What’s your take on sending candidates automated email responses? Some recruiters balk at the idea because they feel robotic and impersonal—others like automated emails because they save time while letting candidates know that their application has been received.
Whether you love them or hate them, automated email responses (a feature that can be set-up in most ATS software) are quite beneficial for a variety of reasons. If you’ve been on the fence about using them, maybe you’ll reconsider that now. Let’s jump into how sending automated email responses to candidates can benefit your recruiting agency’s bottom line.
Automated responses fulfill a candidate’s expectations of consistent communication
During the hiring process, candidates appreciate being kept in the loop regardless of the outcome. An ERE survey revealed that 51% of candidates said they want to hear back from companies, even if they didn’t land the job.
While candidates crave consistent communication, the majority of companies aren’t providing it. Only two percent of Fortune 500 companies are communicating the status of a candidate’s application throughout the duration of the hiring process. Since candidates have the upper hand in the job market today, it’s more important than ever to keep them updated on the hiring process. Failing to do so could very well mean they’ll move onto the next opportunity before you have time to blink.
Providing updates improves the candidate experience and employer brand
When candidates get frustrated at receiving little to no responses about their job application, they won’t shy away from sharing the negative experience they’ve had with a recruiter or employer. In fact, they’re very vocal about it.
This article states that nearly 60% of surveyed candidates said they had a poor candidate experience. Of those candidates, 72% of them shared that negative experience online or with someone directly.
“Negative online reviews could keep others from applying and could ultimately impact a company’s hiring goals as well as its business objectives,” says Kristin Kelley, chief marketing officer at Randstad North America.
By getting your entire team on board about keeping in touch with candidates throughout the hiring process, you’ll improve your candidates’ experiences significantly. You’ll also protect and strengthen your employer brand.
On top of all of this, candidates are more likely to view you as transparent and responsive. Even if they don’t get the job, candidates may be more open to working with you in the future when you provide them with a noteworthy experience in the first place. Better yet, they may also be inclined to recommend you to their friends and family.
Use your ATS software to send automated emails
Now that we know how important it is to keep candidates in the loop, it’s time to act on it. While it’s ideal to send personalized emails to candidates, we know it’s not always possible. An ATS software should enable you to create and send automated emails to candidates – no problem! This feature is a win-win for both parties; it saves you time on writing and sending hundreds of emails, and it keeps all of your candidates up-to-date on where they stand in the hiring process.
Send automated responses whenever you want with Mindscope
Since a big part of your day involves reviewing emails and applications, we want to make this process as smooth as possible for you. Our accept, reject and ‘user definable’ buttons is a feature that integrates with your Outlook email. Once it’s set-up, you can filter through job applications quickly.
Whatever button you select will update the candidate’s status in Mindscope. The button will also trigger a template email that’ll automatically go out to the candidate. With this feature, you can get multiple tasks done by clicking just one button.
Personalize your automated emails through your ATS software
Even with an email template, it’s still possible to add a bit of a personal touch to it with friendly language or a warm greeting. There’s no need to make them very long either—it’s perfectly fine to keep automated emails short and sweet. That might even be better, considering that many candidates read their emails on their phones.
Not sure where to start? You can draw inspiration from several examples of great email templates to send to candidates online. Whether it’s an acceptance or rejection email that you need to whip up, you can find tons of templates to use as a starting base.
Candidates like receiving text messages, too
With text messaging being a common form of communication today, you might also want to consider updating candidates about their applications through texts. When you first start working with a candidate, find out how they prefer to be contacted. Everyone’s different; some people like speaking on the phone while others appreciate getting quick texts.
With an ATS software like Mindscope, you can send and receive texts straight from the software. All of your sent and received text messages are automatically tracked in the system so you’ll never lose any important communications. You can even have your text messages sent to your email so that you can respond to them as you work throughout the day.
Keep that line of communication going
Keeping an open and consistent line of communication with candidates is what will make you stand out in their eyes. Today’s job seekers won’t hesitate to pursue multiple opportunities, so it’s in your favor to stay in touch with them throughout the hiring process. You can do this through automated email responses, individual emails or text messages…or a combination of all of them!
Do you want to learn more about setting up automated emails and sending text messages with our ATS software? Get in touch with us today.