Job seekers going mobile

Prospective employers will miss most of the mobile job seekers at recruitment pages if their company websites are not mobile-friendly.

While job-hunting mostly happens online, it has also become more mobile. Mobile browsing of online contents amounted globally to 23 percent of all online browsing last year. Mobile browsing will trump desktop by 2017, says a new report by Adobe Digital.

Over 40 percent of the visitors at the Finnish Monster.fi job search website use mobile devices for browsing.

“Quite a few companies still have to work on the functionality of their recruitment pages,” says Marja Pylkkänen from Monster.fi.

A dysfunctional website means lost opportunities, says Pylkkänen. The conversion rate of recruitment websites, or the share of job applications sent via the website, is about 8 percent with desktop devices but only 1.5 percent with mobile devices. The figures are based on the research material of Appcast, an American company specialising in online recruitment advertising.

“Mobile devices keep people active, which is why you should really consider the contents of your recruitment pages,” Pylkkänen says.

Make it mobile-friendly

Responsive websites adapt automatically for mobile browsers. But responsiveness alone will not necessarily be enough to reach people. Long texts are an example of typical mistakes.

“In mobile contents, you have to keep it short,” Pylkkänen says.

It is also important to check how the online job application form works at the company recruitment pages. According to a research by Appcast in the US, application rates drop by 75 percent if an application takes more than 15 minutes to complete. The behaviour of 250,000 job seekers was analysed for the research.

“Is it necessary to ask every possible question in the application form? Or would it be enough to provide basic information or CV or even just express your interest?” Pylkkänen asks.

When looking for top experts, it may be enough just to get their permission to contact them.

Pylkkänen advises to use various types of contents in mobile recruiting. Videos have gained popularity in recent years. According to a recent study by ReelSEO, an American online video marketing company, over 70 percent of customers will buy a product after seeing its product video in the online store. With a mobile-friendly recruitment portal it could be possible to achieve similar numbers with job seekers.

Mobile makes it easier

Mobile browsing has also increased in the subsidiaries of Monster and Alma elsewhere in Europe. In Estonia, the number of mobile job applications has doubled in a year and is now 6.7 percent of all applications.

“We believe that mobile browsing will become the standard and also more simple than so far. Sending your CV, for example, will no longer be necessary but we have to find easier ways to let job seekers express their interest,” says Andres Junkur from CV-Online.

Czech LMC s.r.o has recently launched a new mobile application. Using location information, the app recommends vacancies in the area based on the address provided by the job seeker.

“Recruitment portals Jobs.cz and Prace.cz will also be made fully responsive as mobile browsing will be the number one channel for active job hunters. We will also keep an eye on conversion rates,” says Milan Jasny from LMC in the Czech Republic.

Poslovi Infostud is the portal of Alma’s associated company in Serbia, and 35 percent of their visitors use mobile devices. This year the number is expected to grow to 50 percent. The local Android app will be added with a new feature that allows you to directly apply for a job.

In Croatia, social media is particularly exploited in recruitment.

“We have also developed the responsiveness of our portal rather than launching new mobile apps, since Croatia is a small country where people get easily bored with mobile apps,” says Igor Žonja from Tau Online.