Gone are the days when a mobile-friendly hiring process was optional. It’s now essential. Your mobile recruiting strategy is one of the most significant aspects of building a great candidate experience. If you’re a recruiter, you may not have complete control over how mobile-friendly your company’s website is, but that doesn’t mean you can’t take significant steps to make your hiring processes more attractive to a mobile user.
As recently as several years ago, the common understanding was that no one would take the time to apply for a job from a mobile device. Today’s figures blow that myth out of the water. Nearly a third of the traffic to ClearanceJobs.com is via mobile device. Google’s 2013 Multi-Screen World Study showed that nearly 50 percent of on-screen media interactions happen from a smartphone or tablet. That same study found that between 63-81 percent of the time, we’re switching between devices to accomplish tasks online. That’s significant news for employers – candidates are getting some impression about your site online – is it one that makes them want to open up their PCs and learn more, or turns them off from the start?
In this article you’ll learn:
- How to make mobile work for your company.
- Why your mobile experience is a critical part of your candidate experience.
- Why mobile candidates are engaged candidates (and how to keep them interested).
Making Mobile Work
Is mobile recruiting still a foreign concept to you? You’re not alone. Many employers today struggle to keep up with the rapid demands of technology, including creating mobile-friendly websites and application processes. Mobile recruiting isn’t just a challenge from a technological perspective, however, it also involves a shift in how candidates want to interact.
“As someone who “cut their teeth” with recruiting back when it was mainly talking over the phone (vs. using apps), this has been a significant change in the way I find new talent,” said Luke Mann, Staffing Operations Lead with Northrop Grumman Technical Services. “However, I keep my recruiting tools sharp and always work to stay ahead of the curve so that I can fish in the ponds where the fish are, so to speak.”
If you take your current talent acquisition strategy and just drop in a mobile-friendly website, you can’t really say you’re putting mobile recruiting to work. Keep in mind how text looks on a mobile device. This is the time to keep it pithy. Review how job announcements look from both a PC and a smart phone. Would a candidate really take the time to read the entire post? If a lengthy description is required, make sure your most important details are up-front. That’s good advice for any device.
According to a 2014 survey, 43 percent of job seekers have used their mobile device to engage in job seeking activity.
Visuals are also incredibly important on mobile. ClearanceJobs.com profiles use visual cues for everything from benefits information for companies to clearance information for candidates. That makes it easier for both parties to quickly scan and digest – no matter what device you’re on. Take advantage of every visual cue you can, from profile and cover photos to relevant social media links. Make it easy for candidates to click to learn more about your company.
Tip 1: Do a visual audit of your online profiles. Check out the career profiles you have online, and view them from a mobile device. Are there places where you could shorten text, add or remove bullets, or make content more visual? Check out both your company and personal profiles.
Tip 2: Go where the fish are. As Mann points out, not all of your candidates will be engaged in every spot online – and you don’t need to be either. Consider where your recruiting resources are best spent, and focus there.
Using Mobile to improve Candidate Experience
Candidate experience is a critical element of a successful talent acquisition strategy. It includes the mechanics of your application process, but also the ‘feel’ candidates get when they interact with your brand. Statistics such as ‘80 percent of employers ‘Google’ candidates before hiring them’ are frequently tossed about. But do you consider that candidates are ‘Googling’ your company, too? And what they find (or don’t find) will play a role in whether or not they consider a position.
Mobile usage was once referred to as the ‘snacking’ of the Internet. A recent study by Google and Forrester Consulting describes today’s consumer experience as ‘micro moments.’ The study focused on how to identify moments of intent, and deliver on those needs. A strategy they suggest is journey mapping – figuring out how individuals interact with your brand at various touch points, and then delivering in those moments.
Don’t know what a candidate journey looks like? At a baseline, candidates are researching or searching for information about your company, making a decision to apply, and then going through the application process – how can you engage candidates better at each moment of this process?
Think about what a candidate wants to learn from a mobile experience with your brand, and how you can give it to them. If a candidate is searching for information about your company from a mobile device, what will they find? How can you optimize the mobile profiles you already have, or delete the ones you’re no longer using? If a candidate reaches out to your company online, what kind of a response will they get?
Tip 1: Divide to conquer. Don’t put all of your mobile recruiting eggs in one basket. Having a mobile friendly company website is great, but it’s not the only solution. Consider your entire brand presence online, including social media platforms.
Tip 2: Don’t think outside the box. Creative formatting or ‘extra’ visual elements often don’t display well on a mobile device. From your emails to your online profiles, try to stick within the parameters of the platform, rather than inserting your own code or additional formatting. Simple things like text that gets jumbled when read on an iPhone may turn off a candidate.
Keeping Mobile Candidates Engaged
Mobile users are engaged users – studies show they’re more likely to interact with brands through likes, shares or comments on social media sites, and they’re also more likely to be positive about those interactions. If you’re not currently taking advantage of online profile features such as posting status messages or sharing hiring needs, now is the time to do so. One way to reach out to a mobile audience is to provide content they can engage with.
“With regards to mobile recruiting tactics, I would say recruiters need to be more proactive than ever,” said Mann. “Get on the apps, get your recruiting brand built up online, and interact with the online community. Once you have cultivated relationships and found the talent pools you need, you can always direct them back to your career site or ATS where they need to go through the application process formally.”
If your recruiting strategy includes reaching out to coveted passive candidates, it’s important to think about how those candidates access information. Chances are, the last thing they want to do at the end of a work-day is get on their computer to interact with your company. They’re much more likely to come across your information via mobile, whether checking out their online profiles from a smartphone or running an internet search from a tablet.
Mobile devices can increase a candidate’s responsiveness during the work-day. They may not be able to take your phone call, but a quick reply to your chat message sent through ClearanceJobs’ new mobile-friendly chat function may be just the solution.
Tip 1: Correspond quickly. You can’t afford to keep a mobile candidate waiting more than 24 hours – more than two hours may be pushing it for some (but no one should burn themselves out working 24/7). Set up the right alerts, and let automated processes do some of the work for you. Use chat to stay in touch with in-demand candidates, and don’t leave your best prospects waiting.
Tip 2: Tweet for talent. Is Twitter a tool in your recruiting arsenal? Candidates are more likely to go to Twitter for news and advice than they are other social networking platforms, including LinkedIn. It’s also a hidden haven for cleared professionals, who appreciate the option for anonymity. And Twitter’s bite-sized content is great for offering job seekers tips, and for building relationships.
Encouraged? Discouraged? The good news is a successful mobile recruiting strategy boils down to something most employers already excel at – using relationships to find and retain the best talent. A few simple tweaks to your processes – from making hiring announcements mobile-friendly to taking advantage of chat functions – may be just what you need to attract an on-the-go candidate.