Make your smartphone your new recruitment BFF

Smartphone recruitment is a cinch. Oodles of new tech and apps have bent the rules of the hiring game for the better, though some are still stuck in their old ways...

It seems like two minutes since recruiters were tied to desks and chronically overweight desktops. Jeez – some still know their way around a lever arch file (though we're not sure why they need to)!

That little black rectangle in your pocket has really shaken things up for recruiters. It can pretty much do everything a desktop can – and more!

Even candidates are getting in on the action. They expect to go through their entire application process on their smartphone so you better get on board!

Here's how you can start taking a smarty-pants approach to smartphone recruitment and start getting the best results:

Smartphone recruitment for smarty-pants

There's a whole stack of reasons to set up your smartphone as a hub for all your recruitment magic.

Data management

Get hold of all your data and details on-the-go using apps like Evernote or Dropbox.

Use apps like TeuxDeux to get on top of your day-to-day duties. Or, just use your browser to access your fave recruitment software and manage everything from one place.

Social recruitment

Take a super-social approach to recruitment. Start by syncing your work emails with your phone to make sure you're smashing your comms at all times.

Use the likes of Skype and FaceTime to do video interviews. Or, just use your phone's camera to pre-record questions, post them out and vet candidates before you jot down an interview shortlist.

Download the big job apps – LinkedIn, Monster etc. – to get access to an all-you-can-eat buffet of candidates.

Keep in touch with applicants using these platforms, plus Facebook, Twitter and other social media apps. Or, get started with a li'l SMS-based communication.

Hitting the sweet spot with smartphone recruitment

To start acing smartphone recruitment, you'll need to make sure applicants can do their thang on their smartphones too. This means optimising all those recruitment bits and bobs for mobile. Here's how:

Figure out what applicants want

With a fancy applicant tracking system, you can find out what devices your candidates are using and when.

Use this data to decide how to format your stuff – for mobile, tablet or a combination – and when to hit your candidates up with new comms/job ads.

Optimise pages and forms

Try going through all your recruitment stuff on your phone to see whether it's properly tweaked for mobile.

Can you see all the info easily? Do your forms work/are they the right size to fit on the screen? Jot down any tricky bits and send them to your web dev team to get solved.

The challenge is to provide the same functionality and insight with fewer words and a simplified layout, so it might take a few tries.

Join the dots

Use a data conversion tool so that applicants can transfer data directly from their CV to your job app form without any fiddly touchscreen typing.

And, link your job ad to your social media channels so people can share the ad with people, even if the position isn't right for them.

That's the basics covered. Get stuck in and explore how to make smartphone recruitment work for you!