According to a recent study from IBM Smarter Workforce Institute, high-potential employees are nearly two times more likely than average employees to search for jobs on mobile devices. So if your career site and job postings are mobile-optimized, you’re one step closer to recruiting the best job seekers out there.
However, the competition for top talent is already so fierce that mobile optimization is not enough. If you want to recruit the best job seekers, your mobile candidate experience needs to be superior to your competitors’.
To help you accomplish this, we've outlined how top talent uses mobile devices during their job search and what it means for your recruiting.
The IBM study found that when compared to their co-workers, high potentials are more likely to use mobile devices to research job information. For example, they will search on mobile for company reviews and employment brand insights. High potentials are researching this information because they have various employment options, so they are more selective with who they work for. Thus, most high-potential candidates expect organizations to provide employment details and insights.
What this means for you: Help mobile job seekers easily access information about your company and employment brand so they can know why they should work for you. If you increase your employment brand’s online visibility, you can also reach and engage high potentials who are not actively looking for jobs. You can accomplish this by including links to your company website, career site and social media profiles in your job postings. Also ensure that your career site is responsive and compelling so you can give mobile users a full career site experience.
According to the IBM study, high-potential employees are more likely to sign up for mobile job alerts than their co-workers are. High potentials respond and apply to mobile job postings more quickly as well. In other words, top talent finds and applies to relevant positions faster than average candidates do.
What this means for you: If you want to recruit top talent on mobile devices, you must be quick and agile. Post your available positions as soon as possible, send out mobile job alerts, and carefully monitor your applicants. When a qualified candidate applies, immediately reach out to them and ask to schedule a phone screening or interview. Connecting with the best candidates before your competitors do can help you maintain an advantage in the hiring process.
High potentials are more likely to express job interest, complete job applications and take job assessments on mobile devices than average candidates are—suggesting that they are willing to complete the entire recruiting process on mobile. IBM also found that nearly 70 percent of high potentials are more attracted to organizations that offer mobile recruitment, which is most likely because high potentials especially value the speed and convenience of mobile.
What this means for you: In addition to your career site, make sure that your job postings, application process and any other job tasks are mobile-friendly. Also verify that each step is convenient and easy to complete. If you provide a quick and comprehensive mobile candidate experience, you can surely prevent your best applicants from dropping off.
The majority of mobile job seekers prefer to receive job-related information via email. However, the IBM study found that high potentials are considerably more open to other communication methods. When talking with recruiters, top talent is almost twice as likely to prefer text messages than average candidates are. They are also significantly more likely than their co-workers to prefer communication via social media (37 percent vs. 23 percent).
What this means for you: If you want to win over the best mobile candidates, find out how they most prefer to communicate. Be willing to email, text, call, or even Facebook message if that’s what the applicant prefers. If you are flexible with your candidate communication, your best applicants will be more likely to respond and stay in touch. You will also improve your candidate experience so that job seekers develop a stronger desire to work for you.
As a final note, the IBM study also found that 75 percent of high potentials plan to use mobile job searches in the future (20 percentage points more than other employees). With that in mind, providing a superior mobile candidate experience will become more essential as time goes on. More employers will begin to strengthen their mobile recruiting strategies as a result, which means the competition for mobile talent will only intensify. So if you want to effectively recruit mobile job seekers, provide an all-inclusive mobile candidate experience that outshines your competitors’.
