Social media and social recruiting have been a part of the global recruiting lexicon for a few years now. It seems that mobile recruiting is on the verge of surpassing social recruiting as the red hot topic for 2013 if you work for an international recruitment agency.
The average international recruitment agency is lagging far behind other professions and industries in leveraging mobile technology to improve the user experience. Many ATS systems consider mobile the ability to shrink the full website to a size that fits on a smartphone screen. Users of mobile technology are not apt to accept that solution as on par with the overall market’s expertise. The benchmarks are in sectors like banking, retail, restaurants, publishing, news, and travel. The handset is a powerful tool to navigate what is new and needed in all of these sectors. Most recruitment sites scream, “I dare you to use me!”
LinkedIn has provided a tool that is getting greater use and holds promise for mobile interface sessions with candidates. The “LinkedIn Apply” feature creates a great way for candidates to send details via mobile applications without connecting their PDF or Word resume via a handset session. I’m guessing that many candidates would not have the know-how or patience to cut and paste a Word resume into a mobile app or into a more traditional site viewed via a Smartphone handset. But they certainly have the ability and comfort using their LinkedIn profile to introduce themselves to an employer, recruitment company or recruiter.
When recruiters moved into social media it was a continual challenge to find ways to engage candidates with information they wanted. With mobile, it is not about what candidates want to do via mobile—because they will do anything and everything you allow. It is about playing catch-up to other sectors that have moved far ahead of the average recruiter in an international recruitment agency. Banking allows you to take pictures of checks and make a deposit electronically. I’m looking forward to a recruitment site that allows you to take a picture of your resume and submit that as an application for an opening.
So for all of us that have pushed mobile aside to focus our attention on social media, wake up and smell the smartphones! Social media has morphed itself into a mobile discussion. Get ready to take on the challenges that 2013 will provide to anyone running an international recruitment agency!
Image courtesy of Ambro at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
