Posted by Amy White
Whenever I hear the words mobile recruitment I get a mental
image of a van with the words “0800 Recruitment!” emblazoned across it,
squealing to a halt and disgorging a squad team of suited up recruiters. Yes,
my mind works in weird ways.
In actual fact these words generally refer to recruitment in
relation to mobile devices such as smartphones and iPads. Not quite as
exciting a visual image but probably a lot more useful and relevant to hiring
managers.
It’s a fact that more and more people are accessing the
internet via a mobile device these days. It’s also a fact that the majority of
organisations are managing their recruitment online – even if that just means
via an email address for some of them.
So, when the two intersect, what does that mean?
Well, first let’s take a look at some statistics.
- As of the end of 2012 88.8% of Australia’s population is online*
- As of 2012 42.1% of the population owns a smart phone. *
It is surprisingly difficult to find information about just
how much internet access is via a mobile device rather than a desktop. Probably
because that varies greatly depending on the sites visited and the behaviour of
the internet user.
According to Seek – unavoidably one of the biggest players
in the job board market – "Over 35% of all traffic to SEEK and 12% of job
applications now come via mobile devices” (source). At Talent Propeller we track the number of
mobile visits to our jobs sites, and have seen this figure go from averaging
about 7-9% of visitors last year, to 9-11% this year. This dramatic difference probably has a lot
to do with the fact that Seek includes users of its app in its mobile traffic
count.
So, the mobile job seeker is definitely on the rise and it’s
an industry trend we need to be aware of and planning for. Having said that, I
don’t think it’s time to panic that your company doesn’t have a ‘Careers app
for iPhone and Android’ just yet.
One thing that’s worth identifying is the difference between
hunting for jobs and applying for jobs. It’s very telling that the stats from
Seek indicate that the number of applications made from a mobile is
considerably lower than the number of mobile visits. This suggests that whilst
job seekers are happy to hunt for jobs on the run – for example on the train to
work – when it comes to applying they don’t necessarily want to do it on a
mobile device.
As a Hiring Manager, you need to consider what behaviour you
expect from your applicants, and what that means. If you are happy to accept
any and all candidates, including those who have spent minimal time and effort
on their application (probably in a rush to get back to next level of Candy
Crush), and you also have the time to sift through hundreds of applications,
then by all means, make it as easy and thought-free as possible for people to
apply.
If you value quality applications over quantity, then you
won’t hesitate to ask applicants to put a bit more effort into the process. Perhaps answer a few key questions, address
some selection criteria and generally put a bit of thought into it. There are obviously some roles where this is
more applicable than other, but as a general rule I think quality over quantity
is a good thing to aim for.
In summary, what’s more important at this moment in the
recruitment market, is that your jobs can be found and read via a mobile device.
If you have limited time and resources (don’t we all) then mobile accessibility
needs to be a key priority, but developing an entire mobile recruitment
strategy can wait – although with the rates of mobile usage increasing,
probably not too long.
Incidentally (here’s the sales pitch) Talent Propeller have
just released a new careers website module that is fully mobile optimised that
we are pretty excited about! Feel free
to get in touch and have a chat if you are interested in seeing more.
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