As technology continues to evolve at a fast pace, mobile-friendly recruitment is set to become an indispensable element of future multichannel hiring strategies.
Mobile technology offers speed, efficiency. and convenience, all three of which are critical to both recruiters and candidates. Bullhorn’s latest talent survey demonstrates, 43 per cent of candidates cite a ‘fast and efficient job search process’ as essential to them when working with recruiters.
Mobile has long been an essential part of the recruiter’s toolkit, but its potential uses have evolved beyond making phone calls or answering emails. Rather, the focus is now on integrating mobile with other hiring tools and channels to build a definitive and cohesive recruitment tech stack.
At the same time, candidates increasingly use mobile over any other platform to search for jobs or communicate with recruiters. The same talent survey found that 52 per cent of candidates are most likely to use their mobile phone to search for new jobs – significantly higher than any other device. The reason is simple – they want to view jobs effortlessly and quickly.
Mobile recruitment, therefore, serves a dual purpose – making recruiters more agile and efficient, and improving the candidate experience. But how can you make the most of it?
1. Optimise job sites for mobile
In contrast to general assumptions, research from Undercover Recruiter found that only 39 per cent of career websites, 36 per cent of job postings, and 36 per cent of application processes are optimised for mobile. Yet, to provide a candidate experience that reflects the way candidates use the internet, it’s critical to keep mobile in mind.
Failing to provide a mobile-optimised experience across these channels makes it more difficult for candidates to navigate around and reflects poorly on both the recruitment agency and the hiring company. Conversely, companies that hit the right spot when it comes to mobile recruitment positively affect job seekers’ perception as it shows they place great emphasis on providing a quality candidate experience.
2. Don’t underestimate the role of SMS
Nearly a third (32 per cent) of candidates prefer recruiters to contact them about vacancies via phone, while 21 per cent are also happy to receive text messages. Therefore, it’s worth considering the automation of SMS to start engaging with candidates at scale, without increasing the administrative burden.
For instance, if you want to quickly promote a job alert for a new role, it might be appropriate to use automated SMS to reach a large pool of candidates instantly. You could also set up automated SMS to respond to any frequently asked questions.
Conversely, follow a more tailored, personalised SMS approach once you start shortlisting candidates to take forward for interviews. Candidates are more likely to respond to text messages than emails, so it’s a great way to engage with them and add to a positive candidate experience.
On top of it, SMS messaging is the highest-rated channel for customer satisfaction, trumping communication by phone and social media.
3. Connect your applicant tracking system
A crucial component of your mobile recruitment strategy is to ensure the applicant tracking system (ATS) also has a mobile version to use while on the go. Without mobile connectivity to the ATS, the strategy will never realise its full potential. However, a fully integrated mobile recruitment strategy will quickly prove its worth when it comes to productivity and overall efficiency gains.
With access to the ATS at your fingertips via a mobile device, you will have another crucial point of entry to important information about clients, candidates, and jobs. At the same time, everyone in your team can instantly add relevant details to the ATS. This creates a single source of truth and eliminates the risk of vital information being misplaced or forgotten.
With all the right information instantly available, you’ll be able to impress a key client by quickly scrolling through vital submission and placement stats, for example. This capability will ultimately improve client relationships, expand agreements, and even generate new business.
A mobile ATS also reduces your time-to-fill. If the right candidate responds while you’re away from your desk, you can get them started on the process straightaway via your phone. Without having to rush back to your desktop ATS, you can review their CV, submit it to a client, or schedule an interview. All this allows you to work more quickly and efficiently.
4. Explore self-service mobile recruitment apps
Mobile self-service recruitment apps are growing in relevance and convenience, especially for recruiters with clients in high-turnover or shift-based industries who have high volume hiring requirements. The trend of having an app for everything – from measuring pulse rates to personal banking and shopping – is fast rubbing off in the recruitment sector.
Self-service recruitment apps give candidates more power to manage their working lives. They can take appropriate action like managing their profiles, searching for jobs that fit their schedule, setting up interviews, applying for shifts, or tracking pay. Not only does this provide a great candidate experience, but it also makes recruitment firms more efficient by taking ‘busywork’ away from recruiters and scaling their ability to engage with large numbers of candidates. This allows them to focus on more value-adding tasks instead.
5. Assess your wider multichannel recruitment strategy
While mobile is fast growing in importance, recruiters must bear in mind that their overall aim is to be active and effective across a range of relevant channels. Candidate behaviour doesn’t restrict itself to just one channel.
A fundamental requirement for recruiters is that they cannot use these channels in isolation – information will end up in silos, and their records will become disorganised. Integrating different channels and systems not only allows recruiters to be more responsive and efficient, but it enables the free flow of data in real-time.
Time to maximise mobile recruitment
Every great recruiter needs to be able to ‘meet the moment’ by finding and engaging with candidates wherever they are. Mobile is just one of several critical hiring channels that recruiters need to harness, albeit one that continues to rapidly evolve and offer up new competitive advantages.
