As technology continues to improve, people are increasingly seeking to take it on the go. And why wouldn’t they? Smart phones and other mobile devices have become so handy that many people don’t leave home without them. The evidence is clear that Americans love their mobile devices. In 2016, American smart phone users will reach 198.5 million. From these smart phones, they shop, communicate, watch videos, and search for jobs. If your business has yet to embrace mobile recruiting, you could be behind the curve. According to Glassdoor, approximately 90% of job seekers will search for new jobs on their mobile devices. Another 44% of those job seekers will apply directly from their mobile device. To attract these digitally mature candidates, it will become important to establish a formal mobile recruiting strategy. Just as social media and web 2.0 revolutionized recruiting, so too will widespread adoption of mobile recruiting.
Creating a Mobile Recruiting Strategy
Employers have many challenges right now. In the HR and Talent Acquisition space,new concerns for workforce planning, candidate experience and employee retention have sprung up. We’re at a career crossroads right now as the Baby Boomer generation is retiring and the Millennials are taking management seats. Many employers already feel behind on addressing these issues and now mobile recruiting is looming large. A comprehensive mobile recruiting strategy can solve many of these employer issues. But how do employers begin? What elements should be included in a comprehensive mobile recruiting strategy?
- Social recruiting. Many candidates use mobile devices in the job search because they don’t want to miss new job postings. Social recruiting will become even more important to advertise open job postings and attract the right candidates quickly. Social recruiting will need to feature mobile friendly content or risk losing mobile candidates. This content could include video content and mobile optimized career pages. Recent statistics also suggest that the 49% of employers using social recruiting methods make better quality hires. Social recruiting is a great way to tap into new candidate pools in addition to putting job postings in front of candidates in the very places they hang out.
- Mobile optimized career pages. Currently, the majority of careers sites aren’t optimized. To be fully optimized for mobile, it’s important that career sites display properly on mobile devices and allow rich content and interaction. 80% of career sites currently don’t have mobile friendly options to enter into the candidate experience. This can cause a negative experience as candidates struggle to view the screen or access information about the company. Mobile optimized sites should have a clear path to the information candidates need- salary and benefits, open positions, and company culture information. Ideally, these will require only one or two clicks of the mouse to find. Anything longer will likely be abandoned by frustrated candidates.
- Accept mobile resumes or social job profiles. According to Kelton Research, 55% of candidates searching career sites from mobile devices want to be able to upload a resume or apply with their LinkedIn profile. Mobile recruiting company Mobolt cites 60% of candidates who submit resumes from mobile friendly career sites will finish the application and 96% of the time will rate it as an easy process. These mobile candidates represent a digitally mature cross section of candidates that won’t have a favorable reaction if their candidate experience isn’t a seamless experience. Consider adding this feature to your mobile optimized career site to enhance your candidate experience.
- Highlight company culture with video. Candidates respond quite well to video content. According to Talent Puzzle, adding video to job postings can increase candidate applications by 34%. But video can do more than communicate the open job position; video can be used to offer a deeper look into the company’s culture. Video allows candidates a sneak peek at the company they’re interested in by putting employer branding on display. Video offers candidates a better way to show the team in action, introduce the work environment, and tell the employer’s story. Video brings the text that most career sites offer to life.
- Interview digitally. Video interviews are an integral part of mobile recruiting. Candidates who enter the candidate experience on a mobile device aren’t generally interested in slowing down to play catch up as a recruiter resorts to old fashioned phone screens and long scheduling delays to get hiring managers in a room together for an interview. Only video interviewing offers the speed and flexibility that mobile recruiting was designed to offer. Recruiters can send candidates links to record video interviews on demand, allowing candidates the freedom to answer screening questions at their leisure. Live video interviews are often a great second step in the interviewing process, connecting hiring managers and the candidate from anywhere in the world. With up to 16 participants allowed on one screen, these allow everyone to connect whether traveling or inside the office. Scheduling is faster and time to hire is reduced.
- Onboard digitally. Once a hiring decision is made and it’s time for the new employee to start, online onboarding is a great way to bring the mobile recruiting strategy full circle. This saves time, allowing the employee to get to work on the first day instead of spending hours filling out paperwork. Employers can send a new hire a link to fill out their paperwork digitally, read policies and procedures, and familiarize themselves with the company. All that’s left is to meet the team and take a tour on day 1.
As technology progresses, it’s important for employers to keep pace to attract and hire the best candidates. Mobile recruiting will redefine the recruiting process for digitally mature candidates and save employers both time and money. If your company is losing candidates to competitors, embrace mobile recruiting and win the talent wars.
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