Did you see our candidate mobile research last week? We released it during the #tbMobRec event.

If you missed it we put it on Slideshare for you to enjoy.

So what does the research mean?

It illustrated that many job seekers with a smart phone, such as an iPhone, download dedicated job seeking apps and many regularly check for new jobs using their chosen mobile job search app.

The research provided multiple choice questions but included the opportunity for candidates to complete a free text feedback. Many candidates spent the time to provide extra feedback, sharing great ideas and their views with us. The most commonly voiced demand was for job alerts on the phone. Many iPhone owning candidates asked for push notification. This enables the job board or recruiter to push jobs to the candidate's phone over the web. A pop up message similar to a text message alerts the job seeker.

The next versions of our iPhone & Android apps will support push notification. The mechanism is very powerful and will deliver high response as does SMS today. Unlike SMS the app is far better positioned to fully understand what vacancies the candidate is looking for which will drive stronger conversion to application. Job alerting via our app is also cheaper for the job board / recruiter as there is no message delivery charge!

I am very excited that candidates want this service. Mixed up in a digital cocktail with our Digital Portrait technology the alerts can be 1:1 targeted.

There will be some choices for job boards / recruiters. Alerts could be used as an additional revenue stream upselling targeted push promotion to recruiters / employers.

We will be supporting various options in our mobile solution, but how do you want to make the most of push notification?

What would you ideally like from job alerts?

Perhaps the most important thing is that each alert is helpful to the candidate and does not frustrate them!

Many job seekers also want to apply from the mobile. Now this sounds simple, but there are multiple technical difficulties, not least the fact that one cannot store a CV / Resume on an iPhone! Maybe the CV Cloud is needed after all? Maybe it is already here? I will discuss this in a blog post soon.