Smart mobile devices are everywhere: candidates can usually pick up emails wherever they happen to be. However, email isn’t always the best channel of communication for a quick one-to-one check-in or confirmation. With Beamery SMS Messaging, you can use the right channel for those quick interactions, and keep a complete record of key interactions as part of the candidate profile.
However, introducing a new communication channel as part of your talent acquisition practices may mean that your consent capture statements are no longer fully reflective of the ways that you intend to engage with candidates. In this article, you will learn how Beamery can support your consent management for the SMS communication channel. That said, we recommend that you also consult with your legal team to ensure that the consent you gather meets your needs and the regulations of the territories in which you operate.
For more information on SMS messaging in Beamery, check out this article.
Table of Contents
Updating your Compliance Settings
Opting out of SMS Messaging
How to Update your Compliance Settings to Include SMS Messaging
The following steps will teach you how to update your candidate-facing opt-in statement to explicitly include SMS messaging.
Please note that only Super Admin users are able to see and edit this opt-in statement in settings.
- Navigate to Settings by clicking the dropdown in the top right hand corner
- Next select Compliance from the settings sidebar, under the Company Settings heading.
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On this page, you will see three fields; the consent request statement, the opt-in statement, and the privacy policy link. Before making changes to any of these fields, be sure to consult with your organization’s legal team to align on any changes.
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Then, make any changes to each of these areas as agreed with your legal team by typing or pasting content into the relevant field. In the example below, you will see that before changes, the opt-in statement only covered email messaging, but after editing the opt-in statement covers both email and SMS messaging.
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Once you are satisfied with the changes you have made, click Save at the bottom of this page. The changes to your opt-in statement will now be reflected everywhere that the statement is currently in use, and anywhere that it will be used in future.
Allowing Candidates to Opt out of SMS Messaging
Candidates can opt out of SMS messaging without opting out of all communications from Beamery by replying to an SMS message sent from Beamery with STOP. This will prevent the candidate from being sent any further SMS messages to that phone number from any user in Beamery, but will allow them to continue to receive direct emails and campaign messages. Note that if a candidate has more than one phone number on their profile, they will only be opted out for the phone number with which they have replied STOP, and Beamery users will still be able to send an SMS message to other phone numbers on the profile.
If a user tries to send an SMS to a candidate who has opted out of SMS messaging by replying to a message with STOP, they will see an error in the SMS window as below, and their SMS message will not be sent to the candidate.
We recommend working with your organization’s legal team to agree on standard wording to notify candidates of this opt-out option, and including this in the first SMS message a candidate receives from your team via Beamery. An example of this would be: “If you would not like to receive any further SMS messages from our organization, reply STOP to this message”.
Once your organization has agreed on this wording, be sure to share it with all of your team members who will be using SMS in Beamery, with instructions on when they should add this statement to their SMS messages.
In Summary…
Managing consent for SMS messaging in Beamery is simple and user-friendly, allowing you to communicate with candidates in their preferred communication channel, while remaining compliant with relevant data protection laws.
Additional Resources:
An Overview of SMS Messaging in Beamery
How to Provision a Virtual Number for SMS in Beamery
SMS Virtual Phone Numbers: Which Countries are Supported?
SMS: How Message Credits Work