For Agency Recruiters ·
What you'll accomplish
By the end of this guide, you'll have Sense connected to your ATS and running a re-engagement campaign to past candidates — converting your cold database into warm leads without any manual outreach effort on your end.
What you'll need
Sense needs to pull candidate data from your ATS (typically Bullhorn). This is usually a one-time setup done by your firm's ops or Sense account manager during onboarding. Check with your manager or ops team to confirm the integration is live.
What you should see: In the Sense dashboard, your candidate records should be visible under the Contacts or Candidates section, with their current status, last contact date, and ATS record populated.
Troubleshooting: If you're setting up Sense for the first time at your firm, you'll need your Bullhorn API credentials and a brief IT/ops onboarding session with Sense's implementation team (included in the subscription).
In Sense, navigate to Campaigns or Segments and create a new audience. Filter by:
What you should see: A segment showing estimated contact count. Start with 100–500 candidates for your first campaign to test messaging and response rates before scaling.
In Sense, create a new Campaign and select your segment. You'll write 2–3 touchpoints (a multi-touch sequence performs better than a single message):
Message 1 (Day 0) — Text message: "Hi [First Name], it's [Your Name] from [Agency]. It's been a while! Are you still open to new opportunities in [their specialty]? We have some roles coming in that may be a fit. Just reply YES or NO and I'll be in touch."
Message 2 (Day 5 — only if no response) — Email: Subject: Checking in — [Role Type] opportunities in [Market] "Hi [First Name], I reached out a few days ago — just wanted to make sure my message didn't get lost. We're actively filling [role type] positions in [market] and thought of you. If you're open to a quick call, reply here or text me at [number]. If now's not a good time, no worries — I'll keep you on my radar."
Message 3 (Day 12 — only if no response) — Text: "Last message — are you open to [specialty] opportunities? Happy to be removed from this list if not. Just reply STOP."
What you should see: Your sequence created with delivery rules set so Message 2 only sends to non-responders, and Message 3 only sends to those who haven't responded to Message 2.
Before sending, confirm:
Activate the campaign. Sense sends messages automatically according to your sequence schedule. Responses from candidates flow directly to you in the Sense dashboard (and in your ATS if the integration is set up).
Monitor daily during the first week:
Use Sense's personalization tokens to make messages feel individual:
[First Name] — candidate's first name[Your Name] — your name (recruiter)[Agency] — your firm name[Role Type] or [Specialty] — mapped from ATS candidate record fields