The Truth About Mobile Job Seekers: It’s Not What You Think

164022242 (1)The mobile technology explosion is no longer just for email, texting, social networking, entertainment or shopping. According to Pew Internet, 57 percent of American adults use their cell phone to go online, and research firm comScore says that more than half of all digital time is spent on a mobile device. Smartphone and tablet users now expect to do nearly everything they formerly did on a desktop computer on their mobile device.

Yet most companies still don’t have mobile application capabilities. According to a recent iMomentous report, 36 percent of Fortune 500 companies have a mobile career section on their site, but only 5 percent have mobile apply capabilities. At the same time, a study we conducted at Simply Hired found that 84 percent of job seekers believe employers should have mobile-friendly sites, and 85 percent said they would apply from a mobile device if they could.

PREMIUM CONTENT: December 2013 Jobs Report Digest

While publishers, entertainment companies and social networks have quickly jumped on the mobile bandwagon in order to retain and gain users, the staffing industry has been slow to adapt. The limitations of existing technologies are not the only reason — companies also have some misconceptions about mobile users. Simply Hired decided to take a look at the data on our 30 million job seekers to find out the facts. You might be surprised at what we found. 

  • Mobile job seeking is a common activity. More than 30 percent of Simply Hired’s user traffic occurs on mobile devices, and we expect that number to grow to 50 percent by 2015.  The time to start a mobile recruiting solution is now.
  • There is no dominant device or platform: 75 percent of mobile usage occurs on smartphones, and 25 percent on tablets; 44 percent of users are on Android devices, 29 percent on iOS, and 26 percent on Windows.  Recruiting apps are not the way to go — a mobile friendly site in HTML 5 will reach more users.
  • There is no dominant category or keyword for mobile job seeking, and mobile behavior is similar to that of desktop. Of the Top 10 most frequently searched ONET job categories on Simply Hired, only “transportation and materials moving” is unique to mobile (i.e. Top 10 in mobile but not desktop) and only “arts, design entertainment, sports and media” is unique to desktop (i.e., top 10 in desktop but not mobile). People are looking for your jobs on mobile, no matter what business your company is in or what kind of roles you need to fill.
  • Mobile users are even more engaged with your jobs than desktop users. Our data shows that they click on 60 percent more jobs, spend 27 percent more time looking at jobs, spend 25 percent more time in each session, and are 30 percent more likely to have a second session within a week. When you reach the mobile job seeker, you’re creating another opportunity for engagement, thereby strengthening your employer (and company) brand.

The data don’t lie. Mobile job seeking is here to stay, and it’s only going to grow. A top candidate could easily skip over your job because it was too difficult to apply on mobile. Whether you’re just tipping your toe in the water by advertising your jobs on mobile, partnering with another company for a mobile recruiting service, or you’re ready to build a fully functional mobile application system, the time to start is now.

MORE: Social media tips for better hires

 

James Beriker

James Beriker
James Beriker is CEO of Simply Hired.

James Beriker

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5 Responses to “The Truth About Mobile Job Seekers: It’s Not What You Think”

  1. […] The truth about mobile job seekers: It’s not what you think […]

  2. […] This article was first published by The Staffing Stream in 2013. […]

  3. […] The truth about mobile job seekers: It’s not what you think […]

  4. […] The mobile technology explosion is no longer just for email, texting, social networking, entertainment or shopping. And while publishers, entertainment companies and social networks have quickly jumped on the mobile bandwagon in order to retain and gain users, the staffing industry has been slow to adapt, writes James Beriker, CEO of Simply Hired. Beriker reviews data on its 30 million job seekers in regards to mobile job seeking in a new post in The Staffing Stream. To read the post, click here. […]

  5. […] The mobile technology explosion is no longer just for email, texting, social networking, entertainment or shopping.  […]

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