Social recruiting has been the spotlight trend for years in the staffing and recruiting industry. Will it remain the same in 2012? It could be, but there is one trend that is on everyone’s radar for the New Year: Mobile Recruiting.

The world is now wrapped up in mobile. Job seekers are rapidly using mobile devices to scour the job boards in search of that perfect position. Mobile staffing is one trend that is growing rapidly in the staffing industry, and it will only continue to accelerate for the year 2012.

How Job Seekers Are Using Mobile

According to the infographic found at Mashable.com, states that 77% of job seekers are using mobile apps for their job hunt. That is HUGE. And, it makes perfect sense. Mobile is more practical. Almost everybody has constant access to their phone. Instead of lugging around a hefty laptop or sitting in front of a desktop all day, mobile devices allow for on-the-go easy access. Mobile allows them to job search anytime, anywhere; opening more gates and opportunities to land their dream job. Job Seekers are quickly notified about job leads and can respond almost instantly. Mobile job apps are a great way to engage potential candidates using both smartphones and tablets.

What this Means for Employers

Mashable.com references a study conducted by Potentialpark about the rise of mobile job apps. “The study found that only 7% of employers have a mobile version of their career website and only 3% have a mobile job app.” So, 77% of job seekers are using mobile apps to get a jumpstart on their job hunt, but only 10% of employers have tapped into this market? There’s only one question that comes to mind: Why haven’t more employers tapped into this huge opportunity?

For one thing, mobile staffing is still in its early stages. There are many risks with malware and security protection. Companies are still trying to figure out how to tailor this phenomenon to their recruiting strategies. According to talentminded.com, companies such as PepsiCo and AT&T have seen real results in their mobile recruiting procedures.

Another reason is that there is still a large amount of debate about what direction mobile recruiting solutions are taking, and nobody has yet to agree on a clear definition. “Potentialpark predicts that more companies will adapt to mobile recruiting for this upcoming year. In a separate Potentialpark survey of 150 employers, 75% of respondents stated they were planning to have either a job app or mobile career website by September 2012 (mashable.com).”

What Employers Can Do Now

If your company does not have a mobile app developed, don’t panic. There are still plenty of methods to use to incorporate mobile for your business in the meantime.

You need to develop a mobile staffing solution. Remember, just because you incorporate calling, it does NOT mean you have a mobile strategy. Today, mobile does not only stand for a phone call anymore. It is a channel of communication. You can now text, read emails, access the web, view videos, and participate in social networks all on one device. It has been one of the most influential and practical channel of communication, so it is important that recruiters use it to their advantage. Mobile is great strategy for filling location specific assignments. It can leverage texting alerts strategies. Use it to navigate through the ATS system more effectively. It is a great tool to source candidates effectively and easily.

For recruiting new talent, it is critical that your website can be viewed easily on a mobile screen. Remember, this is where 77% of job seekers are going to find open positions. Your career site is the first place job seekers will see; ensure that it is easy to find, appealing, and user friendly. Any email your company sends out should be able to be viewed through mobile and remains in correct format. Integrate mobile with all of your social networks. If you incorporate recruiting videos, mobile is a great opportunity for new candidates to reach your YouTube channel on the fly and in a relatively effortless manner. Job Seekers can now search with their mobile device, so optimized SEO is still a necessity. Recruiters can incorporate paid search based on location based demographics in their recruiting strategy.

There is one thing that is for certain; mobile staffing is here to stay. Since society is rapidly embracing the power of the mobile world, the amount of users is bound to increase. Even Eric Schmidt from Google said in 2005, “Mobile will be the next great phenomenon”. Well, it is seven years later, and he is right on target.

Want to learn more about Mobile Recruiting? Download out Mobile eBook!

What do you think? Do you think mobile recruiting will be a game changer in the recruiting and staffing industries? What do you think companies will produce in order to reach their target candidates?

Megan Curth is the Marketing Coordinator of Automated Business Designs, Inc., software developer of Ultra-Staff staffing software for the staffing and direct hire industry. Ultra-Staff is a staffing software business solution with components for front office, back office and the web. Megan’s email address is megan.curth@abd.net or for more information on Ultra-Staff go to www.abd.net