We caught up with the busy recruiters at GradCornwall this week to find out how they are using SMS to fill vacancies and stay in touch with applicants.
The Objective
- Fill graduate vacancies throughout Cornwall
- Update applicants on the status of their application in real-time
The Plan
GradCornwall is a one-stop-shop for advertising and applying for graduate level jobs and careers in Cornwall, it is used regularly by employers and job-hunters alike. With increasing interest, the busy recruitment team were looking for a cost-effective and time-efficient way to keep in touch with graduates and provide regular updates on the status of their application whilst maintaining a personal level of service.
Sam Tilley from GradCornwall wanted a platform that would provide both automatically triggered messages to individuals on the status of their application as well as targeted group campaigns and her initial thought was to use email.
Sam thought about the job-hunting process and felt that email inboxes are saturated with updates and job alerts and then thought of trying SMS. This would make her alerts stand out whilst using a personal and relevant communication tool to her audience.
The FireText technical team helped GradCornwall’s web-developers with a simple bit of software that integrates into their job platform and triggers an SMS every time the status of an application changes. This means Sam is still able to keep candidates and employers in the loop without making any phone calls, saving her valuable time.
In addition to this, Sam can login to the FireText platform and send bulk campaigns to job-hunters updating them of new positions and training courses to help with their job search!
The Messages
“Hi Holly, want to be a Graduate Management Trainee for Enterprise Rent-A-Car? Apply now http://fts.ms/1234 or visit GradCornwall for more details”
“Last few spaces available for life changing course to kick start your graduate career. http://fts.ms/1234. Follow the link!”
“Your vacancy has closed today. Visit http://www.gradcornwall.co.uk to view and shortlist your candidates”
The Results
Sam tells us how they’ve found the SMS campaigns: “SMS is so simple and easy to use yet so effective in communicating with our audience. We have used the service to update graduates about latest job vacancies, keep applicants informed of the status of their job applications, to inform them of impending interviews as well as communicating upcoming events. Personalising the messages adds a great touch and it is so easy to manage our contacts and create groups to ensure we are sending the messages to the relevant people. The team at FireText have been amazing in helping us set up our account and offering continual support. All round fab product and service…brilliant!”
If you need some inspiration on how to use SMS to fill vacancies click here.