Dive Brief:

• Recently published research Job Seeker Behavior, conducted by Madgex, a global SaaS firm in the media brands and recruitment industry, suggests that even though candidates are increasingly using mobile devices to search for work, they don’t trust them. 70% of the job seekers they polled have never applied for a job using a mobile device.

• All job seekers turn to multiple devices when researching companies, searching for job openings and applying for positions, but they are also bombarded with advertisements. In the study, almost half of the participants said they spend around 40 minutes for each job search session.

• The biggest challenge for job seekers? According to the study, it’s being able to seamlessly and safely switch from one device to the other, so that candidates can save information to go back to later to complete applications. Otherwise, they move on to other activities because they don’t trust leaving their information exposed. They also don’t like the way information is displayed and managed on mobile devices. 

Dive Insight:

While 100% of the job seekers polled for the Madgex study were accustomed to using a variety of mobile devices, many wanted to defer application until later on.

Two-thirds of the job seekers in the Madgex study had never applied for work using their mobile alone. The reasons candidates were hesitant to apply for jobs using only mobile devices included zero confidence in the device to successfully apply, the limited size of mobile device screens, lack of a useful keyboard, and not being able to see the original job advertisement when preparing resumes and cover letters.

What can recruiters learn from this study? Mobile devices have certain limitations, so online job boards need to include simple mobile-friendly interfaces to make it easier for candidates to apply for work using this media.