Big brand, online job boards have slowly begun their descent to becoming the next dinosaurs of the recruitment world. At least that’s what experts predict will happen soon. In the last decade, they’ve served their purpose well, but over time, their use has become overshadowed by new mobile technology. Recruiters must go where their best consumers are, and that looks to be wherever mobile devices happen to be.

A new mobile job board app for today's candidates

Howie Schwartz, co-founder and chief executive officer of Crowded, a newly launched sourcing and engagement platform for technology and business talent with over 60,000 candidates, advises that the human resource and recruitment industries are going through significant changes. Schwartz predicts that "mobile job board traffic will overtake desktop in the next 12 months." The thing is, "only around half of the desktop job applications are mobile friendly today, and only a handful are mobile first."

Earlier this year, Nicole Fallon Taylor, managing editor for Business News Daily, hinted at the concept of the increasing role that mobile technology has in the recruitment market. She pointed out how much things have changed just since the impact of the introduction of LinkedIn and online applications have had on recruitment processes. Now, we are looking at new ways for recruiters to connect with candidates, from mobile profiles to videos.

What's behind the increased use of mobile job search behavior?

One of the drivers of mobile job boards and other mobile recruitment tools is the speed at which candidates want to complete the job application process. "They [candidates] see opportunities everywhere, and if one employer takes too long to respond or makes it difficult to apply, they'll quickly pass it up for another job opening," Taylor said. 

Mobile job boards enable candidates to take their job search on-the-go, applying at times that are convenient for them. The simplicity of the process is very user friendly.

Another reason why candidates are turning to mobile apps for completing important life tasks is that consumers as a whole are glued to their mobile devices. The 2015 Deloitte Global Mobile Consumer Survey indicated that 93% of smartphone users look at their mobile phones within the first 3 hours of waking up every day. For younger candidates, ages 18-24, the number is closer to 97%.

What modern day recruiters should do now

Recruiters can leverage mobile job boards by focusing on efficient methods of gathering candidate information (resumes are not the answer), maintaining simpler application and interview processes, and using social networks to learn more about candidates.

Schwartz told HR Dive, “The key to increase your candidate apply rates is to think 'mobile first'.  This means having a simple, not at all daunting apply page that candidates can access and complete in under 5 minutes from their mobile device.”

He advises recruiters to, “optimize mobile-apply process and simplify it by getting rid of unnecessary questions (that you can ask in the actual interview later), doing away with the dreaded upload resume feature (which doesn't work directly on mobile), and by splitting your application questions across a few pages so that you don't overwhelm the candidate all at once.”

We will continue to watch the progression of mobile job applications and if any of the major job boards change their platforms to meet with the times.