A recent survey of about 1,500 U.S. companies led by Resume.org found that 57% already use a CRM. How many of those folks have actually audited their recruiting automation messages to make sure they're working as expected? Unfortunately, I’m guessing far fewer than that based on the duplicate, useless emails candidates forward me. As a technical copywriter, I think people know I'm going to use that as an example and hope I'll prevent the mistake from happening again.

The two most common mistakes I see when I look at these automated recruiting messages are that first, they turned on all of the automated responses available without customization. Time savings! Yay! No. A blank email with one sentence and no signature is almost worse than nothing at any stage of the hiring process past an online application submission. The second mistake? They don't educate the recruiters about how their clicks in the applicant tracking system trigger emails. That's how folks end up getting rejection emails 2 years later.

Start now. In tests where I was trying to increase response rates and candidate net promoter scores, upgrading the automated messaging always helped performance. Plus, it addresses the most referenced applicant pain point of all time: ghosting. Candidates put a lot of effort in with every application. Don’t they at least deserve an email when they’re no longer in the running for the role? Thoughtful automation is 10x better than nothing at all. 

What Is A Recruiting Automation Audit? 

I measure 2 things in a recruiting automation audit. First, we check the settings. Make sure you know when emails go out, what triggers each message, and when the system should not be sending messages. Map that. Write it out. Every single automated message deserves a review before you turn it on.

Then, audit each message for utility. What is the call to action? How does this message support the candidate? What step does it replace for recruiters? What information needs to be communicated at this step? Is it too unique to be automated? Not all messages are worth automating. If you want someone outside your organization to audit your candidate experience or automated messaging secret shopper style, I offer this as a service. I’ve audited over 50 candidate experiences to make their automated messages more efficient and effective. Interested? Let’s talk.

Just sending a well written email isn't enough. You need goals for your automation and that starts when you're auditing. I don't think you should do this audit yourself and here's why. Internal teams document what they believe should happen, not what's actually happening, because they're too close to the project. They often make assumptions that create a lack of clarity in their messaging, rendering many of them as useless as an expired coupon code.

Four Things A Good Automated Recruiting Email will Include

The answer for automate vs not automate is 100% based on the variables you need to communicate at that step. Every process is different and needs to be tailored to you. That's why ChatGPT often isn't as helpful in that first draft for generating business impact. You can ask ChatGPT for templates all you want and still end up with a message that doesn't drive the recipient to take the action you want. AI still doesn't know one thing you know all too well: how humans behave.

I've tested a lot of different templates and none work 100% of the time because humans are still a reliably unpredictable variable. However, after a lot of tests measuring for open rate, click rate, and candidate NPS - I know these items drive higher response and action rates from candidates.

1. The sentence. It's one line right out of the gate that says "this is why I'm sending this." For example, "I am writing to book an interview." Keep it simple. This is the step where you also tell them it's automation. Yes, it's ok to just say "this message is automated to ensure you get a timely update." In fact, I think it's important - especially if you do mistakenly send a message (and that's ok.)
2. Timeline. When do you want the thing done? When do you need to hear back? This is automation, so it's not "by Tuesday" it is "within 2 business days."
3. Direct call to action. the thing you need them to do put very simply with instructions.
4. Transactional call to action. What to do if you get stuck aka how to reach a human. This is the #1 thing I see people miss.

Just don't sacrifice this opportunity to improve the candidate experience because you're scared of some email going out at the wrong time. Do a recruiting automation audit and optimize your messages for those unpredictable humans. There's no easier - and more human way - to save yourself 5+ hours a week of messaging people.