The Future Of Mobile Recruitment: Checklist (part 3)

In four articles I’ll describe the developments in mobile recruitment. In Part 1 the explosion of mobile internet in the coming years and the evolution of online recruitment to mobile was discussed. The implications of mobile devices and the required actions for HR / Recruitment Managers were described in part 2.

Here’s a quick checklist to see if your career site is ‘future proof’ for candidates visiting via a mobile device. Because they will do so! And in the near future they will do this more frequent and expect a good user experience. Therefore, be prepared and perform the following checklist.

Step 1. Visit your website with a mobile device

When you hire an Internet agency they’ll usually make the Internet site suitable for the most common screen sizes and browsers. On the list of technical requirements of a website, you must ensure that content can be accessed, and in a coherent experience, by different mobile devices. This is unfortunately too often forgotten today. The most important mobile devices that should be taken into account are iPad, iPhone, Android, Blackberry and Windows Phone 7.
Visit your current website with one of these mobile devices and make sure that:

  1. All links work and are easy to click.
  2. Check the (dropdown) menus or tabs thoroughly as there may be obstacles.
  3. If you have video or audio files on the website, it is important to test and check whether they are integrated well on a mobile website.
  4. Also check the site statistics on how many visitors use a mobile device or a browser. This provides more insights and is a good baseline for the actions you will take.

You can use your regular WWW website for mobile devices, but an alternative solution is a separate mobile website (m.companyname.com). It is technically possible and is fairly simple – with automatic detection to redirect a mobile visitor to the most appropriate version of the website.

If you recently lanched a flashy website, or a recruitment video in Flash format, then those are likely to be inappropriate for mobile devices.

 

Step 2. Search for jobs

Job search is often supported by a recruitment system (ATS) and at this moment not all providers have a working solution to support visitors with a mobile device to search and/or apply for jobs. Or perhaps you are still running an old version or build your own job search functionality (e.g. import via a feed). In any case, check whether you can search for jobs, select and view the vacancies. Check whether you can fill in all fields and use the drop down boxes.

 

Canon job search on iPad

Have you selected a vacancy? Great, then we move to the next step.

 

Applying for a job at Capgemini UK via an iPad is not possible.

Step 3. Apply for a job

Probably your job applications will also be handled by a recruitment system. If you are currently working on the selection of a recruitment system then it is important to check whether it is suitable to handle mobile applications. So apply, complete all (mandatory) fields and submit an application in this exercise. Don’t forget the last step, as you won’t know for sure until you execute it! It could be the biggest stumbling block on your career site today.

Extend these tests to open applications and, if applicable, creating and managing an user account. Should it emerge that it is impossible to apply via a mobile device through the existing recruitment system then it’s time for action. Call your supplier now and ask for their plans regarding mobile access.

If you are looking for a temporary solution you may want to specify an email address in the job description. A more permanent, and for good reasons highly recommended, solution is to provide the possibility to Apply with a LinkedIn profile as soon as possible. If the supplier does not support this either, then it may be time to look for a new recruitment system. You do not want you to lose good candidates because competitors have a better recruitment system.

In the example provided here you cannot apply for a Mobile Developer job at an ‘ground breaking’ IT consultancy firm due to the fact that you cannot select a file or have an alternative way of applying (careers.uk.capgemini.com).

 

© 2011 Jacco Valkenburg

About Jacco Valkenburg

Jacco Valkenburg is an international recruitment expert, trainer and author (5 books). He has more than 20 years experience in global recruitment strategies and execution spanning numerous countries for leading companies. As founder of Recruiter University and Recruit2 he provides companies with recruitment training and consultancy. His mission is helping companies ‘from good to great staffing’.

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