Author: Gabrielle Bauer
If you want to attract the best, meet candidates on their phones
Today’s job hunters are on the move. With their phones as faithful companions, they want mobile versions of just about all life experiences, from making dinner reservations to buying track pants—and searching for jobs. And not just young people: baby boomers and Gen-Zers are equally liable to reach for their phones when searching for a job.1 If you don’t offer candidates a seamless and enticing mobile experience, one of your competitors surely will.
It’s no longer enough to post your job opening on LinkedIn: you need to mobile-optimize the posting so it looks good on the LinkedIn app. Ditto for the application process. Your star candidate may be sitting in a coffee shop when she sees the posting, without her computer, and you want to make it easy for her to seize the moment and apply. If you pique her interest strongly enough, she may even apply when not actively seeking employment. Such scenarios are by no means rare: a survey of US employees found that 25% weren’t looking for a job when they found their current one.1
Getting it right for mobile hiring
A word of warning: simply tweaking your web-based application form may not provide the elegant mobile experience that high-quality candidates have come to expect. Indeed, only 22% of people who begin mobile applications complete them, attesting to the importance of getting it right.2 So what makes a job application mobile-friendly? This checklist will keep you on the right track:4
- Keep it short: When it comes to converting candidates, less is more: 73% of job seekers give up on applications that take longer than 15 minutes.
- In the job posting, promote the application process as mobile hiring friendly: Employers who take this simple step increase submissions by 11.6%.
- Employ AI assistants to chat with job seekers—and there’s no harm in giving them friendly-sounding names like Ellie or Vinay. These “chat bots” can answer applicants’ questions and provide supplemental information.
- Consider investing in mobile recruiting software, which can help you or your recruiting partner design mobile-first applications that have the single objective of attracting and converting candidates on their phones.
- Put it to the test: Not sure if your mobile application form makes the grade? Try it yourself or ask a colleague to try it. If the process trips you up, it will confuse candidates, too.
The social piece
Mobile hiring friendliness will take you only so far if you ignore social media. Indeed, the two experiences often overlap: In the US, over 97% of social media users get their fix on their smart phones, at least some of the time.5 With social media use showing no signs of slowing down, today’s employers can’t afford to ignore this hiring channel, called social recruiting. In fact, 84% of companies use social media for recruiting purposes1 and often rely on it for attracting passive talent (candidates not actively looking for a job).6 The fact that 73% of millennials find jobs through social media attests to the power of this strategy.4
Just as with mobile recruiting, social recruiting requires skill and tech-savvy. Investing in social recruiting tools can help streamline and automate the process. While you’re at it, consider
including testimonials on your social media sites: 41% of candidates look for this extra vote of confidence when researching companies in their job search.6
Sci.bio recruiters understand all the bases: traditional, mobile, social, and everything in between. We also understand that no two biotech companies are the same, and adapt our support to each client’s needs. Let’s get mobile and let’s get social—together. Ω
References
- Key aspect of recruitment statistics. CVViz. https://cvviz.com/recruitment-statistics/
- The rise in mobile devices in job search. Glassdoor Economic Research. https://www.glassdoor.com/research/app/uploads/sites/2/2019/06/Mobile-Job-Search-1.pdf
- Mobile recruiting. Smart Recruiters. https://www.smartrecruiters.com/resources/glossary/mobile-recruiting/
- How to create a truly mobile job application experience for candidates. ICIMS. https://www.icims.com/blog/how-to-create-a-truly-mobile-job-application-experience-for-candidates/
- Active mobile social media penetration in the Americas as of January 2021. Statista. https://www.statista.com/statistics/308282/active-social-network-usage-penetration-of-the-americas/
- 20 mind-blowing social recruiting statistics. https://www.careerarc.com/blog/20-mind-blowing-social-recruiting-statistics/
