With over 2 billion monthly active users, WhatsApp is one of the most popular messaging apps in the world. Although WhatsApp is not an obvious choice of platform for recruitment, it has become a valuable tool for recruiters for connecting with jobseekers and streamlining elements of the recruitment process.
In this article, we’ve outlined 6 ways you can use WhatsApp for recruiting, from setting up a WhatsApp Business account to recording video and audio messages.
Use WhatsApp Business
WhatsApp Business products support businesses from small to large, with solutions created with the aim of opening up conversations between you and your target audience. In terms of recruitment, WhatsApp Business can help you to build meaningful connections with your target candidates in a channel that isn’t as saturated with recruiters as platforms like LinkedIn.
There is a real opportunity here to reach candidates in a more personal way, whilst still benefitting from automation tools to manage and keep on top of your conversations. If you’re thinking of how you can use WhatsApp for recruiting, researching the WhatsApp Business products is the perfect starting point.
Communicate Through Broadcast Lists
The broadcast list feature allows you to send a message to numerous jobseekers at once. You can create your own lists of message recipients to send broadcast messages to without having to select contacts each time. Recipients will receive the message as a normal chat message, with replies sent to you only and not others on the list. These are great for sending out company news, job vacancies, or even career tips and advice.
Broadcast messages will only be delivered to contacts who have saved your number to their address book, so if your messages aren’t reaching your intended audience, you’ll need to rethink how you’re collecting your contact data in the first place. Do people know that you have their information, and how you intend to use it?
Create Group Chats
Whilst broadcast lists are a great way of sending relevant information to different segments of your jobseeker database, group chats also provide a space for networking within these segments. You can still share relevant information in these groups such as current job openings and information about your company, but you can also ask questions to initiate conversation and provide a space for networking.
Group chats also provide a way for candidates to benefit from your communication. Rather than them being just another name on your list to receive your vacancies, groups can make them feel part of something, providing them with the opportunity to learn from their peers and grow their own networks. Think carefully about how you segment your contacts into groups, and only spark up a conversation in them when you have something valuable to share, and not just for the sake of it.
Automate Candidate Screening
WhatsCareer is a WhatsApp chatbot that has been specially developed for HR departments and personnel service providers to improve communication with candidates throughout the recruitment process. It can allow you to:
- Advise and answer questions from applicants
- Contact candidates about vacancies or further job information
- Enable interested parties to receive new jobs and news via an opt-in push message
- Safely receive certificates, work examples, and other supporting documents from candidates
- Provide updates on the progress of applications as well as reminders for upcoming interviews or deadlines
- Integrate with existing CRM and database systems for a full overview of your communication with candidates
Through using a chatbot, you can easily automate the early stages of the recruitment process, allowing you to focus more of your time on qualified candidates who get through these rounds of filtering.
Although you can use automation to communicate with qualified candidates too, the further they get through the process, the more time you should be spending personalising your communication. These are the candidates you want to engage and attract to your organisation, and relying too heavily on automation can make this more difficult.
Here are 10 more ways to bring automation into your hiring.
Conduct Video and Telephone Interviews
You can use WhatsApp’s video and audio call features to conduct virtual interviews with candidates. This is particularly useful where a candidate doesn’t have a laptop or tablet at their disposal, as it means they won’t have to download an app like Zoom onto their phones or create a new account.
You can also conduct the interview in a space that brings together all your communication with that candidate which simplifies the process for both parties.
Record Video and Audio Messages
To personalise your communication with your contacts, you can also record video and audio messages, perhaps to introduce a new role, share a piece of advice, or share some company/industry developments.
Jobseekers are so used to seeing the same types of messages spamming their LinkedIn or email inbox, so actually taking the time to record a message should improve your chances of being seen and responded to.
Here are 8 further benefits of incorporating video into your hiring.
