Never miss an inbound inquiry — respond instantly and keep your whole team in the loop with Twilio, Spoke, and HubSpot

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Step 1: Set up your Twilio phone number and Messaging Service

Before anything else, you need a Twilio number that can send and receive SMS and handle inbound voice calls. This number becomes the shared line your recruiting team works from inside Spoke.

1. Log in to the Twilio Console and navigate to Phone Numbers → Manage → Buy a Number.  Select a number with SMS and Voice capabilities. For US-based hiring, a local 10-digit long code (10DLC) works well for candidate messaging. See Twilio docs for guidance on registration. 

2. Create a Messaging Service at console.twilio.com → Messaging → Services. Add your number to it. Messaging Services handle opt-out compliance automatically — important for candidate communication at scale. Full guide: twilio.com/docs/messaging/services.

3. Note your Account SID, Auth Token, and Messaging Service SID — you’ll need all three when configuring your HubSpot Workflow webhook in Step 3.

Step 2: Connect Spoke Phone to your Twilio Account

Spoke Phone runs on Twilio’s infrastructure. Connecting your Twilio account to Spoke means all calls and messages flow through the same number — and your team sees everything in a shared inbox, not siloed per device. Technical integration details: twilio.com/docs/flex/admin-guide/integrations/spoke-phone-ucaas.

1. Sign up for Spoke Phone at spokephone.com. During onboarding, connect your Twilio account. Spoke uses Twilio Voice SDKs (iOS, Android, JavaScript) for its apps and the Twilio Conversations API for SMS and team chat.

2. In the Spoke Admin Portal, create a team called Recruitment and add the colleagues who handle candidate conversations. All messages and calls to your Twilio number will route to this shared inbox.

3. Add users via the Spoke Phone. 

4. Users will need to install the Spoke app. iOS: App Store  •  Android: Google Play  •  Desktop (Mac/Windows): spokephone.com/download.

5. Users log into their Spoke Phone account as provided in step 2 above.

In the Spoke Admin Portal, go to Developers -> API Keys and create a new API Key. Save the Client ID and Secret. Submit a HubSpot integration request: https://account.spokephone.com/integrations/add.

Step 3: Build the HubSpot application form and connect it to Twilio

The application form lives in HubSpot. When a candidate submits it, a HubSpot Workflow fires a webhook POST to the Tray URL that calls a Spoke API and sends the candidate an SMS. No manual step required.

1. In HubSpot, go to Marketing → Forms → Create form. Add fields for first name, last name, mobile number, and job role. The mobile number field is what Twilio uses as the SMS destination. HubSpot Forms docs: knowledge.hubspot.com/forms/create-forms.

2. Once the form is live, generate a QR code pointing to the form URL using any free QR code generator. Save it to your phone to share on-site at recruitment events.

3. In HubSpot, go to Automation → Workflows → Create Workflow. Set the trigger to Form Submission and select your application form. Add a Send a webhook action.

Method: POST

Webhook:  https://ed6fc678-9e9c-494c-91da-02eabc2f04ed.trayapp.io

Authentication: None

Customize Request Body and Add below Properties:

contactAddress = Candidate Mobile Number

Body = Text you want to send after form submission

routingAction = assign_team

companyAddress = Your Twilio/Spoke number

4. Test end-to-end: submit the form with a real mobile number and confirm the candidate receive an SMS within seconds. Check the Spoke  team inbox to confirm the conversation appears there too.

Step 4: Handle the two-way conversation in Spoke Phone

At this point, the candidate has received an automated SMS and the thread is visible in Spoke. Your recruiters take over — calling and texting from the same shared number, with full team visibility.

1. When a candidate replies, the message lands in the Spoke team inbox. Any recruiter can pick it up and respond. The conversation stays threaded — no duplicate replies, no confusion about ownership.

2. To call the candidate, tap the number in the Spoke app. The call uses the same Twilio number the candidate already recognises. Spoke supports warm transfer, so a recruiter can bring a hiring manager into the call without the candidate being called back separately.

3. All calls & messages are recorded and logged automatically. With Spoke’s HubSpot integration (spokephone.com/hubspot-cloud-based-phone-system-integration), call recordings and transcripts are written back to the candidate’s HubSpot contact record in real time.

Step 5: Automate stage-progression messages

When a candidate advances to the next stage, the candidate should hear about it immediately. A second HubSpot Workflow handles this automatically.

1. In HubSpot, create a second Workflow triggered by a Contact property change — specifically when the candidate’s pipeline stage updates (e.g. from “Applied” to “Background Screening”).

2. Add the same webhook action as Step 3 (Build the HubSpot application form and connect it to Twilio), but with a different SMS body. Include any link the candidate needs — e.g. a URL for the background screening form. The message should state clearly what happens next and what they need to do.

3. If your ATS drives stage changes rather than HubSpot directly, use the ATS’s webhook to update the HubSpot contact record first, which then triggers the Workflow. Most enterprise ATS systems (Workday, Oracle HCM, Greenhouse) support outbound webhooks — refer to your ATS documentation for setup.

Wrapping up

Here’s what this recipe sets up:

• Provisioned a Twilio number and Messaging Service for compliant candidate SMS at scale

• Connected Spoke Phone to Twilio so your team shares a single inbox across mobile and desktop

• Built a HubSpot application form that triggers an automated SMS acknowledgement on submission

• Enabled two-way voice and SMS from the same number candidates already recognise

• Automated stage-progression messages so candidates hear about next steps the moment they happen

• Logged all call and message history back into HubSpot against each candidate record

Reach candidates faster — without adding headcount

Twilio gives you the messaging and voice infrastructure. Spoke Phone gives your team a shared workspace. HubSpot ties candidate data to every conversation. Together they close the gap between application and first contact — and keep every recruiter in the loop without any manual monitoring.