Using Cell Phone Text Messaging (SMS) as a Recruiting Tool
Since we started building an opt-in database of cell phone addresses a year ago, we've seen a steady increase in the number of employers who are interested in targeting college students and recent graduates by sending to their cell phones a text message (SMS). The message can direct the candidates to the employer's web site or allow the candidate to reply back with questions. Today a client requested some counts and I was pretty blown away by how far we've come in the last year and just how high a percentage of students have opted to receive messages to their cell phones. Unlike Gen X or Boomers, Gen Y is comfortable communicating via text messaging and many prefer it.
| At four-year colleges, we have 3,667,159 emails, 1,893,655 SMS, and 1,088,443 matching. A match allows us, for example, to first deliver a targeted email and then follow-up with the same people at some point in the future by SMS. Some clients use that to SMS just those candidates who click through from the email. |
For the two-year schools, we have 1,450,618 emails, 812,203 SMS, and 427,734 matching. That means that at all four- and two-year colleges, we have 5,117,777 emails, 2,705,858 SMS, and 1,436,177 matching. All are opt-in. Wow.
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