Sophisticated advancements in digital technologies have caused a shift in the way people today work, as well as how they go about finding it. This transformation makes it imperative for HR and procurement professionals to reassess their talent acquisition strategy. When it comes to recruitment, employers must adopt a modern, mobile-first approach.
Why is it important?
Today’s workers are very mobile and highly connected, so they expect your company to be as well. According to a Jobvite research report, almost 50 percent of job seekers look for employment opportunities via their mobile device, a trend that is expected to continue to increase. More people look for jobs on the go, such as during their commute (38 percent), while they’re at work (30 percent) and even when they are in the bathroom (18 percent).
“More candidates are using mobile devices in their job search.”
But employers don’t have much time to capture their attention. Jobvite found that the majority (80 percent) of job seekers don’t spend more than 30 minutes searching for open positions; 20 percent will devote only six minutes at a time.
Needless to say, failing to modernize the recruitment strategy to target mobile users is a missed opportunity for companies. As Recruiting Trends pointed out, positioning your company and employment opportunities in front of candidates requires you to be present during their “micromoments.”
Mobile recruitment allows organizations to gain a competitive advantage, personalize the candidate experience, gather more data (and, therefore, insight), increase their number of applicants and, ultimately, the quality of their talent pool.
What matters to mobile job seekers?
Jobvite reported that the factors that candidates consider most important in their job search include:
- Being able to view the listing without having to register (nearly half)
- The time it takes to complete the application (28 percent)
- The ability to apply from their mobile device (21 percent)
It is not just searching for and applying to the positions that matter, either. Job seekers also research the organization that is hiring online too. According to the source, young professionals are most likely to use social media to look up the current employees of a company, as well as to learn more about the corporate culture.
Reaching and engaging job seekers on the platforms they are active on, such as Facebook and Twitter, is an essential aspect of building a successful talent pipeline. But, it’s also important for employers to ensure their recruitment and company content is optimized for the mobile user as well.
To recruit top talent, HR leaders must first know where to find them.
Tips for tailoring recruitment around mobile
When it comes to modernizing the talent acquisition strategy, HR professionals need to operate with the candidate experience in mind. If the job ad is too lengthy, takes too long to load or requires too many steps for the job seeker to complete, the chances of applicants dropping out of the process increase, therefore hurting the quality of candidates employers can choose from.
- Be active on social media. A strong social media presence is imperative for businesses today. Not only is this an important platform to target job seekers on, but it is also a great channel to demonstrate company culture, engage and interact with candidates and give people a taste of the brand’s personality.
- Simplify the application. When it comes to mobile recruitment, simplicity is key – and this applies to both the format and process of applications. Job listings should be optimized so that mobile users can seamlessly read and complete the application from the small screen on their smartphones. Employers should avoid overly complex or lengthy processes that ask redundant questions. It is also highly recommended that HR managers offer a range of options to the applicant for submitting/uploading their resume, such as through Google Drive, LinkedIn and/or email.
- Consider gamification techniques. Applying game-like elements and simulations to recruitment can make the experience more fun and engaging for the job seeker. Plus, as The Society for Human Resources Management recently pointed out, there are many different ways to use this technique during recruitment, including to evaluate an applicant’s soft and hard skills, gather data, spark engagement and provide candidates with real-world scenarios that are applicable to the job.
In a world where people are constantly connected via their smartphones and mobile devices, hiring managers have the advantageous opportunity to grab the attention of job seekers through a multitude of channels and platforms. To do so effectively, though, will require employers to retool their approach to recruitment and make it more modern.