Yesterday, I got a phone call from a college student enrolled in an intersession HRIS college class at UCO University. Their professor assigned each student homework which was to watch 2 of my webcasts in our archives. He called because he couldn’t get my archive and learning management software to show videos on his iPhone screen. Sadly, my current LMS software doesn’t have this capacity. These are the types of things that are important to the younger and mobile audience of new blog readers I am engaging.
We Now Live in the World of the Multi-Screen
As if recruiting wasn’t complex enough, we are now challenging with engaging candidates not only using mobile, tablets, laptops desktop computers but now simultaneously.
Google Analytics tracks not just clicks and visits to my website, but they also track the device that is being used to view. In real time I watch a map that shows me the pages people are visiting and the location where the visits are originating. It’s a cool moving heat map of sorts that’s slightly addictive and mesmerizing, but the real value here is the graph that shows the devices used to visit my site.
If you don’t have access to the Google Analytics and web visitors of your careers and recruiting site, this is something you must have access to today. The good news is that it’s free. The bad news is that it might be hard to get access to Google Analytics. IT departments tend to be stingy, but I assure you, it’s a simple process to add to your career sites and online job postings. Google Analytics drives most of my content and strategy decisions as my site’s past web and visitor traffic is the greatest predictor as what the future might bring.
Your Career Site’s Google Analytics Tell a Story of Mobile Job Seeking
Below is a screenshot of a typical morning and daytime visitors of the blog. Keep in mind this is real time data that I’m screen grabbing for you to see. During the workday, I regularly have all my visitors viewing my blog and site solely from their desktop and laptop computers. My assumption is that during the workday we are tied to our laptop as we rush from conference calls to phone interviews and other workplace meetings.
This mobile use and engagement trend I was seeing by my blog readers who are predominantly HR and recruiting. It’s called multi-screen. Earlier this year when we redesigned the blog, I paid special attention for the need to have a site that renders based on your size of the screen. Experience matters for readers as well as candidates, and I want them to digest and enjoy our blog content in the manner and means that works for my audience. I hope you feel the same way about your job seeker.
During the evening hours of the blog, it’s not uncommon to have over 75% of my views coming from tablets and mobile. My readers surf while multi-screening watching tv, using their iPhone to connect on social networks or a quick Google search using Siri. Earlier today, I asked my social media followers and friends to view my blog with their tablets and mobile phones. The graphics above are screenshots taken as a result of that request.
Mobile & Tablet Recruitment Strategies
Mobile recruiting and engagement with job seekers is a form of recruitment marketing. It’s about having a channel or resource available to your target audience, in this case the job seeker in a manner that resonates with them, prompts them to apply or join your talent community. These resources and channels made available before the job seeker asks Siri or hits Google Search is called the performance of now.
Research supports my own experience with mobile and tablet visitors for job seekers. Peak usage of job seekers visiting job board, Indeed.com happens at 3 AM before the employee’s work day even begins. The mobile activity of job seekers increases again after work and before they go to bed.
The rise of the multi-screen means that recruiters need to really consider how their target job seekers are using mobile and other products, what resources they are needing and what is the best way to gain a competitive advantage that speaks to the talent you are most interested in reaching.
