Can you hear me now?
A friend recently emailed me the following question:
Why do you think mobile recruiting isn’t getting the traction which you and I anticipated years ago?
My answer was immediate, which tends to be the best kind of answer. Here it is:
It probably boils down to:
- Disparate technologies. Your career center might be mobile, but your ATS isn’t.
- Jumping through hoops. Employers want job seekers to answer questions and fill out forms to apply. None of which is conducive to mobile.
- Demand. Employers aren’t clamoring for it, so vendors aren’t delivering.
- Legacy. Systems built to support applicants were born when newspapers still ruled the world.
Evolution is a challenge to say the least. It’s a classic case of consumers being ahead of the market. I’m hopeful everything will catch up eventually … but I’m not holding my breath.
A recent study by upstart iMomentous helps clarify the challenges employers have embracing mobile, and it highlights that 90 percent of the Fortune 500 fail to achieve all levels of mobiledom.
I fear many employers will continue to ignore mobile because the big brands are, which may well just go round and round in a self-defeating cycle.
There’s no question there are some companies and vendors doing cool things around mobile in the recruiting space – there have always been cool companies doing cool things in recruiting.
But for change to really happen employers have to pick up where vendors are laying down. I, for one, hope employers hear the mobile revolution calling soon … and start picking it up.
