The new phone etiquette: Are your recruiting practices up-to-date?

The appropriate etiquette for making phone calls, answering calls, and leaving voicemails has changed dramatically in the last 20 — and even 2 — years. A recent Washington Post article documented current phone etiquette and got me thinking about whether recruiters are in sync. Could some of the perceived “ghosting” by candidates be miscommunication?

According to the article, expectations around phone usage vary by the relationship between callers, what’s being communicated, and maybe most importantly, generation. Here’s an example. Unless it’s a close friend or family member, you should text before calling – and almost never leave a voicemail. Today, texting is the preferred way to leave a message. It makes sense. I know I rarely answer a call from an unknown number and almost never listen to my voicemail as I have usually already followed up via text or other means. (And most phones are transcribing voice mails to text anyway, so the chances are low that someone will ever listen to the recording!)

Since speed is usually important when hiring, we need to make sure we’re communicating with candidates in the ways they are most used to and will check most regularly. I’ve seen it firsthand. When we began texting candidates, the response time went from days to minutes!

My advice? Based on today’s phone etiquette, review how you communicate with candidates. By cutting down on voice mails and giving your recruitment team access to tools that allow them to text candidates in an easy way and manage candidate communication via text – including texting to say, “I sent you an e-mail” — you can reduce response time, turnaround times for setting up interviews, and missed communications.