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Part 3: Simple Mobile Strategies to Connect with Candidates
Posted by Matt Adam on September 22nd, 2016 
We’ve discussed the importance of mobile and made sure our career site is mobile-friendly. Now, it’s time to generate some traffic!
The mobile device and all that comes with it – text, e-mail, social media, search, apps – is how people stay connected nowadays. It’s also how they are searching for jobs. Here are some simple mobile strategies to help you connect to top talent.
Texting
A recent Pew Research Report showed that behind taking photos, texting was the number one activity on smart phones – certainly not a surprise, especially to those of us who are parents. The reality is that, to market to candidates, you’ve got to communicate with them via their preferred method. For many, that is increasingly text messaging.
If texting is improperly used, it will be perceived as invasive and categorized as spam. For texting to be properly used in recruiting, it must follow these two cardinal rules:
- Opt In – First of all, it must be Opt In. Unless you’ve been explicitly invited to communicate with candidates via text, you don’t want to go there. If you do, you risk legal ramifications, not to mention you’re going to do nothing but irritate your potential candidates.
- Relevant – Second, it must be relevant in terms of content and frequency. If they invite you to communicate with them, it doesn’t mean you can start texting them every day that a new job appears. Be cognizant of what people want and how frequently they want it.
Check out our earlier post on text recruiting for more information on this subject.
E-mail
E-mail is increasingly being consumed in the mobile world. Make certain that whatever you send via e-mail doesn’t just look good on your laptop, but also looks good on mobile. Consider these recent statistics:
- 67% of consumers use a smartphone to check their email; 42% use a tablet; and 93% use a desktop environment. –BlueHornet “Customer Views of email marketing”
- Webmail and desktop opens have steadily declined throughout 2015, each dropping 13% since January. Litmus– “Email Analytics”
- 75 % of Gmail users access their accounts on mobile devices. Gmail now has over 1 billion active users. –Google/TechCrunch “I/O developers conference”
Social Media
When talking about mobile, we can’t neglect social media. While social media did not start out as a mobile solution, it is quickly turning into one. In fact, social platforms that are being built now are done so as “mobile first” solutions. Platforms that weren’t developed in a mobile-first environment are quickly making sure their sites are user-friendly in this medium.
Case in point here is Facebook. Facebook started as a desktop platform but quickly realized they needed to mobilize. One billion dollars later, they bought Instagram and told the world they were serious about going mobile. You can also use Twitter, LinkedIn, Vine and Instagram for mobile recruiting.
Social media continues to be an excellent venue to showcase your employment brand in an authentic and engaging way. Think of social media as just one other way to leverage your audience who is on the go.
Would you like to learn more about mobile strategies? Contact us and we will help you stay connected.
Matt Adam
Matt Adam serves as Executive Vice President & Chief Talent Strategist for NAS. Having spent 20 years as a recruitment strategy consultant for a diverse client roster, Matt has worked with a wide variety of organizations to develop effective recruitment marketing strategies that define and shape an organization’s recruiting efforts in today's interactive marketplace. He is a featured speaker at various organizations including SHRM, CUPA and NAHCR.
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