“If you want to hire using a mobile, you have to understand the technology and how that is evolving, as well as the users and their changing habits”
‘Mobile recruitment’ is a pretty generic term and will mean different things to different people. In 2014, it has to mean more than just a mobile friendly job page on your website. If you want to hire using a mobile, you have to understand the technology and how that is evolving, as well as the users and their changing habits.
I went to a great conference that discussed mobile recently, and to be honest, we are all playing catch up. Most people in the packed room admitted their websites are not even mobile ready. So I guess that means if you are forward thinking there is a real opportunity for your company here, because most of your competitors will be treating it as a ‘nice to have’.
That is what the music industry did when Napster started. They thought it was new and would not catch on. One statistic that should tell you different is Microsoft’s share of the operating system market. It used to be 98% of all devices. Now that ‘devices’ includes tablets and mobile it’s dropped massively to just 14%. So it’s clear that mobile must be a major area of focus when planning your future hiring strategy. Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp are all taking over our mobile lives. It makes sense for employers to target mobile devices to access an increased number of engaged and active users.
The kind of things mobile users want from a mobile career page is pretty much common sense and it’s consistent to other industries like mobile banking.
Candidates expect employers to make these things simple and mobile friendly on careers pages:
- Searching for jobs.
- Applying for jobs in a simple way.
- Monitoring the progress of their application.
- Getting tips on filling in the application form.
- Contact information for the recruiters.
- Setting up relevant job alerts to their phones that are location specific.
- Reading about the company and hiring process.
Your employer brand can be damaged if candidates think you can’t be bothered, or don’t know how to use mobile technology in the hiring process. Remember, employer branding sets you apart from your competitors as an employer of choice. If a great candidate gets a bad or negative experience from your career page it reflects poorly on your brand.
A key goal should also be to invest in your team’s knowledge. All the HR and in-house recruiter courses are now integrating full sections on mobile recruiting. This is how serious HR educators are taking this. It’s probably a rare occasion where education is actually ahead of business practices.
Essential components of a mobile recruiting strategy
Well, it’s not about spending lots of money, which is not required at all. The absolute minimum is to do the following:
- Make a simple mobile friendly career site.
- Rethink the application process to make it much easier and quicker if the applicant was using a phone.
- Think about an engagement process to engage with applicants via mobile.
- Create a mobile referral programme.
- Create a targeted mobile marketing plan to attract new talent and then compare it to other channels.
- Feedback – ask respondents about your mobile strategy to gauge candidate feedback to improve the approach and processes.
To conclude, just think if how you use mobiles. Think of the constraints of the screen and the speed of the device. You want to create something compelling for your brand when a mobile applicant comes your way.
Azmat Mohammed will attend the Innovation in Recruitment Summit 2014, join him at this event to discuss how to take mobile recruitment to the next level!
