SMS recruiting, run by an AI agent

Why candidates don't reply

• Emails that stay unopened. A recruiter's email gets lost among all the others, and many candidates only read it several days later.
• Calls at the wrong time. At work or on the road, the candidate can't pick up. And when they call back, you're the one in a meeting.
• Forgotten follow-ups. Following up with every candidate takes disciplined tracking. Without a tool, part of the talent pool is never contacted again.

How the SMS agent prescreens your candidates

1. First message. The agent introduces itself as an AI, explains the role in one sentence and asks for the candidate's consent to continue.
2. Conversation. It asks the job's questions one by one, understands free-form answers and follows up when an answer lacks detail.
3. Meeting. It offers a slot in the recruiter's calendar, or schedules a call from the voice agent at the time the candidate chooses.

What is SMS recruiting?

SMS recruiting means communicating with candidates by text message rather than by email or phone. Texts get read quickly, and the candidate replies when they can, without having to step away for a call.

With an AI agent, texting is no longer just for notifying the candidate or reminding them of a meeting. It becomes the channel for prescreening itself. The SMS prescreening agent leads the conversation, collects the answers and organizes the next steps. The same conversation can happen on WhatsApp.

Example conversation with the SMS agent

Here's what text-based prescreening looks like for a customer service representative role.

• Agent: "Hi Julie, I'm the company's recruiting assistant, an AI. You applied for the customer service representative role in Nantes. May I ask you a few questions?"
• Candidate: "Yes no problem"
• Agent: "Thanks. It's a permanent, full-time position, Monday to Friday. When could you start?"
• Candidate: "End of the month I think, I have a notice period"
• Agent: "Got it. Does your notice period end before the 30th?"
• After a few more messages, the agent offers two interview slots with the recruiter, and the candidate picks one

A conversation that adapts to the candidate

The SMS agent understands answers written freely, even short or approximate ones, and adapts what comes next. It keeps its messages short, the way people text.

• It spots contradictory answers, for example stated experience that doesn't match an earlier answer, and asks for clarification
• It adapts its tone to a candidate who is hesitant, in a hurry or annoyed
• It answers the candidate's questions about the role based on the job posting

Automatic follow-ups: text, call, then recruiter

A silent candidate deserves a follow-up, within reason. With no reply to the first message, the agent sends two spaced-out follow-ups. If the candidate stays silent, the voice prescreening agent calls them. If the call doesn't get through, the recruiter is alerted and takes over.

Every step is visible in the job's kanban. You know who has been contacted, when, and where the conversation stands, and a notification tells you as soon as a candidate replies.

Meetings booked into your actual free slots

When the answers fit, the agent offers the candidate a meeting. The built-in calendar syncs with Outlook and Teams, so the agent only offers slots when you're actually free. The candidate chooses, and the meeting shows up in your calendar.

If the candidate would rather talk before committing, the agent can also schedule a call from the voice agent at the time they give.

What the recruiter finds in the candidate profile

At the end of the conversation, the candidate profile contains the full message history and the answer to each of the job's questions. Expected salary and notice period go into their fields, next to your notes and tags. Points to check are flagged, such as a contradiction or an answer that stayed vague, and the booked meeting or scheduled call is there too.

You read it in a minute, and you know whether the candidate deserves an interview or a call from you.

SMS recruiting and GDPR

From the first message, the agent says it's an artificial intelligence and asks for the candidate's consent to continue. The candidate can stop the conversation at any time.

Messages and answers stay in your workspace, hosted in the European Union, and follow your retention periods. The agent makes no decisions. It collects the answers, and the recruiter decides.

When should you favor SMS recruiting?

Texting works especially well in a few cases.

• Field roles, where candidates check their phone more than their email
• High-volume hiring, where every candidate needs a quick reply
• Re-engaging past candidates from your candidate database who are suggested when a new job is posted
• Employed candidates, who reply on their break or in the evening

Frequently asked questions