01
Get lawful consent first
Outbound recruiting texts in the US need prior express consent. Collect it where the candidate applies, name your brand, state the message purpose, and keep a timestamped record of when and how consent was given.
SMS Recruiting Guide
Text Candidates Without the Legal Headache
A practical TCPA-compliant text recruiting playbook for high-volume teams, with consent, opt-out, and quiet hours handled inside ATS Mako so a STOP stays a STOP.
Built-in opt-out handling and business-hours sending. No setup fees, no long-term contracts.
Why this matters
SMS is the fastest way to reach candidates. Compliance is what keeps it that way.
Candidates read texts in minutes, which is exactly why high-volume teams live in SMS. But outbound recruiting texts in the US are regulated by the TCPA, and the cost of getting it wrong scales as fast as your campaigns do. The good news: a compliant process is straightforward when consent, opt-out, and quiet hours are handled by the platform instead of by memory.
This guide breaks the work into four moves any recruiting-ops leader can operationalize, then shows how ATS Mako bakes them in so your team can move fast and stay clean. It is educational and not legal advice. Confirm your approach with your own counsel before you scale.
The four moves
Build a defensible texting program in four steps
02
Make opt-out effortless
Every message thread should honor a clear opt-out like "Reply STOP." The moment a candidate opts out, sending must stop automatically and stay stopped across every campaign.
03
Respect quiet hours
Send during reasonable, business-style hours and account for the candidate time zone. No pre-dawn pings, no late-night blasts, even when an automation fires.
04
Keep records you can show
If someone asks, you should be able to point to the consent, the opt-out, and the message history. A single timestamped activity feed beats reconstructing five disconnected tools.
Risky vs compliant
What changes when the platform does the heavy lifting
Dimension
The risky way
The ATS Mako way
Consent
The risky way
Numbers scraped or imported with no record of how or when consent was given.
The ATS Mako way
Consent captured at the apply step and stored against the candidate profile with a timestamp.
Opt-out
The risky way
Opt-outs tracked by hand, so a STOP in one tool still gets texted by another.
The ATS Mako way
Opt-out handling runs automatically across every campaign, so a STOP stays a STOP.
Timing
The risky way
Bulk blasts fire whenever the recruiter hits send, including off-hours.
The ATS Mako way
Quiet-hours and business-hours sending keep outreach inside reasonable windows.
Legal language
The risky way
Disclaimers live in a doc someone forgets to paste, or gets edited out.
The ATS Mako way
Lockable legal and EEO sections in templates that teams cannot remove or change.
Records
The risky way
History scattered across a texting app, an inbox, and a spreadsheet.
The ATS Mako way
One profile, one source of truth, one timestamped activity feed.
From first touch to opt-out
A compliant text flow, start to finish
Set the trigger. We handle the rest. Here is what a clean, consent-first conversation looks like inside the platform.
Step 1
Candidate applies
A candidate submits through your branded Apply Here page and gives express consent to be contacted by text, with your brand named and the purpose stated.
Step 2
First text
Your branded first message identifies who you are, confirms the role, and includes "Reply STOP to unsubscribe" - sent inside business hours.
Step 3
Two-way conversation
Replies land in one centralized inbox. Recruiters see the resume and status while they chat, so nothing is lost between tools.
Step 4
Opt-out honored
If the candidate replies STOP, outreach ends automatically across every workflow, and the opt-out is logged on the profile.
Quick reference
The TCPA-compliant text recruiting checklist
Print it, share it with your team, and use it to pressure-test any campaign before it goes out. Most of these become automatic once they live inside ATS Mako.
- Capture prior express consent at the point of application, with your brand named.
- State the purpose of the texts and that message and data rates may apply.
- Include a clear opt-out instruction ("Reply STOP to unsubscribe").
- Stop sending immediately and permanently when a candidate opts out.
- Confine outbound texts to reasonable, business-style hours by time zone.
- Keep a timestamped log of consent, messages, replies, and opt-outs.
- Use template sections for legal and EEO language that staff cannot strip or alter.
- Review your process with your own counsel before you scale a campaign.
Built into the platform
How ATS Mako keeps high-volume texting clean
Automatic opt-out handling
When a candidate replies STOP, outreach ends automatically and stays stopped across every campaign. Email outreach keeps automatic unsubscribe handling intact, too.
Quiet-hours sending
Business-hours-style sending keeps automated and bulk texts inside reasonable windows, even when a status, time, or calendar trigger fires.
Lockable legal and EEO text
Lockable template sections keep required disclaimers and EEO statements on every message, so no one can strip or alter them. Update once, deploy everywhere.
Consent captured at the source
With Apply Here, Anywhere, every office gets its own branded Apply Here page for job posts, social, QR codes, flyers, and texts, capturing consent and a clean record at the moment someone applies.
One timestamped activity feed
SMS delivery receipts, reply detection, and a timestamped feed live on one candidate profile, so the consent, the opt-out, and the history are all in one place.
One inbox, not five tools
A centralized two-way conversational inbox replaces scattered texting apps and spreadsheets, so opt-outs and records never fall between systems.
"The service is already great and is being improved daily to fit our exact recruiting needs. The support the Mako team provides is next to none. Extremely fast to respond and very willing to listen to and implement any suggestions."
Questions, answered
Text recruiting compliance FAQ
What is the TCPA and why does it matter for text recruiting?
The Telephone Consumer Protection Act regulates automated and bulk text messaging in the United States. For recruiting it means you generally need lawful prior consent before texting candidates, a clear way for them to opt out, and respect for reasonable sending hours. This guide is educational and is not legal advice; confirm your approach with your own counsel.
How does ATS Mako help with opt-out handling?
Opt-out handling is built into the platform. When a candidate replies with a stop instruction, ATS Mako stops outreach automatically and keeps it stopped across campaigns, so a STOP in one place is honored everywhere. Email outreach keeps automatic unsubscribe handling intact as well.
Does ATS Mako respect quiet hours?
Yes. ATS Mako honors business-hours-style sending so automated and bulk texts stay inside reasonable windows, even when a status, time, or calendar trigger fires an automation.
Can I lock legal and EEO language so my team cannot remove it?
Yes. The template library supports lockable legal and equal-opportunity sections, so required disclaimers and EEO statements stay on every message and cannot be stripped or altered by individual users.
Where should I collect consent?
A common pattern is collecting consent at the point of application. With Apply Here, Anywhere, every office gets its own branded Apply Here page you can use in job posts, social media, QR codes, flyers, texts, and emails, capturing consent and a clean record at the source.
Is this guide legal advice?
No. This is a practical, educational overview to help high-volume teams build a defensible process. Texting laws change and vary by situation, so review your program with qualified legal counsel before you scale.
Designed for speed. Built for scale.
Run high-volume texting that stays compliant by default
Consent at the source, automatic opt-out handling, quiet hours, and lockable legal text in one white-label platform. From first touch to offer letter, fully branded to you.
This guide is educational and not legal advice. Confirm your program with your own counsel.