5 Reasons Why Mobile Recruiting and Mobile Access to Your CRM Are Important

by Bullhorn May. 13th, 2013

Category: Industry Trends & Insights Tips, Tricks, and How-Tos

2013 is a big year for mobile, and not only because global mobile data traffic grew by 70% in 2012, but because 2013 is the year mobile-connected devices will exceed the world’s population, according to Cisco’s recent Global Mobile Data Traffic Forecast Update. Yes, that’s right. In 2013 there will be more mobile phones in the world than people. Can you believe it?

It was no surprise, then, when Bullhorn’s 2013 North American Staffing and Recruiting Trends Report revealed that 83.9% of staffing professionals said they considered mobile access to their recruiting CRM to be important, 53% of respondents saying it was “extremely important.”

After gathering this feedback from over 1,848 staffing professionals, I decided to explore the benefits of mobile access as perceived by recruiters and salespeople in the staffing industry, and here is what I learned:

Job Seekers Are Embracing Mobile Recruiting: Seven out of ten job seekers search for jobs on mobile devices, according to Simply Hired’s 2013 Mobile Recruiting Outlook Report. Mobile accessibility provides privacy from corporate firewalls and convenience as it allows job seekers to search for jobs on their lunch breaks and/or during their commute. Mobile recruiting opens up new opportunities for employers to communicate with active and passive candidates, and recruiting agencies that don’t put a mobile strategy in place will quickly fall behind.
Millennials Are Heavy Users: By 2018, Millennials will make up 50 percent of the workforce, and they are known to be very mobile- and tech-savvy individuals. This is something that businesses just can’t ignore. Millennials currently make up a quarter of the U.S. population and over 90% of them own a mobile phone. Make sure your content is mobile-friendly and you have access to their information while you are on-the-go. The goal is to make it easy for Millennials to communicate with you using a medium that they perhaps prefer.
Mobile Is A Highly Action-Oriented Medium: If you think about it, when you’re using the internet on your phone, you are hardly ever just passively browsing. You are typically using it to complete an action. This is why companies should make their sites easy to view and use on a small screen in order to optimize the experience for the user. Rumor has it Google is going to start giving mobile optimized sites higher preference in its search algorithm so it’s not something you’re going to want to skip!
Mobile Creates a Sense of Urgency: Whether you want to admit it or not, when your phone buzzes telling you that you have a message, chances are you check your phone almost instantly. In fact, 97% of text messages are opened in the first five minutes after they are sent. Mobile recruiting technologies can help you reach candidates faster than other mediums. Having mobile access to your ATS/CRM also gives your recruiters the ability to enter in candidate information instantly, as well as receive information faster than using any other medium.
Mobile Is Convenient: I’m guessing most of you have already handed back your landline phones and are now using your cell phone to stay connected. Why? Because your mobile phone can travel with you everywhere you go. It’s convenient. It is said that 78% of U.S. email users will also access their emails via mobile by 2017, according to Forrester Research. The convenience of having mobile access to your ATS/CRM means you can be more prepared with up-to-the-second data for client meetings. It also means you can follow up with candidates or clients right after you meet with them.