Chris Bogh |
There's a lot of talk about mobile recruitment at the moment, but equally there is a lot of confusion as a result of software providers 'jumping on the mobile band wagon' and offering various degrees of mobile solutions. So let's dispel some of the myths here, and bring some clarity to the subject of mobile.
Let's start by understanding more about mobile and who it is for... The first thing to realise when looking at the various mobile solutions on the market is that the technology has been created for different reasons and for different users involved in the recruitment process, from Candidates and Hiring Managers to the Recruiter.
Everyone in this process would benefit greatly from being able to operate remotely on a mobile / tablet device, but without doubt the greatest initial need is to cater for your candidates and to offer them a 100% mobile friendly solution.
Currently there are several ways for recruiters to tick the 'we have a mobile solution' box, but the difficulty lies in understanding how they compare when there are so many varieties of mobile solution.
Mobile Apps
In this context, there are two definitions of Apps:
Native Apps. These are apps which are downloaded and installed on the phone or tablet. They are often feature rich, fast and necessary if there is a specific purpose for them, or if they can achieve things that mobile friendly web pages can't. But realistically for recruitment, to date there is not a lot they can do that you can't do in a mobile browser and that includes access to you phones camera and location (GPS). Plus to develop an App you need to consider creating one for every mobile operating platform and device, which is very costly.
Some might argue that instant (push) notifications for jobs alerts etc. are one of the biggest benefits of Native Apps, but these significantly eat into a mobile's battery life, and arguably candidates are unlikely to install an App for every company they are interested in.
Web Apps. These are basically mobile friendly websites that are designed to look and feel like Native Apps. They are often built by 3rd parties as standalone 'mobile friendly' websites that link and synchronise with the core recruitment system. As such they typically offer limited functionality to the user such as simple registrations and job applications.
Note: It is much more important to have a mobile friendly website than a Native App, as most candidates will search for their jobs on their smartphone or tablet via Google or job boards and end up at your website long before they consider installing an App. By doing this you instantly cater for every web-enabled mobile device.
So what is the problem then? Native Apps and 3rd Party Mobile Websites (Web Apps) are mostly used by providers of Recruitment Software and Applicant Tracking Systems who have had to create them so that they can have a mobile offering. Client server solutions have had no choice and most web based systems aren't cross browser compatible and built for mobile from the ground up.
The problem with 3rd party 'bolt on' solutions is that they are separate to the main career website and your recruitment systems. For candidates specifically, the biggest issue here is that they receive an incoherent solution. For example, a company might have one supplier for their recruitment system or ATS, another for their website and content management system (CMS) and another for their mobile pages or Apps. Solutions built in this way, without synergy, are naturally going to offer limited functionality, inconsistencies in design and process and a poor candidate experience.
Eploy's web portal technology
Over the last few years, Eploy have invested over £3/4 Million into an exciting web portal, which is completely different to Native Apps or 3rd party mobile sites because it gives the user a full desktop experience whilst on the move. Via Eploy's unique web platform, recruiters have full mobile access to Eploy's Recruitment System. Candidates and hiring managers have access to powerful recruitment portals that are not simply 'dumbed down' versions for mobile. This enables them to manage every aspect of their career or recruitment drive on their smartphone or tablet device.
Importantly from a user perspective this gives all the different recruitment applications, i.e. career portal, recruitment management system (ATS), hiring manager portal, a consistent look and feel creating a more unified and fluid user experience for connecting users. For the recruiter, all information is centrally stored, tracked (including social media channels) and reported at source.
Only Eploy provides this gateway for companies to centrally manage multiple recruitment activities, databases and all candidate touch points, anytime, anywhere, any device.