Over the past few years, mobile devices have infiltrated talent acquisition, prompting most organizations to optimize their career websites for mobile devices, create mobile-friendly application processes and design mobile recruiting strategies that include video and social media.
How has mobility in talent acquisition evolved? At first, organizations simply updated their websites to support the demands of mobile users, but that turned out not to be enough as more and more job seekers flocked to social media in search of job openings and increased their video usage online. The evolution of mobility in talent acquisition was a very quick one as job seekers began to use their mobile devices to search, apply and interview for jobs, utilizing video and social media to communicate with organizations.
According to a study by Kelton, 86% of active candidates use their smartphone to begin a job search. On the marketing side, smartphone conversion rates are up 64% compared to average desktop conversion rates, proving the importance of enabling a mobile recruiting strategy. Social recruiting is at an all-time high, and at least 73% of millennials found their last job via a social network, including about 8,000,000 applicants who have found jobs through Twitter.
How to Mobile Optimize your Recruiting Process
Website Optimization: The absolute first step for any organization is to optimize its careers page (or entire website, preferably) for mobile devices. In order to create a positive candidate experience, job seekers need to be able to quickly and easily access information via your mobile website, which means you have to reorganize necessary information to fit on a much smaller screen, listing job openings at the top of the page for best results. Check out this list of mobile must-haves to get started.
Ease of Applying: Much like a webpage, it has to be easy for job seekers to apply on their mobile device. Some traditional job applications can be extremely lengthy and may be difficult to read on a smartphone or tablet. You also have to make it possible for mobile users to upload their resume, cover letter or other materials from the cloud due to the lack of file storage on a mobile device. Keep job applications straight-forward and mobile optimized to fit various screens for the best possible application experience. After all, who wants to spend an hour filling out a job application, even on their desktop computer?
Social Media: In recruiting, you have to follow the job seekers, and right now, those job seekers are on social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn looking for the perfect job. A report by Aberdeen Group cited that “best-in-class” organizations are 55% more likely to allow candidates to upload a LinkedIn profile to apply for a job than their counterparts. Because social media has become a larger part of professional life, it’s only natural that it become part of the hiring process. If you want to be seen as a better organization to work for, your online and social presence has to reflect what job seekers are interested in, which includes the topics I’ve already mentioned: mobile optimization and ease of applying. The Aberdeen study also stated that 45% of “best-in-class” organizations allow users to upload their resume multiple ways, such as via a browser, mobile and social site.
Video in Sourcing and Interviewing: In order to keep up with mobility as well as the widespread use of video as a main communication tool, more and more organizations have been using video interviews and talent acquisition videos. Videos can both entice job seekers to apply to a company by demonstrating the company culture and work environment and act as an efficient tool for interviewing candidates virtually in order to save money, screen candidates more quickly, and reduce travel. As you probably guessed, where do most people watch videos? On their smartphone, of course!
If you’re not mobile optimized yet, you better get out there and make some changes! Don’t miss out on a huge pool of applicants that are exclusively using their mobile devices to search, apply and interview for new jobs.
The trend of mobility in talent acquisition is not just for candidates but also for recruiters. It allows recruiters (or even hiring managers) more vehicles to communicate with job seekers, get their attention and learn about them prior to a decision. Thanks to this trend, there are also various mobile applications to help recruiters review applications, schedule interviews and manage candidates in order to make their jobs easier. It will be very interesting to see how mobile talent acquisition continues to evolve.
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