People are looking for jobs on their phones. Lots of people. Whether they are browsing from phones or tablet devices, our data shows that these mobile users make up almost 50 percent of job board and career site traffic. Just two years ago, that number was 25 percent. The percentage of our visitors who are using mobile devices has increased every month for over two years, and the trend shows no sign of stopping. We are not unique in this, our traffic reflects the overall trend on the web.
Fair to say, “mobile” has finally arrived. But what does that mean for recruiting? From our perspective, the rise of mobile computing presents a challenge and an opportunity.
Here’s the challenge: If job seekers use their phones to browse your site for jobs, and they can’t find or do what they came to do because your site isn’t designed to work on a tiny screen, they will probably leave. Once they’re gone, they may not come back, which means they will never apply, which means they will probably end up working for your competition (who has a lovely and very usable mobile careers site). Not good.
Research from Google shows that is exactly what happens on e-commerce sites. That is, people leave mobile-unfriendly sites and buy from their mobile-friendly competitors.
The clear solution to this challenge is to make sure you have a mobile-friendly career site. Fortunately, there are a number of providers in the recruiting space that can help you quickly and easily get that done, without going through a months-long redesign process.
The goal of mobile optimization is to ensure your site meets the needs of mobile users. For example:
Making your site easy to read without the need for zooming.
Providing clear navigation that’s easy to use with your fingers.
Prioritizing content so that users can quickly find what they came for (i.e. the jobs).
Mobile users tend to be more focused and task-oriented than desktop users. They often spend less time on site, and usually view fewer pages. A mobile-friendly site acknowledges the unique circumstances of mobile users and accommodates them as much as possible. This leads to a more positive browsing experience which makes your mobile users more likely to perform the desired actions on your site (in this case, view and apply for jobs).
Ideally, a mobile-optimized site provides a good browsing experience to all visitors, no matter what size screen they are using to view the site. Generally, this is done by creating two versions of the site. A standard version for desktop users that fills their larger screens, and a scaled down version for mobile users that condenses the elements of the page to fit onto the smaller screen. Some sites handle this with a “responsive” design that automatically shrinks or expands to fit whatever size the browser window is set to (this site, for example, is responsive). Either way will get the job done.
No matter how you do it, optimizing your career site for mobile users is a challenge that needs to be addressed sooner rather than later. Currently, there is a major opportunity to outshine your competition because so many companies are still behind the curve when it comes to mobile friendliness. That window of opportunity won’t last forever. Eventually, mobile-friendliness will simply be the norm. Until then, it’s an advantage that your recruiting shouldn’t be without.
