HR Tips
5 Mistakes When Sourcing Candidates via WhatsApp
· 2 min read · Surikado Team
WhatsApp has 90%+ penetration in both Slovakia and Czechia. For candidates, it's the most natural communication channel – fast, mobile, without formality. For companies, it's a goldmine, if they know how to work with it.
Unfortunately, most companies treat it like email with a green color scheme. And they make five mistakes that cost them candidates.
1. Too formal first contact
"Dear Sir/Madam, I am writing to you regarding our job listing published on portal XY, where you expressed interest…"
You can send this by email. On WhatsApp, it sounds like you're writing to the tax office. The candidate won't start responding, and if they do, they'll also be formal. The conversation freezes.
How to do it better: short, human, straight to the point. "Hi Peter, we saw your profile. We have a warehouse position in Bratislava, gross 1,400 €, morning and afternoon shifts. Interested?"
2. Responding after two days
The candidate sends a message on Thursday evening. The recruiter sees it Monday morning. That's five days. In that time, the candidate received an offer from a competitor and has already started.
WhatsApp is a synchronous channel. Candidates expect a reply within hours, not days. If you don't have the capacity to respond within two hours during a workday, you need automation that at least confirms receipt and starts the conversation.
3. Sending links instead of conversing
"Please fill out the form at this link."
The candidate clicks. A 12-question form with a captcha opens. They close the tab and never come back.
WhatsApp works when you actually communicate through it. Not when you use it as a delivery service for outbound links. Take a look, for example, at how Surikado handles this – the entire screening happens directly in the chat, and the candidate doesn't have to open anything.
4. The same template for everyone
A copy-paste message is easy to spot. "Hello, we're looking for candidates for the {POSITION} role…" without specifics – location, salary, shifts, benefits – gets responses from desperate people. Not from the best ones.
Even if AI composes the message, it should include at least five concrete parameters the candidate needs to decide whether to open the conversation.
5. Ignoring "not interested"
A candidate writes "not now, thanks". The recruiter deletes them from the spreadsheet. Three months later, the same candidate is job hunting again – and never reaches out, because they don't remember you.
Not interested today ≠ not interested forever. A polite follow-up after three months ("Hi, just checking in to see whether you've found what you were looking for in the meantime") has a 20–30% success rate. Without spending anything on new sourcing.
Summary
WhatsApp is not email. It's not a portal. It's a conversational channel where people value:
- speed
- a human tone
- specificity
- continuity
Companies that understand this have double the response rate in the same market compared to those still using it as a delivery service for links.