What separates a great company from the rest of the competition is the people who make the company what it is. Without a team that has fun working together, it is impossible to enjoy long-lasting growth.

And all of this is brought about by recruiters. Recruitment is the essential ingredient that ensures everyone is working coherently and in unison. It is a function of finding and retaining the right employee, one who is set up for success from Day 1. Did you know that one wrong hire is estimated to cost a company anywhere between $17,000 to $240,000? 

From anticipating team requirements to filling them in with colleagues you’d love to work with, recruiters slog to match the right candidates to the right roles. And while it seems like there are more candidates who need a job than there are openings available, as anybody who has headed a team would tell you: Finding the right person takes time, effort, and a lot of rejections. 

This is why it is incredibly important that recruiters are provided with all the resources that could help make their work and, as a result, lives easier. 

We decided to get chatty with our recruitment team at OSlash and decode their best tips and strategies, including using a text expander to fly through candidate interactions easily. 

The importance of streamlining recruitment

While an effective recruiter has always been important, in this challenging environment, it is super beneficial if all recruitment is done in-house. Here we delve into why the focus should be on improving recruitment as a function in your company. 

1. A good recruiter acts as the first brand ambassador

As the Great Resignation has shown, remuneration is no longer as enticing, and employees are increasingly looking for companies that match their ethos and beliefs. A recruiter is often the first person from your company that a candidate meets, so it is crucial that they stand out as the company’s brand ambassador, highlighting what makes your company unique. 

2. A good recruiter saves the company time

A recruiter minimizes the risk of employees quitting suddenly on a whim. And if such a situation arises, they ensure that a replacement is arranged and KT is taken care of so that no process has to suffer in limbo. A good recruiter thoroughly reviews the replacement candidate and works out whether they would fit and grow in the company culture. 

3. A good recruiter would support your growth

When a business is able to enjoy a streamlined and successful recruitment process that delivers quality hires, the company is bound to gain a major competitive advantage. This allows any team to quickly expand and grow the business without having to wait on anybody to take up a function in those long and expensive recruitment cycles. 

4. A good recruiter is the key to the success of all other functions

Yes, more often than not, product managers or engineers take the limelight for the success of a feature. But that is not where the kudos should end. The responsibility of assembling a star team that could work together to demand appreciation lies on a good recruiter. They help in attracting the best talent to the company. When your recruiter has your organization’s goals and targets in mind, they will be able to source those candidates that perfectly match your ambitions. They will also ensure a smooth, fair, and transparent hiring process, ensuring that each candidate is selected on merit, experience, and fit.

Why use a text expander for recruitment?

As a recruiter, the day-to-day tasks involve a lot of repetitive tasks such as sending emails, scheduling interviews, and updating information. These tasks can consume a significant amount of time, leaving them with less time to focus on the critical aspects of the job such as sourcing and engaging with potential candidates.

This is where a text expander comes into play. A text expander is a software that allows you to store frequently-used phrases, sentences, or paragraphs and assign a shortcut to them. These can be shortcuts such as o/candidate-connect or o/offer-letter. When you type the shortcut, the text expander automatically replaces it with the corresponding text, saving time and effort.

If you are a recruiter and that’s not enough, here is a list of reasons why you should use a text expander. 

1. Increased efficiency. A text expander helps you work more efficiently by reducing the time it takes to complete repetitive tasks such as sending out a connection request or writing an email inviting the candidate for an interview. This leaves you with more time to focus on the critical aspects of your job such as sourcing and engaging potential candidates.
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2. Improved accuracy. With a text expander, you can store and reuse standard responses, ensuring that your communication with candidates and clients is consistent and accurate. As the first line of communication, this level of consistency ensures that your message is in line with the company’s tone & voice, is free of errors, and is being used across the entire function - from interns to seasoned employees. 
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3. Customization. Text expanders allow you to customize your shortcuts and phrases to suit your specific needs. This makes it easier for you to access the information you need quickly, without having to search through old emails or notes.
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4. Improved Productivity. By reducing the time it takes to complete repetitive tasks, a text expander helps you increase your overall productivity. This means you can handle a higher volume of work in the same amount of time, allowing you to achieve more in a day.

In conclusion, a text expander is a valuable tool for recruiters looking to work more efficiently, improve accuracy, and increase productivity. With its customizable features and time-saving capabilities, a text expander is a must-have tool in today's fast-paced business environment.

How to use a text expander for recruitment

You can use a text expander for all of your recruitment requirements. These include

1. Sending outreach messages to candidates 

Recruiters already have it hard. From scavenging for prospective candidates to telling them why they should join while searching for their own reasons to hold on to their jobs, there’s only so much they can do. 

With great candidates being a prized commodity, they need to be nimble when reaching out to them, and boy, they do reach out to them by the dozens.

Here’s where a text expander can help immensely. By creating templatized outreach messages, recruiters can send them out in minutes to multiple candidates on LinkedIn, via email, or on job portals. 

For example, o/candidate-pitch can expand to 

Hi [FName],

I hope this message finds you well! We have some exciting [profile] positions lined up at [company]. 

Based on your past experience, you seem like you’d make a great candidate for the role. I’d love to get on an exploratory call with you and tell you more about the position and [company] to see if they align with your career aspirations. 

Let’s schedule a call for later today? Let me know what time works best for you. 

Thanks, I am looking forward to hearing from you. 

Kind regards,
[Name]

2. Sending a connection request one cannot refuse

A big part of a recruiter’s day is spent finding the right people to add to their network. Curating a network helps them gauge prospective candidates faster. But isn’t it troubling that every time they have to send a connection request to someone, they have to rethink the message that would accompany the request?

With a text expander, recruiters can create a template such as o/connection and invoke a templatized note every time they send out a request. It is simple, fast, effective, and a hundred percent free of errors. 

Hi [Name],

I hope this message finds you well. I came across your profile and was impressed by your experience and accomplishments in [industry/field]. I would like to connect with you on LinkedIn and potentially learn more about your experience and insights.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Best,
[Your Name]

3. Scheduling calls and interviews in a jiffy

Have you ever tried scheduling a meeting with someone who did not work in your company? It is a series of endless (often frustrating) to and fro. And that comprises the major chunk of a recruiter’s job. 

But it’s all fun & games when you use a text expander to automate the scores of mindless emails that are sent requesting a call, scheduling interviews, and giving a thumbs up or down to the candidate after the interview. 

So o/call-request can send out a quick message to whoever the recruiter finds promising. 

Subject: Interested in connecting with a [specific profession]

Hi [Name],

I came across your profile on LinkedIn and was impressed by your experience in [specific field or industry]. I work as a [your profession] and I am always looking to expand my network in the industry. I would be grateful if we could connect and share our experiences.

Also, if possible I would like to have a quick call to discuss your experience and the potential way of working together.

Thanks and have a great day.

Best,
[Your name]

Text expanders are also immensely helpful in scheduling interviews and giving feedback. For example, o/next-round can automatically expand to

Hey [FName],

Thanks a lot for taking the time out and interviewing with OSlash. 

We had a great time knowing you as a person. We’re thrilled to inform you that you have successfully cleared the first interview round. 

The second interview round will take place on [Date] at [Time]. 

You will meet [Manager Name] who will take your technical interview. 

Please let me know if you have any questions. 

All the best,
[Your name]

4. Making onboarding simpler

Poor onboarding can leave a new candidate disengaged with low confidence, disassociated with the long-term company vision, and culture, and at an increased risk of jumping ship if confronted with a better offer elsewhere. 

On the other hand, companies that implement a formal onboarding program could see 50% greater employee retention among new recruits and 62% greater productivity within the same group. While onboarding can be a tiresome task, it can be made super simple to implement across various teams with a text expander. Simply create shortcuts for onboarding candidates in different teams and create a flow such as

o/onboarding-design-1, followed by o/onboarding-design-2 and o/onboarding-design-3 to send out emails instantly.

You can also send out a welcome email to a candidate following up on o/offer-email to make them feel at home in the new environment. 

Recommended reading: Email templates to welcome a new employee to the team

5. Having your company blurb ready

As someone selling the company vision proactively on LinkedIn, recruiters are often faced with the daunting question - what does your company do?

At the time, recruiters simply want a templatized pitch that stays updated and in sync with the product along with the company vision. 

So it is a genius idea to keep ready a company introduction that recruiters can reuse each time they have to answer this question. Having a company introduction ready would also allow them to phrase the mission statement in a line that does the job well. 

Here’s a template that they can easily use: 

[Company] is a [category] solution. We provide [product or service] to [specific niche you sell to] businesses. Our unique approach to [product or service] includes [differentiating product or service attributes], giving you the benefits of [value of using your product or service].

Automate manual recruitment tasks with the best text expander out there

If you wish to supercharge recruitment, you need to couple it with a text expander like OSlash. 

In no time as recruiters, you would be able to send out more cold emails a day, reach out to more candidates, and reduce work while 30x-ing the output. 

A text expander is almost a cheat code for all things recruitment. And delaying getting one is losing out on candidates, threatening work efficiency, and all the benefits of extra hours at the end of the work week. 

There are dozens of reasons to choose OSlash as the text expander for recruitment. It comes with cross-platform support, it works everywhere you do, it can include images, gifs, and anything you might need, and it also allows you to transform your most used links into quick shortcuts such as o/job-posting or o/benefits.

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Just download the app, install the extension, and create your first snippet. You can try all the advanced features for free too!