The Future of Recruiting Is Mobile
Everyone talks about how reliant the millennial generation is on smartphones, but let’s be honest: How many people do you see that are using their cell phones for everything from communicating to shopping, people who are slightly, if not more than slightly, older than a millennial? Smartphones are ubiquitous for every generation. I use my smartphone to read and reply to email, to read articles on the train, to text and communicate with clients and colleagues, and even to plan my day. So when the conversation is focused on recruiting millennials, mobile recruiting seems logical. I believe, however, that mobile recruiting is the future for reaching every age group and talent pool – and a 2014 Glassdoor survey bears that out, revealing that nearly 90 percent of job seekers use their cell phones to search for jobs. The challenge, then, is to create a mobile recruiting program that is functional, effective, and provides an excellent experience for every candidate.
The Basics of Mobile Recruiting
Career websites must be optimized for mobile. The people you want to hire are going to look for jobs using their phones. If they can’t read or browse your career page on their phones, they will not even take the time to bother looking later from a laptop; they’ll simply move on to the next opportunity that they can easily read about from their phones. Videos about company culture, stories about existing employees, and career information must be readily accessible and digestible in a mobile format. There is no point even offering the information if it cannot be viewed from a smartphone.
Mobile job applications must be the standard. Candidates must be able to apply for jobs with your company directly from their phone, and the process needs to be easy and user-friendly. Whether candidates are reaching you from a social media platform or through your website, you can almost guarantee they’ll be looking at your job listings from their phones, and when they click that “apply now” button, it must function properly on their small screens.
Use Mobile to Increase Engagement
Communicate by text. If you are trying to attract millennial or Gen Z candidates, you need to consider alternate forms of communication besides email. They simply do not use it. Your application process should provide updates by text. Automated text messages are incredibly effective for increasing engagement with candidates, and texts provide a fast and efficient way of acknowledging receipt of the application and communicating with candidates to schedule and confirm interviews.
Mobile recruiting must be a central part of your talent management strategy. It is effective in helping you reach passive candidates, engage with existing candidates, and build a pipeline of talent to draw from. Combined with social media recruiting, it can be an absolute game changer in your ability to attract and retain the best people.
As the CEO & Founder of East Tenth Group, Michelle leverages 25 years of business and experience as a strategic advisor and executive coach to help drive actionable people solutions and provide practical insights on business strategy to senior leaders. she and her team and are fiercely committed to the development and growth of people and companies because we believe that when people thrive, business thrives.
