People are on-the-go, and today, we see this more than ever. Multi-tasking is the new normal, and job seekers are expecting businesses to use mobile recruiting and remote hiring tools – particularly with the influx of the younger generation entering the job force.

With cell phones and tablets constantly being within reach, it makes sense that today’s job seekers would opt to browse career opportunities through handheld devices instead of a desktop computer or laptop.

In fact, according to research from The Undercover Recruiter, approximately 90% of people are using their mobile devices for career and job searching and almost 50% of people are job searching on their mobile devices daily. Candidates will search for jobs from their beds, their offices, in restaurants, during their commutes, in meetings and even in the restroom. The message to employers is clear: the time to ensure that your recruitment process is mobile-friendly is now.

Also, according to the same research:

• 39% of career websites are optimizing for mobile
• 36% of job postings are optimizing for mobile
• 36% of application processes are optimizing for mobile

This means that employers who kick-start their mobile-friendly recruitment efforts this year will still be ahead of the curve and remain competitive!

What Is Mobile Recruitment?

Mobile Recruiting is a recruitment strategy that uses mobile technology to attract, engage and convert candidates. Through mobile recruiting, recruitment processes can be completed through mobile-devices in an easy and seamless manner. Common mobile recruiting tactics include mobile career sites, mobile recruiting by text, mobile recruiting apps and social recruiting. It can include both hiring and recruitment workflows and it should span career sites, job boards, social media, and text messages.

Essentially, mobile recruitment should allow an organization to:

• Create a new job
• Develop various recruitment advertisements
• Review the candidates that apply
• Manage internal and external communication
• Extend job offers to successful candidates

What Advantages Does Mobile Recruitment Offer?

Mobile recruiting offers a number of advantages for recruiters, hiring teams, and candidates alike. For example, rather than managing tasks exclusively from the office, it allows hiring teams to manage the process from anywhere – as long as they can use a mobile device. This gives teams more flexibility when scheduling interviews, providing feedback, and communicating with candidates.

But it also provides the following benefits:

It builds your employer brand: First impressions can be lasting ones. Mobile-friendly integrations make the company look modern and up-to-date which attracts more candidates because it demonstrates the company is willing to adapt and cares about the experience of its candidates and employees. 

It attracts a wider pool of candidates including top talent: The best way to find top talent is to meet them where they already are. By creating a mobile experience, employers can simplify the application process, use text messaging to communicate with candidates throughout the interview process, and allow communication between candidates and hiring managers to be simple and easily-accessible to mobile applications.

It’s the best way to reach Gen Z and beyond: Gen Z has grown up with their phones in hand, and future generations can expect to also. It’s well-documented that Gen Z tends to prefer mobile experiences for things like online browsing and shopping – and they check their phones at much higher rates than their older peers. By launching mobile recruitment efforts, employers will be more effectively reaching what is soon to be the biggest sector of the workforce.

It allows recruitment teams to harness the reach of social media: With many recruiting apps allowing you to integrate into major social media applications, recruitment teams are able to access more potential candidates than ever before. According to research from The Undercover Recruiter, almost 80% of job seekers use a form of social media to support their search. This can include the extremely popular and well-known apps like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn – as well as emerging apps like Bumble Bizz, TikTok, and beyond.

It creates a better candidate experience: By creating simple processes that can be done from one device, in whatever setting the applicant finds most convenient, job seekers will be more inclined to engage and apply. Also, for successful candidates, it’s an early step towards building a positive employee experience for them.

How Can Mobile Recruitment Be Used?

Mobile-friendly Websites: At the absolute minimum, websites should be responsive to mobile devices, but ideally, employers would ensure that there’s a customized user-experience for phone devices, desktop devices, laptop devices, tablet devices, etc.

Ultimately, if the website is difficult to browse or click-through on a mobile device, the candidate will be more inclined to quit halfway through the application – or to not even begin the application at all!

Mobile Recruiting Applications: Some of the most advanced applications include features that support ATS, interviews, analytics and communications – while also being specifically designed and customized for mobile users. “Easy Apply” can also help with this – while simultaneously attracting candidates to apply through the quick application method.

Video Recruiting: Video software has exploded in recent years for good reason. Video interviews allow you to get a sense of people’s broader communication skills in terms of body language and energy. It also provides location flexibility as people are able to make remote connections that wouldn’t otherwise be possible – further expanding the ability to source the top talent.

Text Messages: Perhaps the least widestream at this point, text messages are well-received by many. They’re less time-sensitive and abrupt as phone calls, and they can be a great way to keep in touch with candidates around details like interviews and scheduling. Text messages are also beneficial when candidates are working at current roles, because it’s easier to take a minute to respond to a text than step away and take a phone call.

Advice and Considerations for Implementing Mobile Recruiting

If you’re looking into implementing mobile recruiting practices at your organization, below are a few things to consider and reflect on, as well as a couple of best practices in the form of “Do’s and Don’ts” that will help you avoid any rookie mistakes.

To start, take a look at your current job postings on a mobile device. Does it load on the job seeker’s phone correctly? Can the candidate easily fill in required fields, or does the page jump around when he or she tries to do so?

The longer your application takes to complete, the more a candidate considers it to be a cost. Just like recruiters are searching for the right candidate, job seekers are searching for the right job. Therefore your practices and processes need to be easy to read and user-friendly – otherwise many potential candidates will simply skip it in favor of the next opportunity.

Do:

1. Ensure that all experiences and applications work across each device independently – users shouldn’t have to switch between devices.
2. Incorporate new forms of interaction such as text messaging or video interviews when it makes sense to do so. 
3. Make the application as streamlined and simplified as possible so that it can be completed in one session.

Don’t

1. Try to DIY or rush the process of becoming mobile-friendly. It’s best to work with experts who can build it properly.
2. Use new forms of interactions in inappropriate ways, e.g. text messaging is great for confirming an interview time, but shouldn’t be used to send rejections.
3. Disjoint the process so that parts of it are mobile-friendly and parts of it require a desktop, forcing candidates to switch between devices mid-way.

 

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Ultimately, without accommodating the growing smartphone-dependent demographic, recruiters risk both the loss of quality candidates and an increase in time and financial investments. When mobile usability is a challenge for candidates visiting your careers site and using your ATS, you give the appearance of having outdated technology, which should also be avoided when branding to potential candidates is a priority. 

By making the candidate experience more mobile-friendly, job seekers are more likely to convert into applicants. And by increasing the pool of candidates, employers can be sure that they’re giving themselves the best opportunity to source and hire the top talent in an increasingly competitive job landscape.