Job apps are everywhere. There is HiUp, SnagAJob, and the gold ‘ol Indeed. Some of the first job apps, Switch and Jobr, aimed to revolutionise the recruitment process. The idea was simple, make the job hunt mobile and reap the benefits of the increasing amount of people appling for jobs online. But, have they had the radical effect on the industry they planned for? We take a look at whether job apps are moving the industry forward or if we’re swiping left on them.

The Idea

The process of gamifiying the recruitment process sounds brilliant. Quickly contenting to jobs, removing the formalities of dull cover letters and job descriptions. It even has the possibility to engage candidates and clients in ways that could make job hunting, dare we say it, enjoyable.

Chances are your fellow job hunters haven’t heard of the majority of job apps out there. There is Raked, Reached, Wirkn, and CityHour just to name a few. Beyond their odd names, these job apps appear to everywhere but seemly nowhere. 

What’s The Problem?

For a lot of the job apps they are still relatively new. It means getting businesses to post their jobs to them is hard. It is a catch 22, not enough candidates are signing up because there aren’t enough jobs on there, and not enough jobs are being posted because there is a lack of active candidates. This is the core problem with newly branded apps.

While we don’t know the full download stats, Monster and Indeed’s apps appear to be doing well. There are job apps such as SimplyHired that merely aggregate jobs, but why would you use this app in particularly when you already know bigger brands like Monster.

What’s The Solution?

Many of the apps allow you to sync your information across your mobile and desktop devices, but past that the benefits of current job apps are pretty benign. Yes, you can swipe Tinder style and maybe take a fancy quiz to learn more about your strengths but it all feels a bit novelty. Their names don’t help their case either. So, what are the future of job apps?

We know people are searching on their mobile for jobs and we know people like convenience. When you look at those two facts and compare it with the 90% of fortune 500 companies that do not support mobile applications you can see a clear solution. Make websites responsive. Make job descriptions clear and sharp so that they are readable on mobiles. Finally, allow candidates to apply on their mobiles.

With the way job apps are going, we don’t see a bright future for them. But we do see a future for mobile applications. Either way, it will be interesting to see how the industry adapts to ever-changing digital landscape and customer need for quick and simple solutions.

Read more of Alistair's posts here