WhatsApp: Setup

you can configure whatsapp to contact candidates, send direct booking links and send interview reminders this guide covers how to set up whatsapp candidate texting and how candidate consent works for the whatsapp channel prerequisites to configure whatsapp messaging, you must have organization admin access and 'has candidate texting' permissions enabled to set up whatsapp messaging with ashby, you need a whatsapp business account (waba) set up beforehand the waba lives under your meta business portfolio https //www facebook com/business/help/486932075688253?id=180505742745347 if you already have a waba, you can use it, but you won't be able to use the phone number you already have the waba set up with if you don't have a waba, y ou can create one when connecting with ashby you will need to have access to your company’s meta business portfolio this is what will house your waba account if your company runs ads on any meta platform, you most likely have a meta business portfolio you will need to have access to this in order to get started and to connect a whatsapp business account to ashby more about recommendations and requirements in step one create and verify meta business portfolio docid\ xk2qn03z4yvc95mspmlni permissions & access you need organization access to configure whatsapp candidate texting whatsapp candidate texting is available on all plans foundations legacy plus plus enterprise ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ step one create and verify meta business portfolio before you connect your whatsapp business account to ashby, we recommend having an established and verified meta business portfolio in place for the best experience if you are the one setting up whatsapp in ashby, you must have full access to manage assets, specifically whatsapp assets, in the meta business portfolio if you configure and set up your meta business portfolio within the setup process below, and your meta business account has no real activity, meta may flag it meta can then restrict your business and subject you to additional proof of business steps for more on configuring a meta business portfolio, check out meta's guide create a business portfolio in meta business suite https //www facebook com/business/help/1710077379203657?id=180505742745347 we highly recommend that you get verified or use an existing meta business portfolio that is already verified if your business already runs ads on meta platforms, you most likely have a verified portfolio if you plan to use whatsapp with multiple brands, you must verify your portfolio an unverified meta business portfolio limits you to only two phone numbers, and each of your brands requires its own phone number within the same whatsapp business account once you verify your meta business portfolio, you can have up to 20 phone numbers verification also means meta rate limits your whatsapp business account phone numbers less your ability to send whatsapp messages through ashby depends on your whatsapp business account being in good standing and passing any additional review or requirements meta may assign you this is outside of ashby’s control once you verify your meta business portfolio, candidates see your account's display name in the chat rather than only the phone number this improves the likelihood of hearing back from the candidate an unverified account shows the phone number unless the candidate has saved the contact we currently only support messaging using +1 phone numbers, so the display name is especially helpful for candidates who might not expect a message from a us or canada number for further information on how unverified and verified accounts show up in whatsapp, check out twilio's guide on using whatsapp business accounts https //www twilio com/docs/whatsapp/tutorial/whatsapp business account#how business accounts appear to whatsapp users for more information on verification, check out these meta guides about business verification in meta business suite https //www facebook com/business/help/1095661473946872 how to verify your business in meta business suite https //www facebook com/business/help/2058515294227817 step two enable 'has candidate texting access' permissions for relevant users to configure candidate texting and whatsapp messaging or to send messages, users must have the 'has candidate texting' permission enabled to enable these permissions navigate to admin > organization setup > employees click on the employee in question and navigate to the permissions tab on their profile toggle has candidate texting access to yes the screenshot shows the option to toggle on has candidate texting access ensure this is set to yes for users who need to message candidates only organization admins can update user permissions organization admins cannot update their own permissions and will need another organization admin to adjust their access for them step three enable whatsapp candidate texting to enable whatsapp candidate texting navigate to admin > organization setup > candidate texting toggle on enable whatsapp a whatsapp registration page opens where you can connect your whatsapp business account to ashby this step is critical to be able to send and receive whatsapp messages you will then need to add your privacy policy url to the company privacy policy field and your terms and conditions url to the company terms and conditions field the screenshot shows the enable whatsapp option switched on, along with the options to add a company privacy policy, terms and conditions and the option to set a notification email address these are used in the whatsapp consent message that we add to applications that request the candidate’s phone number the consent message only starts appearing when you flip on whatsapp for your organization you will also have the option to add an email address in the notification email field, this email will receive updates about candidate texting step four s elect a phone number the next step is to go to the phone numbers tab and select a phone number if you are using whatsapp messaging with multiple brands support, you can assign each of your brands a phone number you can currently only choose a us or canada phone number and you will need to use a phone number configured from ashby for more on selecting a phone number, check out candidate texting docid\ eqo rlp7jpwh3ykaonv84 you can receive whatsapp messages from and send to international candidates (with the exception of those who have brazil or indonesia phone numbers) , see the faqs below for information on other restrictions if you already have sms configured in ashby and have a phone number configured, you will use that same phone number for whatsapp messaging step five whatsapp registration navigate to the whatsapp registration tab and click connect to facebook the screenshot shows a brand with the option to login with facebook to connect up to a whatsapp business account this will take you directly into meta’s site and will ask you to grant ashby permission once you select your meta business portfolio, you will next be prompted to choose your whatsapp business account if you don’t have one set up already, this is the point where you can create one once you select your whatsapp business account, you should be ready to connect meta will give you an indication when you have successfully connected if you plan to use whatsapp with multiple brand support, it is very important that you connect each of your brands to the same whatsapp business account otherwise, you cannot send messages for that brand step six confirm your display name for each phone number in ashby that you connect to your waba, you will be able to configure a display name during the time of linking your account once you confirm this name, you will not be able to change this again on your end when selecting or confirming a display name, follow the guidelines in the documentation below if your display name does not follow meta’s guidelines, your whatsapp sender will never show as online , and you won't be able to send whatsapp messages on ashby about whatsapp business display name https //www facebook com/business/help/338047025165344 display name guidelines for the whatsapp business platform https //www facebook com/business/help/757569725593362 on initially setting your display name, you will temporarily see the status as creating due to the whatsapp sender still being created this process usually takes up to 3 minutes after this window has passed, refresh the page and you will see this switch to online once your whatsapp sender turns into a status of online , you are now ready to message candidates check out the following guides for more information on candidate consent and messaging whatsapp candidate consent docid\ lcuhtmebisk6zetjhgc4t whatsapp templates and messaging docid\ mv6tvdhbwuwedi6d2qf8g if your account never turns to a status of online and instead shows a status of offline , then you likely have a problem with your account hovering over the "offline" status will give you an error message on what's wrong you will need to reach out to ashby support to get this addressed if, at any point, you disconnect your whatsapp business account from ashby and you need to reconnect to the same or even a different one, you will need to reach out to ashby support to get this done this is due to restrictions from twilio if you absolutely need to change the display name for your phone number, then you will need to reach out to ashby support this is a limitation from twilio faqs how does this work with sms candidate texting? whatsapp is a second candidate texting channel alongside sms recruiters send and receive whatsapp messages directly from the candidate profile, using templates managed inside ashby and following whatsapp's own approval and consent rules unlike sms texting, where you can send free form messages to your candidates at any time (once they give consent), whatsapp only allows you to send candidates pre approved templated messages whatsapp approves or rejects these templates, and approval status is outside of ashby's control you can send free form messages to your candidate only once they respond an inbound whatsapp message from a candidate opens a 24 hour free form messaging window sms texting is only available for candidates with us and canada +1 numbers whatsapp texting is available internationally, with the exception of countries whatsapp does not support does this replace sms? no sms and whatsapp are separate tabs on the candidate profile that you can enable, and both can be active for the same candidate whether you use one or both is up to you my status hasn't switched to online after the waiting period why? this is likely due to a problem with your account hovering over the "offline" status will give you an error message on what's wrong you will need to reach out to ashby support to get this addressed often, it is a restriction on your account coming from meta and is likely outside of ashby's control i don't see the option to get verified in meta what do i do? if you don’t immediately see the option to verify your business, wait a few days after creating your waba and connecting with ashby during this waiting period, you can still message candidates you should eventually see the option to verify your business in the following places within your meta business portfolio’s security center within your whatsapp business account under accounts are any countries or regions not supported? ashby does not support the ability for customers to adopt a local phone number for non us countries, and meta enforces strict anti spam and regional regulatory filters on international long code senders (such as a us +1 number) hard local sender restrictions & local in country presence markets such as brazil and indonesia enforce strong local presence rules when attempting to message users in these regions using an international long code (such as a us +1 number), messages are blocked by meta to ensure consistent delivery into these countries, meta requires registering and sending from a local country number (e g , a local +55 number for brazil) associated with your whatsapp business account (waba) local country numbers are currently not supported by ashby cross border authorization via business verification for countries that allow cross border messaging without a hard local sender requirement, meta still limits unverified accounts from initiating international conversations completing meta business verification and maintaining a high quality score on your whatsapp sender allows your waba to scale past the initial tier limits, granting broader cross border access depending on the status of your meta business account, there might be meta imposed restrictions on sending messages to candidates with phone numbers from other countries as well