Mobile Recruiting week is sponsored by our friends, RXInsider and their new mobile app tool, CEAppCEnter. Learn more about mobile recruiting by registering for our webinar on 5/22 at 11 AM EST. Click here. Don’t forget to follow the Twitter hashtag, #mobilerecruit. 

Mobile Recruiting From the Passive Candidate’s Perspective

A hypothetical (yet very realistic) situation with a semi-passive job seeker, Joe Kindalookin:

“Hi, my name is Joe and I’ve had a bad week, a bad month, let’s face it, my job sucks and I hate my boss.  The pay is good, the job is secure, and I like most of my teammates, but it’s time to make a change.  I won’t just take any job though, and my time to do a job search is limited.  I have an hour long commute each way, most of it on the commuter train, during which I spend most of my time on my smartphone (reading, listening to music, catching up on House of Cards).  I spend a lot of time on my smartphone, probably too much, but that said, it’s how I stay connected to the world.  I shop, make my travel plans, and interact with my social networks there.

I also do Google searches on my Smartphone, so on today’s commute home, I thought I’d search for a new job.  I used the search terms, ‘Senior Auditor’ ‘Jobs’ and my city.  What I thought would be a simple search turned out to be a major pain in the rear.  The results often took me to a company’s non-mobile optimized career site, which I struggled to navigate, but when I did get to a job description, my only option was to email the job to myself (which I did).  What a waste of time!  Once I emailed it to myself, I got the email on my smartphone, and that I’d have to complete the application on my laptop.  I’m busy this evening and I wanted to get this done, NOW!  #Fail, I’m moving on.

I did run across a job posting that allowed me to apply right then and there, using my LinkedIn profile.  That’s more like it.  The job posting was clear and concise and sounded really cool.  The mobile-optimized career site told me that after it pulled in information from my LinkedIn profile, that I would need to review what was submitted, what would happen to the data in my candidate profile, and that I would need to answer several more questions and to take a brief simulation assessment to evaluate my skills and give me a preview of the day-to-day aspects of the job, and that this whole process should take no more than 10 minutes.  20 minutes left on the train ride, so, perfect!  The process was smooth, I saw my progress throughout, and once I completed the application (in 8 minutes 22 seconds BTW), I received a text thanking me for my application, and asking me to choose whether or not I would like to continue communications via text (the best way to communicate with me).  Boom! That was easy, what a great experience!”

Joe is in the place where much of the workforce is today.  Employed, but not necessarily happily, with steady jobs, are super-busy, and have little time for lengthy applications that don’t offer value or value their time.  Candidates like this are looking for convenience, efficiency, and a clear understanding why they should consider making a career move to your organization.  (The 2013 Candidate Experience Award Survey Results have clearly demonstrated these preferences of candidates through a mountain of data).  Mobile offers the ultimate convergence of convenience and efficiency, and when designed correctly, can offer the same application experience as a desktop process.  But even more important, it captures candidates in the ‘Heat of the Moment’, those who are ready to explore new career opportunities: anytime, anywhere.

The future is now for applicants like Joe.  UPS has had a mobile apply process in place for a couple years now and is making thousands of hires from these mobile applications.  Oracle Taleo recently launched their mobile apply process with Marriott.  iCIMS recently mobile optimized all of their clients career centers and apply process.  Multiple other 3^rd party vendors are out there helping companies launch their mobile apply process.  The time is now for candidates like Joe, the time for mobile needs to be now for you too.

Mobile Recruiting week is sponsored by our friends, RXInsider and their new mobile app tool, CEAppCEnter. Learn more about mobile recruiting by registering for our webinar on 5/22 at 11 AM EST. Click here. Don’t forget to follow the Twitter hashtag, #mobilerecruit.