Texting - When is it appropriate in the interview process?

 Over the years, the options for communication have increased exponentially.  Gone are the days of faxing or dropping off your resume at a place of business.  In our virtual world, recruiters and candidates alike are using job boards, job board apps, LinkedIn, email, Twitter (X), text and other methods communicate.  

With all this technology at our fingertips, during the application and interview process - when is it appropriate to use email, a call or text to communicate?

The rules of engagement are simple:

1. Once you have applied through any of the methods above, if you have not heard back from the recruiter or company representative, it is perfectly acceptable to send an email to follow up on your application.  
2. If you have communicated with a representative of the company via any method, it is acceptable to email or call them directly with any further questions.
3. If you have been interviewed by a recruiter, so a relationship has been established, it is acceptable to reach out with small questions or quick notes via text.  Examples would be:  "I did not receive the invite to the video interview, can you please resend?" or "I'm trying to log into the TEAMS interview via the link you sent, but it isn't working"
4. When you text a recruiter, keep in mind that it is typical for recruiters have a dozen or more candidates in process at any given time.  Due to the volume of candidates, most recruiters do not save candidate's contact information to their phone - so it is imperative that you include your name in your text. Example: "Hello this is Jane Smith, we discussed the sales position on Weds, I did not receive the invite to the video interview, can you please resend to JSmith@gmail.com?" 

 Personally, I spend most of my day using my phone to speak with candidates, clients, consultants and internal team members, I turn my text notifications off, so they do not interrupt these conversations.

It is challenging to receive multiple texts a day with no identifiable information.  The most common text I receive is "any feedback yet?", which requires me to look up the phone number in our database or respond to the text with "I'm sorry, but who is this"?

Simply by signing your texts, you can save time, and limit any potential confusion.

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