Send SMS Messages to Candidates

You can communicate with candidates in Recruiting using SMS (Short Message Service) text messages, if this feature is configured. Your conversations are included in the candidate's profile for other authorized users to view and participate in.

You can use SMS in the United States and Canada.

You can only send SMS messages to candidates who consent to receive them. To check if a candidate agrees to receive messages, look at the SMS Consent column in the Candidates tab, available from various Recruiting features. You can also use the SMS Consent filter to search the candidate lists.

Send a Message

You can send candidates a text message by selecting Contact > Send SMS Message in the toolstrip: 

• When you select the candidate from the Candidates tab for a job requisition in Recruiting > Job Requisitions.
• When you select the candidate in Candidate Management.
• In the candidate's profile.
• In the Classic Recruiter Experience, when you select the candidate from Talent Community, Talent Pools, or the quick search results.

When you use any of these contact options, the Communications > SMS Message subtab in the candidate's profile opens. If you asked for the conversation from Job Requisitions, then the conversation is opened for the relevant job requisition, if available. If it's the first conversation for the requisition, you need to click New Conversation.

To send a message in the conversation that's opened, enter your message in the bottom of the left-side panel and click Send Message. Your message is added to the conversation with a timestamp. Click Refresh for a manual update, so you can see the latest delivery status and any new candidate responses.

Note: The candidate won't see your name. If you want to identify yourself, mention your name in the message.

View Candidate Conversations

The conversations for each job requisition are listed in the left panel of the Communications > SMS Message subtab in each candidate's profile. You can go there to view all SMS conversations with the candidate. You can use the By list to sort the conversations.

Click any conversation to see its messages. Other Recruiting users can also see the conversation if they have access to the SMS texting feature and to the candidate. If some people who are part of the conversation haven't yet read a message, the conversation title and date are bolded. If you're expecting new messages to arrive, click Refresh to update the conversation.

Note: You can click the edit button to change the title of a conversation, if needed.

Conversations are linked either to a job requisition or to the candidate’s profile. To create a new conversation for a different job requisition, go to the SMS Message subtab of the candidate's profile and click New Conversation. You're asked if you want to link the conversation to a job requisition, and if you select Yes, you choose the job requisition. If you select No, a new conversation is created that is linked to the candidate's profile, not to any job requisition.

Note: You can only create one conversation per job requisition, plus one general conversation linked to the candidate's profile. The general conversations are shown in the left panel without an affiliated job requisition. After a conversation is archived, another conversation can usually be created related to that profile or job requisition.

Get Notifications

When you send an SMS message in a conversation, you automatically receive Message Center notifications when there are responses to the conversation. Other Recruiting users don’t automatically receive notifications about this conversation until they send their own message, but they can switch on notifications if they want.

To turn message notifications on or off for a conversation, select the conversation from the Communications > SMS Message subtab. Then, change the following switches in the conversation side panel:

• In the Improved Recruiter Experience, use the Notifications switch. You can see whether the conversation has notifications switched on in the Notification column of the subtab.
• In the Classic Recruiter Experience, use the Message Notifications switch. You can see whether the conversation has notifications switched on in the subtab. If you're receiving notifications, the conversation title shows the notification icon with a bell (). If you aren't receiving them, the notification icon shows a slash through the bell ().

Messaging Limits

The following limits apply when you're sending texts to candidates:

• The system limits each message to 160 characters. You can see how many characters are left as you type.
• You can send a maximum number of messages each month. You see how many messages are left to send, along with the date when this limit resets.
• There's a limit to how many messages you can send to candidates if they don't respond to the messages in a conversation. After this limit is reached, you can't send the candidate any more messages until they respond to that specific conversation.

Note: The Dayforce administrator can configure the last two limits in System Admin > External Integrations.

Archive Conversations

An SMS conversation is archived in the following situations:

• When there's no activity for the configured number of days.
• When a user clicks the archive button in the Communications > SMS Message subtab in Recruiting.
• When the candidate updates their phone number or country code.

When a conversation is archived, it becomes read-only. You can no longer use it to send another message to the candidate. If the candidate replies to the conversation, their message isn’t received. However, you can usually start a new conversation corresponding to the same job requisition or profile.

You can continue to reference archived conversations as needed. They remain in the Communications > SMS Message subtab in the candidate's profile.

When you view an archived conversation, there's a note that the conversation was archived (with the datestamp and name of who archived it). In the Classic Recruiter Experience, archived conversations also have an archive status icon () next to their name in the SMS Message subtab.

You can choose whether to hide archived candidate conversations. In the Classic Recruiter Experience, click Active or All. In the Improved Recruiter Experience, click Filters, select one of the message statuses in the side panel, and then click Apply.