows how to use SMS and 98% of SMS messages are read. And you have the single most compelling reason for the success of SMS.  You message will reach the person you send it to.

Reason #2 Speed.

SMS is fast, really fast a message can cross the world in a few seconds to land on a phone wherever it is.  If you want to tell someone about a vacancy fast you can.  If you want to tell someone an interview time has been changed you need look no further.  Why is it fast? Well four reasons:

1. There isn't much data to shift around. Being a bit more technical; a text message is 140 bytes of information. SMS uses a 7 bit character-set and uses something called 'bit-stuffing' to get 160 7 bit characters into 140 bytes.  So SMS is compressed into something very small which is then switch through various networks at a very high speed.
2. It uses the cellular network signalling channel (SS7). This is bandwidth which is always there. Ever notice on New Year's Eve when you can't make a call because the whole world is doing the same thing, but you can send an SMS. There is so much less congestion.
3. Mobile networks have invested heavily in SMS infrastructure. Why wouldn't they, it is the success story of the the past decade. In January 1998 I remember when Vodafone in the UK told me that it had carried 1m SMS messages in the whole month. According to the UK Mobile Data Association by January 2010 there were 11m messages sent in the UK every hour. 
4. With companies like Dialogue who are a tier 1 SMS aggregator and the sort of company that will carry all of these 'Application-to-Person' messages; you have no third party between the application and the mobile network, so no delays. Indeed Dialogue even runs its own SS7 (signalling layer) interface for SMS.  So is viewed as a mobile network as far as SMS is concerned.

So overall, SMS is built for speed, the networks have worked hard to handle the volume and if you aggregator is also your application provider then you have very little friction.

Reason #3 Cost.

Several commentators have noted that SMS is the most expensive data in the universe. At an average cost of US $0.1 per SMS, it is over US $700 per megabyte. Compare that with the data plan on a mobile phone or the charges from an ISP and you see what I mean. But that is missing the point that the competitive alternative to SMS is not email or the mobile internet, it is voice, and SMS is much cheaper than voice.  Try making a voice call to 50 people to tell them about a job vacancy that would interest them and you have two costs, the cost of the call and the cost of your time. The cost of the call will not be cheap because the chances are you are calling a cellphone, and the cost of you time must be worth more than $5!

Reason #4 Response.

The response rates for SMS marketing are regularly quoted in the high teens and up to 25%. That is almost unheard of with more traditional marketing mechanics. But what is better than the statistic is the idea that SMS replies coming straight back to your application will enable the recruitment professional to focus attention on the enthusiastic candidates immediately.  Nothing pleases a potential employer more than a recruitment company finding interested candidates quickly. 

Reason #5 Precision.

Who wouldn't want an SMS reminder of an interview date and time together with the address and the name and job title of the interviewer?  You can fit it all in a single message, and probably include some travel advice too.  Again, contrast this with a voice call and you can see information being lost.  

Plus 1.

If I was going to add one more reason, it would be that people are already voting with their feet. The most compelling argument to include SMS in a recruitment application is that the recruitment professionals are already using it, they are just using their own mobile phones, which is more awkward and the messages aren't tracked where you want them - in the log of correspondence with the candidate.

 Recruitment has regularly been highlighted as one of the top sectors for SMS usage. It isn't surprising because it is a people industry and people is what text messaging is all about.  It isn't about replacing email or voice calls. You need email to send documents and you need voice to really discuss a role. But for short alerts like job notifications or appointment reminders or directions and contact details, it is very hard to do better than SMS.

I hope this short article has helped highlight some of the benefits of SMS to anyone still teetering on the brink of embracing the technology.