Overview
Regulations such as the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) in the United States require businesses to obtain express consent from recipients before sending them commercial text messages. Customers concerned about the application of texting laws to recruitment can use iCIMS Text Engagement tools to support the capture of this consent. Text Engagement also automates sending the required message to candidates about their ability to opt out of receiving text communications and blocking users from messaging candidates who have opted out.
The following definitions are used throughout this article.
Opt in refers to the process by which individuals give their explicit consent to receive SMS communications from a particular sender or organization. In the context of SMS consent, opting in means that recipients (candidates) actively agree to receive text messages, typically by providing their phone number and explicitly indicating their willingness to receive messages through a specific action such as checking a box, sending a keyword, or filling out a form.
Opt out refers to the process by which individuals choose to stop receiving SMS communications from a particular sender or organization. In the context of SMS, opting out means that recipients (candidates) have the option to unsubscribe or cease receiving messages by either replying to the sender with a keyword (such as "STOP") or following other provided instructions to indicate their desire to opt out. Ensuring that recipients have the ability to control their communication preferences and stop receiving messages if they no longer wish to receive them is a fundamental aspect of SMS marketing compliance.
Consent refers to a candidate’s explicit agreement or affirmative action clearly signifying that they are willing to receive messages from the customer. Consent to receive text messages is one specific type of consent that a candidate may give. For organizations with both Text Engagement and iCIMS Applicant Tracking (ATS), consent is recorded in ATS.
Do Not Text is a status recorded in Text Engagement for candidates who have specifically opted out of receiving text messages by texting an unsubscribe phrase or by a user manually setting this status in the Text Engagement web application. This status can only be reversed by a candidate texting a resubscribe phrase. For more information on opt out or unsubscribe messages and opt in or resubscribe messages, review the iCIMS Text Engagement: Introduction to Candidate Opt-Out and Resubscribe Messages article.
The following sections outline options for capturing consent (including the Do Not Text status), how a candidate’s Do Not Text status impacts different parts of Text Engagement, and how to access relevant reporting.
Capturing Consent
Customers using Text Engagement without iCIMS ATS are responsible for creating a process to collect and record candidates’ consent before sending them text messages. For more information on what is required, review the What do I put for Campaign Description, Sample Message 1, and the Opt-In Process? section of the Text Engagement and 10 DLC: Customer FAQs.
For customers with both iCIMS Applicant Tracking (ATS) and Text Engagement, consent to receive text messages is recorded in the standard field Text Consent in iCIMS ATS. This field and its associated consent question are configured and added to your organization’s career portals during implementation, or an ATS user admin can complete these tasks on their own. Each candidate’s response to the consent question syncs with the Text Engagement web application, browser extension, and mobile app, as well as iCIMS Candidate Experience Management (CXM) or iCIMS Candidate Relationship Management (CRM) where applicable.
If a candidate responds Yes to the consent question, this is recorded in the Text Consent field. If the candidate responds No, this is recorded in the Text Consent field and users are blocked from sending SMS messages, including from synced products and interfaces.
Notes:
- A user can edit this field if a candidate requests to have their response changed.
- There is a five minute delay between when a candidate's status is recorded or updated in ATS and when message blocking is turned on or off in all products.
- If a candidate is marked Do Not Text because they have previously texted an opt-out phrase, updating their consent in this field does not change that status. Do Not Text status can only be removed by the candidate texting a resubscribe phrase. For more information, review the article.
An ATS user admin can enable and configure the Text Consent field (including the associated consent question) by completing the steps below.
Note: Customers who are currently collecting consent via a custom field in iCIMS ATS require help from iCIMS Technical Support to facilitate migrating data to the standard field. iCIMS is reaching out to these customers over the course of 2025. Only customers without an existing custom consent field in iCIMS ATS should follow the steps below.
- Set the default value for a consent field with no response by navigating to Admin > System Configuration > Text Engagement > Platform Settings > Text Engagement Default Consent and selecting the desired option from the dropdown. Select Save to save changes.
- Opt-In (initial default): With this setting, no response from a candidate is treated as consent. If your organization has previously been collecting consent outside of iCIMS ATS, this setting may be appropriate to facilitate transferring historic data into the iCIMS ATS standard field. It may also be appropriate to use if you obtain consent in another manner (e.g., your candidates initiate texting via a short code).
- Opt-Out (recommended): With this setting, no response from a candidate is treated as no consent, and users are blocked from messaging this candidate through Text Engagement and connected products (e.g., ATS, CXM). This setting is recommended unless your organization is in the process of transferring historic data.
- Unhide the consent field by navigating to Admin > System Configuration > System > Person > Contact tab and clear the Hidden checkbox for the Text Consent field. Select Save to save changes.
- Add the consent field to all ATS career portals by following the instructions in the Editing the Candidate Profile Page of the Applicant Tracking Career Site article. If desired, change the field label to a question (e.g., Do you consent to receive text messages from our company?)
- Note: iCIMS recommends making this question required if you are collecting phone numbers from candidates in the application process.
Note: If you begin with the Opt-In default value to facilitate data transfer to the standard field Text Consent, you can change the default value to Opt-Out once that transfer is complete.
Feature-Specific Consent Considerations
Some Text Engagement and Digital Assistant features have additional consent capture considerations. These are outlined in the sections below.
WhatsApp Consent Capture
WhatsApp requires that businesses gather consent from candidates before messaging them. Customers who use WhatsApp through Text Engagement can include WhatsApp in the wording of the consent question associated with the standard field Text Consent in ATS.
TextApply Consent Capture
Candidates who send a TextApply keyword to a long code or short code (e.g., Jobs to 97211) are considered opted in, as they are initiating the conversation with the business by texting a keyword. However, when a candidate creation step is present in the TextApply sequence, the candidate is created and the consent question is blank by default. If the default consent is set to Opt-In, this blank response is treated as if the candidate had responded Yes. If the default consent is set to Opt-Out, this blank response is treated as if the candidate had responded No, and users are prevented from texting the candidate. iCIMS recommends adding a question to collect consent from the candidate either when the sequence is created during implementation or by submitting a case to iCIMS Technical Support.
Digital Assistant Career Site Chatbot Consent Capture
Candidates who chat with the Digital Assistant chatbot on a career site are not considered opted in because they are communicating with the business via webchat and not SMS.
When a candidate creation step is present in the chatbot sequence, the candidate is created and the consent question is blank by default. If the default consent is set to Opt-In, this blank response is treated as if the candidate had responded Yes. If the default consent is set to Opt-Out, this blank response is treated as if the candidate had responded No, and users are prevented from texting the candidate. i iCIMS recommends adding a question to collect consent from the candidate either when the sequence is created during implementation or by submitting a case to iCIMS Technical Support.
Do Not Text Status Impacts
Text Engagement automatically sends an opt-out message to a candidate profile the first time that candidate profile is contacted by any user at an organization. For more information on configuring this message, review the Setting Initial Opt-Out Message to Candidates section of the iCIMS Text Engagement: Introduction to Candidate Opt-Out and Resubscribe Messages article.
Note: WhatsApp also requires that candidates be provided opt-out instructions with their first outbound communication with a candidate, but Text Engagement’s automated opt-out message does not send over WhatsApp. Instead, your organization must include opt-out instructions in the templates that are used to send messages to candidates. For more information, review the Creating and Using WhatsApp Templates in iCIMS Text Engagement article.
If a candidate responds to a text message with one of several opt-out phrases, they are marked Do Not Text; if a candidate opts out via this method, they can only opt back in by texting one of several resubscribe phrases. This applies to WhatsApp as well as SMS. For more information, review the iCIMS Text Engagement: Introduction to Candidate Opt-Out and Resubscribe Messages article.
Important Note: A user can manually mark a candidate as Do Not Text in the Text Engagement web application. If a candidate is marked Do Not Text in the Text Engagement web application, the candidate can only be resubscribed if they text in one of the resubscribe keywords. To mark a candidate Do Not Text in the Text Engagement web app, go to the candidate’s profile, select Actions, and then select Mark Do Not Text.
If a candidate is marked Do Not Text, the candidate profile in the Text Engagement web application, browser extension and mobile apps display information letting the user know that the candidate is not to be texted and the message composer in the UI is blocked. This status also displays in iCIMS ATS on the Messages tab (in New iCIMS, or the Text Engagement tab in classic iCIMS).
A candidate’s Do Not Text status applies across an entire organization’s Text Engagement subscription unless the organization has the teams feature enabled and has chosen to segment Do Not Text status by team. If an organization segments Do Not Text status by teams (e.g., for different brands that hire independently of each other), it is strongly recommended that organizations use customized team-wide opt-out messaging to specify which part of the organization or brand the candidate is opting out of communication from. For more information on opt-out and resubscribe messages, review the iCIMS Text Engagement: Introduction to Candidate Opt-Out and Resubscribe Messages article. For more information on teams, review the Creating and Managing Teams in iCIMS Text Engagement article.
Opt-Out Reporting
A Do Not Text report is available in the Text Engagement web application. This report provides data on candidates who have opted out of Text Engagement messages from your organization by texting in an unsubscribe phrase or who have been marked Do Not Text manually by a user. For more information, review the Do Not Text section of the iCIMS Text Engagement: Generating and Understanding Reports article.
