Technology is progressing at a frightening pace, and anybody who doesn’t adapt to the latest tech standards is surely risk

ing being left behind.  From desktop to laptops to mobiles, recruitment has also come a long way, with mobile recruiting becoming the latest buzzword.

There are countless ways in which mobile is transforming the way we used to perform different activities. So it really doesn’t come as a surprise that the smartphone revolution is changing the established recruitment practices. The data provided by Human Capital Institute, HCI Webcast 2014 the Guide to Mobile Recruiting says that 70 percent of job seekers use mobile devices in their job search. Besides, 23 percent of keyword searches which contained “job” come from mobile devices.

According to another infographic released by LinkedIn Talent Solution,  43% of active candidates use mobile devices to upload resumes to a career app while 45% of active candidates use their mobiles to apply for a job. This is a significant number which tells us that mobile recruiting is just more than a buzzword. It’s a reality which requires the instant attention of HR managers across the globe, irrespective of the industry, or geography. However, another major takeaway of this infographic was that only 13% of recruiters have invested enough in mobile-friendly recruiting while just 20% have optimized career sites. That leaves a lot of room for improvement.

The need for a better interface: Unlike desktops and laptops, mobiles are available in a lot more diverse form factors, and screen sizes. This presents a challenge for the companies to design a mobile friendly site which works well on all types of platforms, whether it is Android, or Apple and also on different screens. Responsive design has come as an answer. However, for mobile site the most important requirement is that the interface should be easy to understand and also user friendly.  In addition to a good interface, the mobile site should serve the candidates in a more holistic way. The infographic says that 94% of candidates wanted to see the current job openings while 72% were also hoping to find description of company culture on the site.

Use the power of social networks: Besides offering a well designed mobile interface, your mobile recruiting strategy shouldn’t ignore the power that social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn bring to the table. All these are HR powerhouses, especially LinkedIn, whose mobile recruiting app, was launched back in Oct 2013 are the best friends of recruiters if used judiciously. Facebook’s Social Job Partnership application,is another place where you can register your company and let the world’s most powerful social network do all the talking. The social job app already has over 2 million job listings on it.

Time your outreach: You must schedule your social networking updates for the times when candidates are most possibly using social media sites. Most of these websites offer a powerful analytics tool visible to the administrators of the company pages which even offers data regarding the various times of the day when people are using social networks. For example, according to various findings, the mobile device usage increases exponentially during weekends or at home after work hours. Posting job related social media updates during such times of the day will definitely help your company.  Each geographical location will have different time specifics to it.

Leveraging the full potential of mobile:  As important it is to have a mobile recruitment platform for the company, it is also vital to look at other mobile tools for ensuring better results.      Education technology provider ConnectEDU created an infographic, Millenials and Mobile Recruiting, where one of the major takeaways is the various methods candidates use to respond on mobile. While 79% of the respondents said they preferred job alert emails to respond, 38% of them found newsletters equally useful and 14% responded on banner ads.  In addition to sites, mobile apps can also be a great way to engage with job seekers. Established job sites like Naukrigulf.com (Middle East), Indeed.com (USA) and Timesjobs.com (India) have their own mobile apps which is a big leap in mobile recruitment.

Try including these features and it will definitely assist your company’s mobile recruitment strategy in 2014.