Used to be job seekers seeking information were stuck until the Sunday paper came out, or there were a new batch of help wanted ads on just a few specialized websites such as Monster.com. But the smarter, more forward-thinking companies have realized that in order to get the pick of the litter, and reach the most talented and technologically sophisticated job seekers out there, they have to reach beyond the older forms of advertising.

Employers are well aware that the most desirable of these job hunters know their workplace computer use is monitored, but not their personal Mobile device. In order to reach these folks, they’ll need to be making it easier for them to apply for jobs. After all, according to the 2014 Jibe Talent Acquisition Survey, one job seeker out of every five reports they’d give up on an application if they couldn’t apply solely via their mobile device.

According to a 2014 survey from Glassdoor, nearly 9 in 10 job-seekers surveyed report that they are using at least one form of mobile device technology in their job hunting effort, or expect to do so within the next 12 months. Further, nearly half, 45 percent, report that they use technology to hunt for jobs at least once per day.

If you’re looking to keep up in the still intensely competitive job market, you need to begin adopting mobile technology.

Mobile Gadget Employment

So how are workers employing their gadgets? Glassdoor reports they’re using them in the following ways:

• Search for jobs: 51%
• Save listings to apply later from personal computers: 44%
• Receive real-time alerts about job openings: 44%
• Visit potential employers’ career sites: 39%
• Read company reviews from employees: 37%

Employers are taking notice: According to recent survey by Kelton Global, 7 out of 10 job-seekers report they are willing to apply for jobs via their smartphones, although only about 27 percent of employers have optimized their employment application process to accommodate job seekers’ mobile devices – so far.

Further, some employers are skipping the formal Resume requirement – at least at the initial stage of job-hunting – and instead referring to ‘profile-based’ application, using easily-accessible information already available online through personal web pages, online portfolios, social media platforms and career-oriented sites like LinkedIn and any number of industry-specific pages.

Tip: Always keep an updated version of your resume on Dropbox and/or on a Google Drive account. This will make it much easier to get your resume to an employer quickly and easily, especially for those of you who use iPhones or iPads, since those devices at present can’t attach anything but images or videos in the browser.

Online Apps That May Help You With Your Job Search

The Phone and Email. The best app is still the good-old phone call or email. Don’t underestimate the value of direct communication. If you really want to work somewhere, don’t be afraid to pick up the phone and ask them who’s taking resumes. Don’t ask if they’re hiring: If the answer is “no,” you’re stuck. Instead, ask who the hiring manager is, or the director of the department you want to work in. Then reach out to that person directly. If they want you, you’ll have an in-house ally when HR gets around to processing your application.

Leverage this effort with a good employment agency. The recruiter does nothing all day but contact hiring managers, or receive inquiries from hiring managers, and attempt to match them up with promising employees. Most of the time, going through an employment agency costs you as the job-seeker nothing. The employer pays the fee. And since they’ve paid a fee to hire you, you know the employee is invested in you.

Vitaver Staffing. Vitaver is serious about matching tech-aware workers with employers who seek them – and the more tech-aware the worker is, the more likely they are to be heavy users of smart devices.

With that in mind, Vitaver is among a select few employment / career firms to have extensively upgraded their website to optimize it for the mobile job seeker. While you would normally need to email your resume if you’re on a mobile device (the desktop version of the site lets you upload it directly) the mobile version of the Vitaver’s site supports instant and seamless resume submission to job postings, online application right from the mobile site, and more options are on the way.

Indeed. This massive job-searching site has a fantastic, easy-to-use resume upload tool right on the front page. That makes it easier for employers to find you, based on their own keyword searches. Don’t have a resume ready to go? You can create one using their online tool. Once your email is in the system, it’s a snap to use your mobile device to browse job opportunities, and then apply to them online, using the resume already uploaded.

That takes care of a huge issue that had plagued smartphone users in the past: It was just too cumbersome to send a resume directly to an online job posting. Those days, fortunately, are over.

Why Indeed? Recent research from Silk Road found that Indeed.com, is, indeed (no pun intended), the 800-pound gorilla of the online job search sites, accounting for 50 percent of all external online hires. CareerBuilder came in a distant second, at 14 percent. 13 percent of online hires came from an unspecified online job board. Craigslist and LinkedIn came in tied at 6 percent, and Monster.com came in at 5 percent.

LinkedIn. LinkedIn is still going strong, and still dominating the career-oriented social media websites. In fact, if you have a profile on LinkedIn and you actually are a serious candidate for an opening, you can almost count on the prospective employer to look it up while they’re considering you.

LinkedIn has an app you can download to your smartphone or tablet that makes its entire functionality a snap.

TheLadders. TheLadders is another professionally-oriented social media platform except it’s optimized specifically for job seeking and for referring your friends to job openings that you find on Ladders.

Monster. Monster.com has the advantage of offering instant resume uploading for employers, as well as a direct line to Dropbox, so you can also push around larger file sizes. That’s potentially a great thing for creatives and others with portfolios requiring some bandwidth and memory space.

Jobr. Jobr functions kind of like a dating site. You can browse jobs based on your profile and skill set, and send an anonymous expression of interest. Kind of like a ‘wink’ or whatever they call them on the dating sites. Then they can view your LinkedIn profile. If they like what they see, you can connect directly. An in-app chat feature lets you chat directly with the company rep.

You can refer family and friends to jobs, too. If they are hired, you get a bird-dog fee of $1,000.

PocketResume. This useful app lets you edit and send your resume or CV directly from your iPhone. All the layout’s done for you; you just concentrate on the content. Unfortunately this one is only available on iOS.

GlassDoor. GlassDoor is most widely known for its candid, no-holds barred employee reviews of their employers. You have to take them with a grain of salt – it’s the disgruntled employees who are most motivated to leave a review. But they can provide useful insights into a company nevertheless. And millions of people read them. Which is why employers advertise their jobs on the site!

CardDrop. Physical, card-stock business cards are passé anymore. ‘Card Drop’ is a mobile app that takes the business / calling card exchange ritual and digitizes it. No more pocketfuls of business cards to sort through after every networking event, only to forget to follow up with them with phone calls or emails. Now you can have an easy-to-access digital archive of people to forget to contact!

CardDrop interacts well with social networking sites like LinkedIn. You can attach a LinkedIn profile to your digital card, and anyone who takes your digital card also gets a handy link to your profile or Web page.

Plus, when you use this at a live event, it shows you’re hip to the latest technology!

Did we miss anything? Tell us your favorite mobile tips, hacks and applications in the comments section! We want to hear from you!