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Recruitment, like many other aspects of our careers, is increasingly taking place on smartphones and tablets. Continuing to pursue a desktop-centric approach will result in companies losing talent to mobile equipped competitors.
This is especially true of passive candidates, who are more likely to notice a potential employer on social media first, which depends on them consuming your content. With mobiles acting as the primary social tool, recruitment – both passive and active – has to move onto a smaller screen.
Challenges Facing Mobile Recruitment
Only 25% of the workforce are actively looking for new jobs. Another 15% are quietly, but not actively looking for work. Active job seekers are more likely to want to search and apply for jobs on the go. Making it easier to apply on a lunch break or while commuting.
However, not all can complete the process on a smartphone. Some applications need a resume and cover letter/email. Others allow candidates to apply through LinkedIn, Indeed or another recruitment platform. Anything that introduces friction reduces the chance a candidate will return to an application on another device.
Right now, this disconnect between how people search and how they apply for jobs is dragging down the number who apply for jobs on mobile devices.
How to Increase Click-to-Apply Rates
- Keep it simple
Candidates aren’t going to have a resume on their phone. You have to make recruitment as frictionless as e-commerce.
Approach with a marketing mindset. Test on various devices. Ensure the job ads are all mobile optimized (which is essential for keeping the Google Algorithm Gods happy) and wherever possible give candidates the option to complete the application on a mobile devices.
- Keep Job Descriptions Short, But Not Too Short
The folks behind Appcast.io did some research into the length of a job Ad and the resulting click-to-apply rates.
Candidates need context, so ads that are between 170 – 250 words (1,000 – 2,000 characters) only achieved an application rate of 6.7%. Anything below 1,000 characters saw this drop to 3%.
Adverts above 10,000 characters (2,000+ words) also achieved 6.7%.
But the Baby Bear porridge of adverts is those between 4,000 and 5,000 characters, which resulted in an application rate of 15%.
Job titles, much like the length of article headlines, also had a positive impact on CTA, with 50 – 60 characters being the optimal length.
- Time is also a crucial factor in this process
Data strongly suggests that the cost per application can be reduced 250% by reducing how long it takes to apply from 15 to 5 minutes. This is crucial on mobiles, since the smaller the screen, the less time people like to spend looking at a device.
Longer adverts, time-consuming application processes and those not formatted for mobile devices cost more, take more time and deter candidates. Think like a time rushed candidate the next time you publish a job ad. If you can apply easily on any device, find it through social and mobile search, then so can they.
Social Paul
A recruiter who knows how to convert talent by using various tactics on Social Media. Follow Paul here! If you are interested to learn more about Candarine contact us today!
