At the time of writing as many as 75% of people looking for a job are using a Mobile device as the primary means by which to do so. This simple fact means that all employers need to think carefully about this channel and make sure that they have a mobile friendly strategy as part of their overall hiring strategy. Unfortunately few organizations have given this enough thought and are missing out on getting the best candidates as a result.

Why has mobile become so popular in recent years? The answers are many but primarily it is because with their smart phones (which have penetrated the market so much now) individuals can respond readily and quickly to job advertisements and recruiter inquiries at any time 24/7. This helps to speed up the early stages of the Hiring Process when the goal is to attract as many applications as possible, so that they can be then assessed for their suitability. As a result, it is crucial that every organization’s main web site or career page within it is mobile friendly from the moment your candidate arrives on the site.

One good place to start for most organizations in improving the current situation is to at least initially understand where existing candidate traffic is coming from. The most obvious (but not exclusive) tool for this analysis is Google analytics, which will often show that over 50% of site browsers are doing so from mobile devices (and this is climbing every month). This may include how many are working from smart phones alone, tablets or a full web browser.

Once we have some base data, we can develop a strategy to respond optimally to the mobile user in particular. A Mobile Recruitment Strategy is when a candidate can go on his or her phone or tablet (such as an iPad or Android smart phone, for example) to search for the perfect job on an organization’s platform. In order for this to occur seamlessly the organization needs to ask the following questions:

• Is our web site mobile optimized (meaning readable and easy to navigate on a mobile device).
• Is it fully responsive (meaning able to be browsed with minimal scrolling or “pinch” zooming in and out)
• Do we have a clear action plan for when each user comes to the website.
• How we do we engage and reengage site visitors to keep them coming back to the website.
• How well (and easily) do we capture applicant information quickly and concisely – for example is it easy to submit/upload a resume?

The Future of Mobile Recruiting

Despite the need for a mobile Recruitment Strategy, we cannot ignore that wider “best-practice” steps also need to be made at the same time. This includes clear job descriptions, clear and compelling descriptions of what is expected in terms of applicants, an easy to understand published application process, effective communication throughout the hiring process and as much personal human touch points as possible when the hiring process gets to the final stages. A mobile strategy is clearly part of this but only one aspect of it.

Related Resources

• Interview Generator
• Interviewing and Selection PowerPoint
• Recruitment and Selection: A Good Practice Case Study (PDF)
• Interviewing/ Selection: An RSB eLearning Course