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Communication

Messaging Candidates

Text and email candidates one at a time from their profile, or in bulk from the candidate list.

You message one candidate from the Messages tab on their profile, and many candidates at once from the bulk actions bar on the Candidates page. Every message and reply is kept on the candidate’s Messages tab and shows up in the Inbox.

Channels

ChannelWhat it needs
SMSA phone number on the candidate. Texts go out from your organization’s number.
EmailA connected Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 mailbox (see Calendar & Email Integration) and an email address on the candidate.

One candidate: the Messages tab

Open the candidate and choose the Messages tab. There’s no separate “send message” button; this tab is where you write. Switch between SMS and Email at the top. The SMS switch shows the number of unread texts.

SMS

The SMS view is a chat thread grouped under date headings (“Today”, “Yesterday”, then the full date). Your messages are on the right, the candidate’s on the left. Each text you sent shows a small status icon: queued, sent, delivered, or failed.

Type in the Type a message… box and click the send button, or press Ctrl+Enter (Cmd+Enter on a Mac).

You can’t text from here when:

  • The candidate has no phone number. The tab says No phone number. Add one to the candidate first.
  • The candidate opted out. The tab shows SMS Opted Out and the box is disabled.

Email

The Email view lists each email as a card with sender, subject, and body. Then:

  • Click Compose (or Compose Email when there are no emails yet) to start a New Email.
  • Click Reply on an email from the candidate to open Reply to Email. The subject is filled in as “Re: …”.

The composer shows To and From, a Subject field, and the message body. On a new email there’s also a Template picker: choosing a template fills in the subject and body with this candidate’s details, and you can edit both before sending. Click Send, or press Ctrl+Enter (Cmd+Enter).

If you haven’t connected a mailbox, the tab says Connect your email to send messages with a Set up email button. If the candidate has no email address, it says No email address.

Many candidates: bulk messages

On the Candidates page, select candidates and use Send Email or Send SMS in the bulk actions bar.

1

Choose template or custom

Pick Use Template to send a saved template, or Custom Message to write it here. Email needs a subject and a body; SMS needs a body. When you write a custom SMS, a counter shows characters and the number of SMS segments.

2

Personalize

{{first_name}}, {{last_name}}, {{job_title}}, and {{company_name}} are replaced with each candidate’s details.

3

Check who will be skipped

The dialog tells you how many selected candidates will be skipped and why: no email address or phone number, opted out of SMS, or marked “do not contact”.

4

Send

Click Send to N Candidates. The messages are sent in the background; the dialog confirms they’re on their way and closes.

Bulk email is sent from your organization’s connected Gmail or Outlook mailbox. The same goes for the rejection email when you fill a job and the email sent when you hire a candidate. See Connect Email & Calendar.

Opt-outs

The first text a candidate gets from your organization ends with “Reply STOP to opt out.” A candidate who replies STOP, UNSUBSCRIBE, CANCEL, END, or QUIT is opted out of SMS. After that:

  • You can’t text them from the Messages tab.
  • Bulk SMS skips them.
  • Automated texts from your Communication Rules aren’t sent to them.

Email is not affected by an SMS opt-out. You don’t need to keep your own suppression list.

Automated messages

Many messages go out without anyone writing them: booking links, interview confirmations and reminders, follow-ups, and rejection emails. You set those up in Settings → Communications. See Templates & Automation.