10 stats on candidate messaging every recruiter should know

The war for talent has put the spotlight onto the candidate experience and a big part of candidate experience is candidate messaging

Ji-A Min from Business 2 Community has highlighted 10 stats about candidate messaging that recruiters need to know which is summarised in an infographic below.

Candidate messaging stat #1

Job seekers seem to welcome the development of AI and chatbots.

A recent survey by Allegis found:

58% of candidates are comfortable interacting with AI for initial questioning in the application process

66% are comfortable interacting with AI for interviewing scheduling and preparation

Candidate messaging stat #2

The quest to attract and win over candidates is fundamentally changing the application process to become mobile-first. This has led to the rise in recruiting texts.

A survey by Software Review found nearly 2/3rds – 66% – of job seekers considers it acceptable to be contacted via text message by a recruiter.

Candidate messaging stat #3

According to Software Review, 14% of job seekers consider it inappropriate for a recruiter to text them outside of business hours.

Most candidates prefer to be contacted earlier in the day: 29% prefer to be to texted between 8-10am and 29% prefer to be texted between 10am-12pm.

Candidate messaging stat #4 – #6

According to CareerBuilder, there are some generational differences in how candidates prefer to be contacted.

57% of Millennials prefer to be contacted by email over phone calls

47% of Gen Xers have equal preferences towards email and phone calls

58% of Boomers prefer to be contacted by phone over email

Candidate messaging stat #7

While the human touch is important to job seekers, a substantial percentage see the value of automating parts of the process.

CareerBuilder found 33% of job seekers want to receive an automated email after they apply outlining the next steps in the process.

Candidate messaging stat #8

Candidates like messages from recruiters to be short and sweet.

LinkedIn’s data shows recruiters can increase their response rate by 27% by keeping their InMails shorter than 200 words.

RecruitLoop suggests the optimal recruiting email is between 150–250 words.

Candidate messaging stat #9

Indeed’s survey of candidates asked them, “Once you’ve applied to a job at a company, which of the following actions build trust?”

The top reply was, “The company views your application promptly and reaches out” with 53% of candidates picking that option.

Candidate messaging stat #10

Borrowing data from our friends in sales, Yesware analysed over 500,000 emails and found that 30% of recipients replied to the first email, 21% replied to the second email, and 25% replied to a subsequent email.

Recruiters love this COMPLETE set of Accredited Recruitment & HR Training – View Training Brochure

Comment on this story

The British Institute of Recruiters is the Professional Body operating The Recruitment Certification Scheme

Send this to a friend