Why does HR need to move to mobile recruiting?
The world has skipped a generation of evolution and moved to smartphones faster than anticipated. In mid-2013, India overtook Japan as the world’s third largest smartphone market. Interestingly, most smartphone users use it for activities beyond making phone calls and apps make up a large part of this usage. Cisco said in a 2012 report that mobile internet data traffic will grow 13 times by 2017, with most of this traffic growth coming from Asia and Africa.
This is scary as most of the candidates in the future will be moving to mobile and may not be using the traditional desktop to apply for jobs so if you are not there then forget about attracting a huge chunk of The candidates.
What is the current status?
LinkedIn conducted a mobile recruiting survey in 2013 and found that 74% of active candidates and 60% of passive candidates viewed a career opportunity via mobile to receive leads in their inbox. 45% of active candidates even applied for the job via mobile. The survey further noted that 72% of active candidates visited a company career site via mobile for career information. When potential candidates search for you through their mobile device and can’t track you down, you simply don’t exist.
On the other hand, 49% of leaders surveyed by LinkedIn in 2013 said mobile recruiting was not on their top priority list and only 13% of job postings were mobile-optimized. You might be surprised to learn that 95% of Fortune 500 companies do not have a mobile-friendly application process.
Clearly, more and more candidates are researching companies and career opportunities on the go or multitasking on the lazy boy after hours. The writing is clear on the wall, companies have to change faster or they will lose a significant share of talent to the next generation and smaller startups that are more agile. Talent is what will make or break companies in the next decade, look at the success of Google or Apple.
Five simple things to do
The first step is to optimize your career site for mobile use, contact your IT department and ask them to do a responsive design to keep the site simple and free of clutter, remember mobile screens are not as big as screens! of desktop computers!
The second step would be to make your application process mobile friendly, the endless list of questions and multiple transition screens are definitely a turn off for mobile users. Remember that the new generation wants everything to be quick and fast, patience has dropped.
The third step is to hire a mobile expert on your team so you can get the new changes to market quickly; technology is changing very fast in this segment, so limit your investment. It will be a good idea to keep it thin initially and then recheck it every six months.
The fourth step is to bet on the good work. There is no point in inventing everything at home and winning a prize. There are great technologies on the market that you can integrate into your employment site. Try using Skype at your job site so candidates can do a video interview instead of coming down to your office. Use LinkedIn data to build a resume, and request a detailed sheet only if the candidate makes it to the final round.
The fifth step is to break down the walls, Connect to the hiring manager, the team with which the candidate will work through the web platform. This will give the candidate a realistic preview of the job, and using instant messaging, questions can be answered in real time. Engaging candidates early in their use of the mobile platform can increase the job-to-offer ratio and reduce new hire churn.
Mobile recruiting is an untapped blue ocean for employers to engage constructively and emotionally with the next generation of talent. Job seekers have definitely made a switch and it is time for companies to move or they will miss the bus.