By the level of noise and chatter focused on the mobile recruiting trend over the past several years one would think that corporate talent acquisition teams have made great strides in adopting and deploying these solutions. But the results of our recently released 2014 Jibe Talent Acquisition Survey tells another story. 

In our survey, our independent research partner Kelton Global asked more than 300 in-house recruiting and HR professionals their feelings and plans on various talent acquisition technologies, including mobile. Of those surveyed, 36% said that if they were in a candidate’s shoes, they would not say their application process was optimized for mobile. And 27% of respondents at companies of 500 or more employees reported that they’ve done absolutely nothing to optimize for mobile. So yes, we still have work to do. 

And if you’re still thinking enabling mobile-friendly applications is a low priority item and candidates don’t care, think again. We also surveyed more than 1,200 job seekers, and a strong majority of them made it clear that they are ready – and even expect – to be able to apply from their phones and tablets. They also said that if they couldn’t, they’d move on to other opportunities. The impact of doing nothing is a big. 

See below for more mobile highlights from our research, and download a copy of the full survey results now.

Here at Jibe, we talk to job seekers often to understand their point of view on the overall hiring process, including their thoughts on the state of mobile apply today. This year’s survey represents the largest and most comprehensive group of job seekers we’ve engaged with, and the message is clear around mobile: They are ready (and waiting) for mobile-friendly applications. Let’s get to it. 

Today’s Job Seeker is already mobile
Unsurprisingly, our survey showed that a clear majority of job seekers expect to and are already using mobile in at least some parts of their job search.

• 80% of job seekers expect to be able to do part of their job search easily on a smartphone. 
• More than half (54%) report that they have used a mobile device in numerous ways to aid in their job search. 
• A strong majority (70%) said they want to use their devices for the entire process, all the way through to the apply stage. 
• Of this 70%, a whopping 82% represent the current and future workforce (18-34-year-olds) vs. those who are 35 and older (56%).  
  
                   What are the primary reasons why job seekers want to use their mobile devices to apply?
  
  

The desire is there, but faith in the process is not
Job seekers expressed skepticism about the technology available to streamline the application process, particularly as it relates to mobile capabilities 

• On average, job seekers believe that the longest an online application should take is 30 minutes, with 41% reporting that  if they didn’t know how long the application would take to complete, they wouldn’t even start it. 
• And the impact of not offering an easy mobile experience is very real, with 20% of job seekers saying they would give up  if they couldn’t complete it on a mobile device.
• A huge majority of job seekers (88%) said they have concerns about applying for jobs from their phones.                 
  
                         What concerns job seekers the most about applying from their mobile devices?

Why the worry?
More than likely, many of these concerns stem from previous poor experiences job seekers have had on mobile devices, which is why it is so crucial to stay focused and work hard to improve the process lest we continue turning them away. 

• The good news: The need for mobile optimization is deemed a priority amongst HR and recruitment professionals, with a  full 76% saying it’s an important problem to solve.  
• The bad news: Many companies are still struggling to push this importance within their organizations, which is why 36% of  companies wouldn’t describe their process as mobile optimized and 27% of larger companies say they haven’t done a  single thing to create a user-friendly experience for mobile job seekers.
• So where is the resistance coming from? Well, 43% percent of professionals said that IT issues are the most common roadblocks, with budget constraints (35 percent) and internal resistance (32 percent)  following closely behind. 

It is abundantly clear that today’s – and most certainly tomorrow’s – workforce is ready for a mobile-friendly search and apply process. Great strides have been made in recent years, but there’s still much work to be done. As we’ve said before, it’s time to go ‘all-in’ in this regard. Let’s not keep the mobile generation waiting any longer. 

For more insight on mobile and more, download the 2014 Jibe Talent Acquisition Survey today.