It seems you can do everything from your mobile device these days- find a good restaurant, chat with people a world away, go shopping, and even find a job.  According to Glassdoor, 90% of candidates search for jobs on mobile devices. Another 55% will want to submit their resume or LinkedIn profile to apply for an open position.  This represents an opportunity for employers to reach digitally savvy candidates before they apply to their competitors. Is your recruiting strategy optimized for mobile? If not, you could be losing out on good candidates. Before you decide against mobile recruiting, take the time to learn how a good mobile recruiting strategy could improve your hiring in 2016.

Think Digitally- Enhance Mobile Recruiting

Mobile recruiting has been a booming trend in the past few years but it has not yet gained widespread adoption. It seems inevitable that recruiting would go mobile.  As technology improves, more candidates want a mobile experience. As a result, businesses of all kinds have optimized their websites and shopping experiences for mobile. Employers are now charged with creating a mobile friendly recruiting experience to meet candidates' desires. But what elements should an employer include in a sound mobile recruiting strategy?

• Mobile sourcing.  In order to build talent pools, many recruiters have embraced social media to attract new candidates.  According to Capterra, approximately 94% of recruiters are active in social media.  49% of those active on social media have found an improved quality of hire.  Mobile sourcing is so much more than social media, though.  It could also include targeted email campaigns to attract candidates to your talent pool.  The key is to use dynamic recruiting content to attract the attention of candidates and break through the noise. This could include videos, pictures, and engaging job postings. Get creative and build your talent pool with mobile sourcing.
• Mobile friendly career pages.  When candidates look for a job, one of their first stops is the employer's career page. The average candidate researches an employer using 18 different sources. However, if an employer's career page is not mobile friendly, it could cause a good candidate to search for jobs at another employer.  An employer's career page should be a cornerstone of a sound mobile recruiting strategy.  CareerBuilder estimates approximately 70% of candidates want to apply for jobs via their mobile device and 55% want to be able to submit a resume via their mobile device.  This important information should cause employers to take note- it's important that their career page doesn't just display correctly on mobile- it should also lead candidates into the pipeline.  Ideally, a mobile optimized career site will give candidates more information about the company and its culture and allow easy search and application tools.  This means setting up the career page with streamlined navigation and mobile friendly content. Absent a mobile optimized career page, an employer's mobile recruiting strategy will be broken and hard to implement.
• Mobile applicant tracking.  Many employers' applicant tracking is broken.  Candidates log on, upload a resume and are then forced to sit through another 30 minutes of retyping all of their information into the system to display correctly.  This experience can be frustrating for desk top computer users, but it downright discourages mobile candidates from even starting or completing the application process.  Instead, seek to use mobile applicant tracking systems that can accept mobile resumes and send communication back to candidates. This can attract more candidates in your mobile recruiting process instead of losing many along the way.  This is critical to mobile recruiting in order to keep these candidates interested and in the pipeline.
• Mobile interviewing.  No mobile recruiting strategy is complete without the ability to screen applicants on the go.  The beauty of mobile recruiting is that it allows recruiters to reach across borders and bypass time constraints. Whether near or far, recruiters can interview candidates on mobile devices using video interviews.  This is a strong option for recruiters seeking to save time and money in the hiring process. Candidates can record responses to interview questions and send them to recruiters to review prior to making a hiring decision.  Or, they can conduct a live video interview with up to 16 hiring managers on one screen.  This offers an impressive and immersive candidate experience that is mobile friendly. Wherever the team is located across the globe, they can log in and interview candidates.

Mobile recruiting has seen increased attention over the past few years as technology continues to advance.  More HR technology solutions have adapted to enhance recruiters' ability to recruit talent using mobile devices.  Many employers have adjusted their hiring process altogether to include mobile recruiting in order to capture the best talent when they find their job postings.  Don't miss out on good talent by lagging behind. Establish a sound mobile recruiting strategy now to remain competitive.