The Past, Present, & Future of Mobile Recruiting

In my last column I provided 7 tips for mobile recruiting. It’s obvious that we use our phones for everything from online shopping to driving directions, our mobile devices are there for us. It’s replaced our camera, camcorder, alarm clock and more.

The popularity and convenience of smartphones makes them a powerful tool for recruiting too. Job seekers are attached to their phones and other devices, and use them in their search for new positions.

Mobile recruiting has come a long way over the past few years, and still has room to improve and grow. Here’s a look at the evolution of mobile recruiting and where the technology is heading in the future:

The Past

• Back in 2007, mobile recruiting was a crazy concept. Cell phones were becoming the norm, the first iPhone was released, and Twitter was rising in popularity.
• In the beginning, mobile recruiting was all about better connecting with busy candidates. With mobile, employers could send text message alerts to let job seekers know about open positions, send emails with candidates on the go, and boost their social media efforts.
• As more people began using smartphones, employers could use QR codes to drive job seekers to their company or career websites.
• Some companies took advantage of the opportunity by creating job search apps. CareerBuilder released their first job search app in 2008, and others soon followed. Job seekers could now search for jobs at any time, any place from a device they almost always carried in their pockets.
• Although job searching from mobile devices was possible, applying for jobs was another story.
• Job seekers needed to switch to a computer to actually apply for the jobs they found on their phones or tablets. Mobile applications were either not available, not optimized for mobile, or too long and inconvenient.

The Present

• As we’ve become more and more reliant on our smartphones and other devices, job seekers are now applying to jobs at any time from their mobile devices. In fact, a 2014 Glassdoor survey of 1,000 employees and job seekers found that 89 percent of those surveyed use a mobile device during their job search, and 45 percent use their mobile device to search for jobs at least once each day.
• Although mobile is popular among job seekers, many employers are still trying to shift their focus to the new recruiting possibilities. In a 2014 survey conducted by CareerXroads, seven in 10 companies surveyed said they rarely used mobile to hire executives, and a similar amount said the same when hiring hourly and entry-level employees.
• Employers who have embraced mobile recruiting are focused on two trends: mobile-optimization and mobile applications.

Optimization

Job seekers expect a mobile site that is easy to read and use from any device. This means companies are going beyond mobile-friendly and optimizing their sites for multiple mobile devices. Employers who fail to do so won’t have much luck attracting job seekers on mobile.

Mobile Applications

As mobile technology advances and becomes more popular, job seekers want to complete every stage of the process, from the search to the application, from their phones and tablets. More companies are embracing the mobile application and finding ways to make the process easier for candidates.

One approach is to enable candidates to use their LinkedIn or other social profiles to complete sections of the application. Others are creating simplified applications that job seekers can easily complete from their devices without getting frustrated.

The Future

• Until now, the focus of mobile recruiting has primarily been on the candidate. The future of mobile recruiting is all about creating seamless programs that make the process easier for both job seekers and employers.
• More organizations will adopt the use of mobile on their career sites and job applications, and provide candidates the mobile experience they deserve.
• Mobile technology will also give recruiters a simpler way to review and sort candidates, communicate with their top picks, and work with their hiring teams to choose the best person for the job.
• That’s what we’ve done with with our mobile recruiting app for hiring teams. The platform enables everyone internally to work more effectively together–to better find, engage with, and hire top talent.
• Only time will tell if job seekers will be using their Apple watches to apply for jobs in the future, but mobile will continue to evolve to provide job seekers and recruiters a more convenient and effective way to complete the hiring process.

What do you think? What will the future of mobile recruiting look like?