To text recruit well, you need written consent from the candidate before the first text, and every message should be short and specific, with an obvious next step. The templates below cover first contact after an application, follow-ups, interview scheduling, reminders, offers and rejections, and each is written to fit one SMS segment.

Candidates answer texts faster than email, and that is why recruiters text. That speed only helps if the texts arrive, and the person on the other end has to have agreed to them. This post covers who you can text, what to send at each stage of the funnel, what a month of it costs at real per-segment prices, and what to build if you run recruiting software that texts on behalf of agencies or employers.

Who you can text recruit, and who you can't

The rule is simple, and recruiters break it constantly. Text people who gave you permission. Don't text people you found.

Fine to text:

  • Applicants who checked an SMS consent box on your application form. The box should name your company and describe the message types: interview scheduling, job updates, reminders.
  • Candidates who texted your number first, or who agreed to texts in writing during a call or email and you recorded it.
  • Past applicants, if their original consent covered future job alerts and they have not opted out.

Not fine to text:

  • Passive candidates sourced from LinkedIn, job-board resume databases or a purchased list. Reach them by phone or email first, then ask whether they want to continue by text.
  • Anyone whose consent was for a different company. A job board's consent is not your consent.

Store the consent record (opt-in time, the exact checkbox wording, the page URL) in your ATS or CRM. Ready records an attestation for each bulk send and each API send that sets consent_attested: who sent it, to how many people, and when. That gives you an audit trail of your sends. It is not a per-contact consent record, so your application form and ATS have to keep the per-contact proof. Our guide on how to document SMS consent covers which fields actually hold up.

The stakes are real. TCPA exposure runs $500 to $1,500 per text, which is why Ready honors STOP automatically across every campaign, holds sends during the recipient's local quiet hours, and offers litigator and DNC scrubbing at $0.005 per contact. None of that makes you lawsuit-proof. It lowers the risk, and compliance stays the sender's responsibility. Campaigns, drip campaigns and automations wait up to 24 hours for the window; a one-to-one or API text is held only if the window opens within 6 hours, otherwise it is refused and must be resent; a one-to-one reply to someone who texted you in the last 24 hours goes out at any hour.

Templates: first contact after an application

The first text has four jobs. It names you, names the role, asks for one thing, and includes opt-out language. Merge fields are shown in braces.

Applied, not yet screened:

Hi {first_name}, it's {recruiter} at {company}. Thanks for applying for the {job_title} role. Got 10 min for a quick call this week? Reply STOP to opt out.

With a short name and job title, this runs about 150 characters, which is one segment. A long job title such as "Senior Distribution Center Operations Supervisor" can push it into two segments. Check the length after the merge fields fill in, not before.

Applied after hours (a same-morning reply):

Morning {first_name}, {recruiter} from {company} here. Saw your application for {job_title}. What time today works for a 10-min call? Reply STOP to opt out.

High-volume hourly roles (scheduling link):

Hi {first_name}, {company} here about the {job_title} opening. Pick an interview slot: {your_domain}/book. Reply STOP to opt out.

Use your own domain for links. Public shorteners like bit.ly get recruiting texts filtered, and the reasons are in our post on shared URL shorteners.

Follow-ups that don't nag

Some candidates will not reply to the first text. Two follow-ups is a reasonable ceiling. After that, switch to email or a call.

Day 2:

Hi {first_name}, following up on the {job_title} role at {company}. Still interested? A quick yes or no helps me plan.

Day 5 (the last text):

{first_name}, last note from me on {job_title}. If the timing's wrong, no problem. Reply LATER and I'll check back next month.

A few things that keep follow-ups working:

  • Don't repeat the opt-out line in every message. It belongs in the first text and in periodic job alerts. STOP works whether or not you print it.
  • Avoid "earn $$$ from home" phrasing. Carriers treat job offers that read like income schemes as a known spam pattern. State the pay plainly, for example "$22/hr, day shift," with no exclamation points.
  • Skip emoji in high-volume follow-ups. One emoji drops the segment limit from 160 characters to 70, so a 140-character follow-up with a smiley becomes 3 segments instead of 1.

Interview scheduling and reminder texts

Reminders are where texting earns its keep, because a no-show costs the recruiter and the hiring manager an hour each. Send two reminders: one the evening before and one about two hours ahead.

Confirmation (sent right after booking):

You're booked, {first_name}: {job_title} interview at {company}, {day} {time}. Address: {address}. Reply C to confirm or R to reschedule.

Evening before:

Reminder: your {company} interview is tomorrow at {time} with {interviewer}. Bring a photo ID. Reply R if you need a new time.

Two hours before:

See you at {time}, {first_name}. Park in the rear lot and ask for {interviewer} at the front desk.

Video interview:

Your {company} video interview starts at {time}. Join here: {your_domain}/join/{code}. Test your camera 5 min early.

No-show (same day):

Hi {first_name}, we missed you at {time}. Want to reschedule your {job_title} interview? Reply with a day that works.

Ready holds any text that would land during the candidate's local quiet hours and sends it once the window opens. If you schedule the "evening before" reminder too late, a campaign or automation text arrives the next morning instead of at 11 PM, while a one-to-one or API text is refused and must be resent. A reminder that fires after 9 AM on the day of the interview may be too late for an early slot, so plan send times with that in mind. Campaigns, drip campaigns and automations wait up to 24 hours for the window; a one-to-one or API text is held only if the window opens within 6 hours, otherwise it is refused and must be resent; a one-to-one reply to someone who texted you in the last 24 hours goes out at any hour.

On the registration side, interview reminders and job alerts are different message types. Your 10DLC campaign description and sample messages should show what you actually send. Our use-case guide explains why registering the wrong type gets you throttled. For more timing patterns, see appointment reminder SMS templates.

Offers, rejections and re-engagement

Verbal offer follow-up:

{first_name}, great news. {company} would like to offer you the {job_title} role. Offer letter is in your email. Call me with any questions.

Rejection (yes, by text, if that's how you've been talking):

Hi {first_name}, thanks for interviewing for {job_title}. We've moved forward with another candidate. Can I keep you in mind for similar roles?

Re-engagement (past applicants whose consent covers job alerts):

Hi {first_name}, {company} has a new {job_title} opening near {city}, {pay}. Interested? Reply YES and I'll send details. Reply STOP to opt out.

A "YES" reply to that message does not create a consent record in Ready. It is a reply in the conversation. If the candidate's original consent didn't cover job alerts, don't send the alert.

When a candidate replies "call me," the Ready Dialer lets you click-to-call from the dial pad in the dashboard or in GoHighLevel. It bills at $0.025/min, with each started minute billed as a full minute and no seat plans; every minute is billed, starting with the first. A 10-minute phone screen costs $0.60. The Dialer is manual click-to-call. It has no auto dialing, voicemail drop or transfer, so if your desk depends on those features, Ready isn't your dialer.

What a month of recruiting texts costs

Here is a worked example with stated assumptions: 300 opted-in applicants in a month. Each one gets a confirmation, a scheduling text and two reminders, which is 4 outbound texts. Each also replies about twice. Every message is one segment.

  • Segments: 300 × (4 + 2) = 1,800. Replies count, because inbound texts are billed like sent ones.
  • Message cost on Standard: 1,800 × $0.0075 = $14, plus 1,800 × $0.0045 in carrier fees.
  • Registration: $25/mo for registration + $2 per number. With one number, that's $27/mo. You pay $25 at submit, and there's no setup fee.
  • Optional compliance surcharge: if you switch on scrubbing or landline validation for the account, each adds $0.003 per segment. Both are off by default, and the figures above exclude them.

Now add one emoji to the 120-character evening reminder. It becomes 2 unicode segments instead of 1, which adds 300 segments, or $6 plus 300 × $0.0045. That is a small amount on this desk, but it scales with volume.

Two charges you won't pay: texts to numbers that opted out, and texts to numbers known to be landlines. Ready refuses both up front and doesn't bill them.

If you build recruiting software

If you run an ATS, a staffing platform or a scheduling tool that texts on behalf of employers, the hard part is not sending. The hard part is that every employer needs its own brand and campaign registration. Ready gives each customer a sub-account with its own numbers and 10DLC registration, and you send through one REST API.

Sending an interview reminder looks like this:

POST https://api.tryready.com/v1/messages
X-API-Key: <key>
Idempotency-Key: 6f1c2b7e-3a1d-4c55-9e2a-1b7d0c9f4e21

{"to": "+12125550199", "body": "Reminder: your interview is tomorrow at 2 PM. Reply R to reschedule.", "consent_attested": true}

The Idempotency-Key header means a retried request never double-texts a candidate. With local presence on (it's on unless you switched it off), leaving from out sends from the sub-account's registered number closest to the candidate's area code. Local presence has a listed price of $0.0015 for each segment of a delivered text. You can check registration status with GET /v1/registration and read opt-outs with GET /v1/opt-outs. The full reference is at docs.tryready.com/api/messages and the quickstart.

If you send fewer than a few hundred texts a month from a single desk and already use a phone system with texting, you may not need a platform. Ready fits best when you text for many employers, or when you need registration, opt-outs and quiet hours handled in one place.

The practical takeaway

Text people who said yes, store their consent somewhere you control, keep each message to one segment and one ask, and stop after two unanswered follow-ups. Most of the work is in the reminders, not the outreach.

If you want to try the templates, sign up. The first 20 texts are free one-to-one sends, and to send any text you need a card and a number ($2 a month, the first month charged when you get it). Use them before you register, because they end once a registration is paid for. Most approvals take 2 to 7 days.

FAQ

Can I text candidates I sourced on LinkedIn?

Not as a first touch. Contact them by phone or email, ask whether they'd like to continue by text, and record their answer before you send an SMS.

Do I need 10DLC registration to text candidates?

Yes, for ongoing business texting from a local number. Unregistered traffic gets filtered by carriers. On Ready, an account can send up to 500 texts a month before it registers, at its normal per-text rate. After that, it has to register.

Should every recruiting text include "Reply STOP to opt out"?

Include it in the first message and in periodic job alerts. STOP is honored automatically whether or not it's printed, and the opt-out applies across every campaign.

Can recruiting texts show up blue on iPhones?

Yes, with a blue line. It costs $99 a month per line plus 6 cents a segment and needs no 10DLC registration. Each line can start up to 50 new conversations a day, and you can send up to 2 texts to someone until they reply. Campaigns still send from regular numbers. See the blue line docs.

Does Ready have an AI that replies to candidates for me?

No. Ready's AI message writer helps you draft and spam-check texts, but it does not answer inbound texts on its own, and new accounts can't create an AI agent that does. An account that set up an AI agent before agents were retired still has it, and an agent in auto mode answers texts on its own until you pause its automation in Automations. Otherwise a person on your team replies.