Communication templates are useful to ensure that your hiring teams speak with a consistent voice throughout the hiring process. They also help teams comply with regulations (e.g. GDPR) by including all relevant and necessary information.
Adding a new template
Only Super Admins of your Workable account can add and edit communication templates. Your templates can be found in the menu accessed by clicking your user icon in the upper right of Workable. Go to Settings, then Templates.
New templates can be added using the Add a new template link to the top right of the ‘Communication templates’ section. Start by entering the name of the template. The ‘Name’ field of a template is not the subject line of the email. The subject line for emails using a template will consist of the job title and your company’s name. Candidates will never see the name of the template used to contact them.
There are two types of communication templates:
- Texting
You can enable one or both types (from the respective toggle). For example, below we have enabled this template both for emails and text messages.
All users on your account will be able to send these templates to candidates, but only admins can create and permanently edit templates.
Set template availability based on department/location
Note that templates can be segmented for use based on jobs department and location. See more examples.
Editing templates
Under Templates, you’ll also see a list of some default templates which cover the most common recruiting communication. The default templates will work ‘out of the box’ for most companies—however, they’re easy to customize too. Rollover the template name to reveal the ‘preview’, ‘edit’ or ‘delete’ options:
Placeholders
There are a number of default placeholders you can add to your communication templates. These are shown in your working file as green pill-shaped labels inside the template body. They are replaced with a dynamic value (e.g. the candidate’s first name, your name or the position title) when the email/text is sent, to add a more personal touch to your mass communication. Add or edit placeholders via the [+] icon in the menu bar:
Custom placeholders can be included by using curly brackets, eg: {interview-date}. When using the template, Workable will prompt the sender to replace any terms in curly brackets before the email/text can be sent. The user must manually write in details and remove the bracketed term.
Adding attachments
Attachments can be added only to the email type of communication templates by using the paper clip icon at the bottom right of the window, (see the template image shown above). More than one attachment can be added to a template, and should you add an attachment by mistake it can be deleted quickly using the trashcan icon.
When a template with an attachment has been created and saved, people using the template will still have the option to delete the attachment should they need to, or to add additional attachments when required.
Communication template translations
If you are using Language kits, translations for other languages can be added to each of your communication templates.
Workable default templates will have translations available automatically when Language Kits are activated. You can add translations for your own templates as needed.
In the Templates section, edit or add a template and select the various language tabs to add a version of the template for that language. Check more on how to enable the Language kit.
Read more about using communication templates when sending an email/text to a candidate.