What to do when an RBT applicant misses your first call

Voicemail, text, one more try, then stop

When an RBT applicant misses your first call, leave a short voicemail, send a text if they agreed to texts when they applied, and make sure the number you gave them reaches a person. Try once more at a different time of day. Then stop, and tell the applicant you have stopped.

A missed first call is the ordinary case, not a sign of lost interest. The applicant applied to several clinics, is probably at work or in class, and the call came from a number they have never seen.

Why the first call often never rings

Most people do not pick up unknown numbers. In a Pew Research Center survey of 10,211 US adults in July 2020, eight in ten said they do not generally answer their cellphone when an unknown number calls, and 67% said their usual practice is to let it go and check the voicemail if one is left.^[1] That survey is six years old, and I found no newer one asking the same question, so read it as a snapshot.

The phone may also decide before the applicant does. As of November 2026, an iPhone can be set to screen calls from numbers not saved in its contacts, asking the caller why they are calling before it rings, or to silence them and send them straight to voicemail.^[2] Google's Call Screen on Pixel phones in the US can answer an unknown number automatically, ask who is calling and why, and disconnect calls it identifies as spam.^[3] A clinic's first call can reach voicemail without the applicant ever hearing it ring.

The follow-up, step by step

1. Leave a voicemail on the first miss. Most people in that survey who skip unknown calls still check voicemail,^[1] so it is often the first thing the applicant hears from you. Say your name, the clinic, the role they applied for, a number to call back, and when someone answers it. Keep it to one breath, and do not start the screen in it.

2. Send a text right after, if they agreed to texts. A text names the clinic in writing, which a silenced call does not. Repeat the voicemail in two lines and offer a way to pick a time. Text only applicants whose application recorded their agreement, and ask your counsel what that consent language needs to say.

3. Make the callback number land somewhere. A return call that reaches a general mailbox, or a front desk that does not know hiring calls are coming, undoes the follow-up. Give a direct line, or tell whoever answers the main number which applicants you are trying to reach.

4. Try once more at a different time of day. If the first call went out mid-morning, try late afternoon or early evening, inside the hours you would want to be called yourself. More on who calls and when is in our post on why each first call matters more for a small clinic.

5. Set a stopping point, and close it kindly. For what it's worth, two calls and a text across three business days is a reasonable default. Pick yours and use it for everyone. Then send one closing message: you tried to reach them about the RBT role, you would still like to talk, and here is how to reach you. A busy applicant has a way back, and one who changed their mind does not have to say so.

6. Log every attempt in one place, with the time. Two people calling the same applicant one afternoon looks disorganized from the other end. After a month, the log also shows which times of day actually reach people.

Where follow-up goes wrong

The number changes. The voicemail gives one number, the text comes from another, and the callback reaches a third. Use one number for all of it.

Nobody answers the callback. This is the failure nobody notices. Call your own callback number from a phone the clinic does not own, at 5:30 p.m., and see what happens.

Too many attempts. Someone who applied expects to hear about it. Five calls in two days is something else. If an applicant asks you to stop, stop.

When most first calls still go unanswered

Start with the log. If calls at one time of day are almost never answered, move them. If the problem is across the board, tell applicants the call is coming and from which number, on the job posting and in the confirmation they see after applying. An applicant who saves that number has taken it out of the unknown pile, since the iPhone setting above applies to numbers not in the contacts.^[2] Our post on what an RBT job posting should say before the first call covers the rest of the posting, and what to ask on an RBT phone screen covers the call itself.

Where Virida fits

I built Virida, a hiring assistant for ABA clinics, so grain of salt. Its screener calls RBT and BCBA applicants who apply through your clinic's apply link, usually within 5 minutes during your calling hours; outside them, the call waits for your next calling window. An applicant who missed the call can call your clinic's hiring line back, or tap Talk on the apply page. The texts Virida sends applicants on your clinic's behalf include updates after a missed call. They go only to applicants who agreed to texts on the apply page, and replying STOP stops them.

It asks your screening questions, answers only from the Q&A your clinic approved, and sends you a summary and a transcript. When an applicant asks for a person, it forwards the call to your hiring manager during the hours you set, or sends the manager a callback request.

To be clear, it does not score, rank, or recommend anyone. A person on your team reads the summary and decides who gets a link to book an interview. It works next to your ATS, not instead of it (how it works). It also does not make anyone pick up. If you hire a few people a year and someone can run the routine above for each one, a written list may be all you need. Your call.