Now that recruitment is 100% digital, it’s important to utilize mobile technology into your recruitment process to reach and engage more candidates. With 9 out of 10 job seekers using their mobile devices to search for open job positions, mobile recruiting is a critical element in a company’s recruitment strategy and process.  Understanding the mobile recruitment environment and its challenges is paramount to getting optimal results and finding and hiring better talent. Be sure that you are adequately addressing these challenges:

Visibility on Social Media

Companies are including social media into their recruitment strategies for good reason, as it allows them to reach many more candidates and expands their talent pool. There are volumes of content posted on social media sites every day, which make it more difficult for a hiring organization or recruiter to be noticed by job seekers. Posting job opportunities more frequently across all sites is important to drive users to your career site as much as possible. Using automated posting tools will allow you to consistently post job advertisements and maintain an active presence on social media sites. The key is to make sure that the candidates are able to apply as soon as they see the jobs, which can be made possible by recruitment apps.

Robust Mobile App

Every company has a different strategy when deploying a mobile app and must decide whether to create a native app (i.e. an application that is resident on your device), a hybrid app that is an interface to mobile enabled web pages, or a mobile enabled web site that can be reached through a browser. Each type of app has its pros and cons, but regardless of the approach you should look to deliver a robust and engaging experience for the user or job candidate. If job seekers find your app difficult to use, you will have difficulty in getting candidates to apply for open job positions.

Quick Job Application Process

Continuing with your mobile app, it is paramount to have a quick and easy application process and one with no data entry with only a few steps in the workflow. If a job seeker feels your application process is too time consuming and arduous, they will drop off and not finish the application.  This is about creating an engaging and enjoyable user experience. If you are going to spend resources to create a mobile application process you want to have a high level of conversion or candidates that have completed the job application.

Appropriate Screening Tools

Given the large volume of applications received per job post and the need to screen out unqualified applicants, you will want to use screening tools. Companies that use screening tools will be able to manage the large volume of applicants more efficiently and evaluate the qualified applicants more rigorously. Utilizing high quality, reliable skills assessments is by far the most accurate way to screen candidates and determine if a candidate has the requisite skills and experience for the job.

Video Interview Use

Video interviews are useful tools for evaluating candidates and can sometimes replace steps in the hiring process such as a phone interview. However, understanding how to deploy this feature is important because it will determine the quality of the data or video file recorded by the applicant. If using an asynchronous video capture feature, it is better to have the candidate react to a question or scenario as opposed to the candidate giving a personal statement. The reason is simple, even though their response is recorded, you want the candidate to answer extemporaneously and not with rehearsed responses, to understand how well the candidate communicates.

Optimal Recruiting Process

Many companies have a well-defined recruiting process but do not evaluate it to determine if it is the most optimal. It is important to continuously evaluate your process because if you have unnecessary steps, you are not only spending more time and money, but are probably losing valuable candidates along the way. Every organization should evaluate their recruiting process because they might be able to streamline their processes with a robust mobile recruitment strategy. For example, deploying a short skills assessment during the application process may eliminate the need to test the job candidate later, and utilizing a video interview may eliminate the need and travel time of having an interview in person. An optimal recruiting process is one that has a high conversion rate and efficiently allows you to fill positions quickly.  

Use of Candidate Data

Last, but not least is data analytics, which usually is a forgotten feature of recruiting, and hardly used in the recruiting process. There have been several studies that have proven that when you use data to make decisions you have a higher probability of making the “right” decision. It is no different when making a hiring decision. Ensure that the mobile recruitment solution you are using can capture useful data on the applicant, such as assessment results.  Using data will allow you to discern the differences between applicants and have more confidence in your decisions in selecting one candidate over another.

Mobile recruitment is here to stay and the best way to navigate this new landscape is to leverage technologies and employ a native mobile application. The key is to develop a mobile centric recruiting process that incorporates an easy to complete job application, engaging candidate screening assessments, a video interview module to learn about the candidate, and robust reporting to allow quick hiring decisions. All of which must be neatly packaged in an engaging user experience that presents your company’s image in the best possible light. This is not easily done so make sure that you work with partners that can deliver.