What are the advantages and disadvantages of mobile recruiting? Learn more about recruiting younger generations. Get information now!
Mobile recruiting: how to reach Generation Z
Smartphones have become an integral part of our everyday lives. Most things are already happening online. Digitalisation has also arrived in human resources and is constantly evolving. And although mobile recruiting is still not well-established, at the latest when Generation Z is involved, every recruiter and every company should know what it is and how to use it successfully to hire new employees. According to a study by the University of Bamberg from 2020, only 36.8 % of the top 1,000 companies in Germany state that mobile recruiting has become part of their daily business. If you want to reach the talents of the younger generations, it is essential to present your company along this generation’s touch points, namely the Internet on mobile devices.
What exactly is mobile recruiting?
Mobile recruiting is a method of e-recruiting and describes employee acquisition via mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets. The goal is to enable the entire process – from the job search and collecting the required information about the respective company to the submission of the completed application – to be performed easily and quickly with a smartphone. In practice, however, it looks very different. While smartphones are already used frequently for job searches, most candidates ultimately still apply via their laptop or PC. In the cited study by the University of Bamberg, 53.4% of the candidates stated that an application via smartphone is too complicated for them. This is partly due to the lack of data and files on the phone and partly a result of the (lack of) mobile career offers by the potential companies.
Many companies don’t offer a mobile-optimised career page yet, for example, nor job postings with responsive designs. Nowadays, this is really indispensable.
The great advantages of mobile recruiting
- Writing applications from anywhere: for applicants in particular, mobile recruiting offers the most benefits. It means that the application can be completed virtually “on the go” and not tied to a certain place – all you need is a smartphone. It’s important that the company’s website is optimised for mobile viewing to make the process as pleasant and convenient for the applicants as possible.
- More applications: since there are hardly any obstacles to sending the application, companies can expect considerably more submissions than they would get via the conventional route. This also results in a larger pool of candidates. Mobile recruiting also shows applicants that the company is progressive – which they always appreciate.
- Keeping track: less effort for applicants also means less work for recruiters. Thanks to the short process, the applications are also shorter and more “to the point”. In this case, there are no stacks of applications for the personnel staff to work through.
- Quick response: In contrast to conventional job postings, mobile recruiting is convenient for all contingencies. If too few or only unsuitable applications are submitted, the job posting can be reworded quickly and easily. In addition, it shortens the communication channels between applicants and the company in case of inquiries.
Factors that speak against mobile recruiting
Not all that glitters is gold, of course, and mobile recruiting still has a few aspects that speak against using it:
- Sceptical applicants: many people are still put off by having to submit job applications via smartphones. Although many users shop online with their phones, most people still prefer an appealing and detailed email application where possible.
- Inadequate mobile optimisation: mobile recruiting can only work when the company website is optimised for mobile devices. However, not every company has realised this yet. If there are any problems with the presentation, the applicants won’t submit anything.
Statistics: has mobile recruiting already caught on among HR employees and candidates?
Like many other everyday activities, people do occasionally use their smartphones and the like to send job applications. However, companies often still lack a fully developed concept. According to the study by the University of Bamberg, the qualitative survey of companies and candidates, using keywords that they associate with mobile recruiting, indicates mixed perceptions and impressions: what users expect most from mobile recruiting are speed and various ways to contact the company directly. The buzzwords they mentioned, such as data misuse, application overload and susceptibility to errors, confirm the uncertainty and need for improvement, and imply a negative assessment.
