Guide
How to hire hourly workers faster by text.
The first round is where most hands-on hiring stalls: missed calls, slow replies and applicants who move on. Six habits keep it moving, whether or not you use GuavaHire.
Put one number on every post
Put the same hiring number on your job posts, your trucks, your yard signs and your flyers, and say plainly that people can apply by text in English or Spanish. The job post templates have the wording ready.
Ask the practical questions first
Start with what decides whether someone can do the job at all: the schedule, getting to the work, the physical side of it, and whether they’re authorized to work. Save the rest for the interview. A first round of a few questions takes about five minutes.
Answer right away
Hands-on workers often apply after their own shift ends, at night or on a weekend. An answer in seconds keeps them talking while they’re interested; a callback the next afternoon may reach someone who’s already moved on.
Follow up once, then let it be
People get busy. One friendly nudge an hour later, during your business hours, gives them an easy way back. More than one starts to feel like pressure.
Keep the questions fair
Ask every applicant for a job the same questions, about the work and nothing personal: whether they can do the work with or without reasonable accommodation, whether they’re authorized to work, and not about age, family or health. See fair screening.
Book the next step while they’re interested
When someone looks like a fit, send them a link to pick an interview time right then, by text. Every day between “you qualify” and “when can you come in?” loses people.
Common questions
- Is texting better than calling applicants?
- For a first round, usually. Applicants answer when they’re free, and you don’t spend your day on phone tag. Save the call for the people who fit.
- How many questions should a first round ask?
- Only the ones that decide whether someone can do the job. A handful, answered in about five minutes, beats a long form nobody finishes.
- What if applicants prefer Spanish?
- Let them answer in Spanish. GuavaHire interviews applicants in whatever language they write in, Spanish included, and follows them if they switch.
Your next great hire is already texting.
Early access is open for every trade.