There’s a very troubling blog post by Microsoft’s Shally Steckerl and subsequent comment thread in which he outlines how to send text messages to people’s mobile devices via their phone number. He believes such a tactic is sound, and so do some of his readers.
Shally (who I like and respect, by the way) says, “… there’s no difference between a ‘cold call’ and a ‘cold e-mail’ when it comes to recruiting other than the sheer fact that when you put it in writing … well… it’s in writing.”
Why does the Do Not Call List and the CAN-SPAM Act exist? Because people don’t like unwanted phone calls or e-mail. Think people will like getting SMS spam on their mobiles? Of course not.
If you’re a recruiter and are considering sending a text message to a candidate’s mobile, don’t. I don’t even care if you have their resume with a cell phone number on it. Unless you have specific approval to interact via someone’s cell phone in this way, stay away. Far away.
Sending an unexpected text message to someone’s mobile is the quickest way to drag yourself and your (employment) brand into the gutter. (It’s also the quickest way to get the government involved with more regulation, possibly destroying the next great marketing medium.)
Granted, I’m not a recruiter. But I’m also not oblivious to the nature of recruiting and its celebrated guerilla tendancies. I wrote about this topic last year after attending ERExpo in Boston. There’s no doubt that direct mail, telemarketing, e-mail spam and pop-up banners “work.” Each sees about a 0-5 percent response rate. But what about the other 95 percent? What do they think of your e-mail, letter or phone call? I doubt they’re thrilled.
I know you gotta do what you gotta do as a recruiter. I know your competition is doing this stuff and the boss is breathing down your neck. And I know many would argue up and down about the positives of all the above practices (and more) and how they’re necessary and effective.
Shally says, “One cool thing about SMS is that [the candidate] can respond to [your text message] on their own time, privately, not via their work e-mail (in case big brother is watching) and not at the time or place where they happen to be when you impose on them with a phone call (say their boss is walking by or sitting next to them).” (Notice he says “impose.”)
And that’s the whole point. “Private.” There is no other electronic medium more intimate and “private” than a person’s mobile device. And it’s that very reason that sellers and marketers (read recruiters) should never “go there” in a way mirroring e-mail or cold calling. There are outstanding ways to market via a mobile phone, but they all involve the user being in control.
As far as this style of recruiting goes, stay away from the mobile phone. Far away.
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April 21st, 2006 at 5:08 pm
I agree (and said so on my blog) with your cautionary statement. I think its important to use any and all tools wisely. A badly placed call, or email can also be just as damaging to “employment branding” and there are many documented cases of that on the web.
But I do want to add that sending an SMS (or email message) isn’t really recruiting. Its an attempt to communicate. You don’t want to “pitch” or “recruit” in an 160 characted SMS, or an email, or even a voice mail. The intent is to open communication with certain types of candidates (and especially in Europe where SMS is more accepted than calling). That’s it. As a method of professional communication its not something you do over and over like a telemarketer or a spammer. Email campaigns can have 60% and frequently even as much as 80% positive response so even though you may not agree with this method of communication please don’t compare it to telemarketing, junk mail or spam which only gets 0-5% response.
April 21st, 2006 at 5:15 pm
Joel you know I totally respect your opinion and think very highly of you as well, and I agree people do abuse things. but I also wanted to add that recruting is not telemarketing in the same way that telemarketing isn’t selling.
How do you get permission to contact someone if you don’t first contact them? If we were to have to wait for them to contact us, then it wouldn’t be called recruiting it would be called waiting. Its just the nature of the business that recruiters frequently have to be the ones to initiate contact. If you strongly feel mobile phones can be used in this way, then I respect your opinion, but I just don’t want people to believe there’s something wrong with initiating contact.
April 24th, 2006 at 11:23 am
I also wanted to share this with you (sent to me from a caring friend who prefers to remain anonymous):
http://www.infoworld.com/article/04/08/04/HNbancellphonespam_1.html
Basically what I understand this to mean is that the FCC has lumped
in cell-phone spam along with the CAN SPAM Act. Now, keep in mind I
don’t condone spam of any kind, SMS or email, but I though it
worthwhile to mention this as a good counterpoint to my own post.
EXCERPT: Commissioners argued mobile-phone spam is harmful because
consumers have to pay for the time to delete it (which I do mention
in my comments on my blog). Full article: http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,117274,00.asp