Overview

After receiving a message from a user, candidates can engage with your organization by replying directly via text. Users can view and respond to these messages through either their inbox or individual candidate profiles within iCIMS Text Engagement. This article provides information on the following topics: 

• Receiving Candidate Messages
• Responding through the Inbox
• Responding through a Candidate Profile
• Additional Resources

Note: This article focuses on quick replies sent to candidates via the inbox or candidate profile. To learn more about scheduled messages, review the iCIMS Text Engagement: Understanding Scheduled Messages article. 

Receiving Candidate Messages

When an incoming candidate message or voicemail is received, the following alerts display within the system:  

• A new message alert on the Notification (bell) icon to the left of the user dropdown

 

• An unread message badge to the right of the My Inbox menu option

 

• Desktop notifications
• A daily email or text summary of unread messages

These notifications can be enabled via the Profile Settings page (available in the user dropdown). For more information, review the iCIMS Text Engagement: Understanding Profile Settings & Preferences article. 

Responding through the Inbox

The steps below outline how a user can reply to a candidate through their inbox. 

Note: In addition to their own inbox, managers also have access to a Team Inbox that contains conversations from all users. Responding to candidates via the Team Inbox tab follows similar steps to those below.   
 

1. Select the My Inbox tab from the left-side menu.  
2. Select a candidate conversation from the list on the left. The message history with that candidate then displays on the right.  
3. Compose a response to the candidate in the text box below the message history. Messages must be 1600 characters or less.  
   • Note: Review the Tips section below for more information on the available message options. 
4. Click Send or press Enter to send the message to the candidate. The message then displays in the candidate’s conversation history.  
   • Note: By default, the Enter key can be used to send messages. To disable this, click the Send Options (three dots) icon to the right of the Send button and select Press Send Button to Send.   

Tips:

• Click the Template icon to the right of the text box to select a user or customer-wide response template.  
• Click the ARI (robot) icon and choose the desired option to have the digital assistant automatically respond to messages from the candidate. 
  • Note: This option requires an iCIMS Digital Assistant subscription. If your organization is interested in learning more about iCIMS Digital Assistant, contact your account manager.  
• Click the Calendar icon to include a link to your calendar within the message; candidates can access the link to select an available timeslot and schedule an appointment.  
  • Note: To use this option, the user must first connect their calendar to Text Engagement. For more information, review the iCIMS Text Engagement: Connecting and Using Automated Scheduling Calendars article. 

Responding through a Candidate Profile

The steps below outline how a user can reply to a candidate through the candidate’s profile.  
 

1. Select the Candidates tab from the left-side menu. Then, use the Filter By options to find and select a specific candidate to open their profile.   
2. On the candidate’s profile, compose a response using the text box in the Recent Messages section. Messages must be 1600 characters or less.
   • Note: Review the Tips section below for more information on the available message options. 
3. Click Send or press Enter to send the message to the candidate. The message then displays in the Recent Messages section.   
   • Note: By default, the Enter key can be used to send messages. To disable this, click the Send Options (three dots) icon to the right of the Send button and select Press Send Button to Send.   

Tips:

• Click the Template icon to the right of the text box to select a user or customer-wide response template.  
• Click the ARI (robot) icon and choose the desired option to have the digital assistant automatically respond to messages from the candidate. 
  • Note: This option requires an iCIMS Digital Assistant subscription. If your organization is interested in learning more about iCIMS Digital Assistant, contact your account manager.  
• Click the Calendar icon to include a link to your connected calendar within the message; candidates can access the link to select an available timeslot and schedule an appointment.  
  • Note: For more information on connected calendars, review the iCIMS Text Engagement: Connecting and Using Automated Scheduling Calendars article. 

Additional Resources 

Additional tools are available that allow users to respond to candidates from outside the Text Engagement web application. To learn more about these options, review the resources below. 

• To learn how to message candidates via the Text Engagement browser extension, review the iCIMS Text Engagement: Installing and Using the Browser Extension article. 
• Customers with both iCIMS Applicant Tracking (ATS) and Text Engagement can leverage Text Engagement from within iCIMS ATS; to learn more, review the Texting Candidates from an iCIMS ATS Person Profile article.