The Changing Face of Recruitment: 2013 and beyond
What do recruiters need to do in the mobile age to stay competitive?
What issues may recruitment agencies currently face?
It’s 2013 and the job market is starting to look up; however, according to the December 2012 ONS report unemployment still stands at 7.8%.* As a result, agencies face the problem of wading through a sea of hopeful candidates’ CVs in order to find the real talent. Furthermore, the weakened economy has seen a boom in internal recruitment, with companies doing far more with fewer resources.
Candidates are beginning to expect more and more from recruitment agencies, and candidate loyalty has fallen in recent years as the competition hots up. This means it’s particularly important for recruiters to add real value to their business, and engage with job seekers in the most the effective and personalised manner in order to attract and secure the best talent.
What does the mobile age look like and what does this mean for recruitment?
We are now in an indisputably mobile age. Convenience, speed and availability are key to attracting customers in most industries as people turn to their mobile device before a laptop or PC to seek out information, make purchases and stay in touch with both people and businesses. Our smartphones and tablets are with us most of the day and we are obsessed. In a recent survey forty per cent of iPhone owners admitted they would rather go a week without their toothbrush than their device, and in another many people said they fall asleep still holding their mobile!
A new study by Potentialpark revealed that job seekers already are, or want to, use their mobile device to look for work. Twenty six per cent of respondents said that they now rely on mobile technology in order to stay on top of their job search, while fifty nine per cent said they could see themselves using the technology in the future. Furthermore, fifty six per cent specified that they would use a mobile recruitment app if an organisation offered one. For job seekers, a successful app offers job search tools, information and the ability to share.
Doing mobile the right way
Recruitment agencies both large and small now embrace the likes of Twitter and Facebook. Posting jobs via these platforms increases brand awareness, and –if done correctly – allows candidates to interact them via mobile applications; however, if the agency doesn’t have a mobile app or mobile-friendly website, any candidates clicking on a job link from their mobile might find themselves frustrated. Over sixty per cent of people will not revisit a website it didn’t work properly during their last visit.
Why mobile applications?
Search any big name in a mobile app store and you’re likely to find what you’re looking for. Even a quick Google search will reveal which companies have embraced mobile technology. High visibility on mobile devices combined with ease of use and offline access means that candidates are more likely to use an app while on the move than a website.
The mobile age means that an alarm clock app wakes us up in the morning, we rely on map apps to get around and email apps help us to keep working even when we’re not in the office. In order to stay relevant and competitive, recruiters need to engage high-calibre candidates via mobile applications that meet the needs of today’s mobile jobseekers.
*of economically active population, August-October 2012