Use of mobile phone apps to apply for jobs has picked up in the last one year, surveyed companies said 10-20 per cent of the job applications they received in 2014-15 came from mobile phones reports TimesJobs
April 27, 2015: Nearly half of the surveyed companies said 10-20 per cent of the job applications they received in 2014-15 came from mobile phones, not desktops or laptops. The figure was 0-10 per cent in 2013-14.
The change comes with a jump in smartphone sales. With almost the entire working population of India accessible on mobile phones, 65 per cent organizations have now built a comprehensive mobile recruitment strategy. This is 10 per cent higher than last year, shows the TimesJobs.com survey.
Nearly 85 per cent of online operations by jobseekers have shifted from PCs to smartphones in the past two to three years. Acknowledging this shift, 25 per cent organizations have mobile apps for candidates. Hospitality, tourism, airlines, recruitment and placement agencies are the leaders in this space.
Nearly 45 per cent of the surveyed organizations said they received 10-20 per cent applications through mobile phones in 2014-15. In addition, it is also opening opportunities in mobile app development and digital recruitment, further spurring hiring and demand across the IT & Telecom spaces.
“With search engines giving higher rankings to mobile friendly websites – mobile-based recruitment strategies are quickly evolving in India Inc.On the other hand, Jobseekers have already started to search and apply for jobs using mobile mail, SMS, apps, and mobile networking." says Vivek Madhukar, COO, TimesJobs.com
"TimesJobs.com was a pioneer in mobile recruitment solutions with the ‘Jobs on SMS’ service in 2006. Quickly followed by its mobile site m.timesjobs.com in 2008. Culminating in mobile apps for iPhone, Android and Java phones. These mobile first initiatives have helped to increase traffic share through mobile on TimesJobs.com by 300% in the last one year." states Momshad Khan, Head of Mobility, TimesJobs.com
Despite the big shift in jobseeker behavior,nearly 35 per cent of the organizations surveyed remain apprehensive about implementing mobile device-based recruitments, including several big IT, telecom and consulting services companies, showed the survey. There has been a change in sentiment though, as last year up to 45 per cent of the surveyed organizations expressed anxiety over mobile recruitment strategy.
While 60% employers feel mobile recruitment is an easy and quick technique only 25% organizations have a career section in their mobile apps. While 32% organizations want to implement mobile recruitment in the next six months, only 25% are planning to target candidates through mobile in the next year.
"Mobile based hiring solutions are an inevitability and will be a core part of recruitment strategies in times ahead, since it not only removes barriers of availability and accessibility but also provides connections with the much larger passive candidate and casual jobseeker base." adds Madhukar
Leaders in mobile recruitment state that apprehensions and challenges can be overcome once one understands how the target audience interacts with the company on mobile and by ensuring simple and effective mobile strategy implementation. It also helps to take a look at what percentage of jobs are viewed on mobile through career sites like TimesJobs – and consider leveraging their knowledge by partnering with them for this.
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About TimesJobs.com:
TimesJobs.com, India’s leading career and recruitment portal, is one of the best-selling online ventures of the Times of India Group. Conceived and launched in 2004, TimesJobs.com currently has a candidate database of more than 20 million registered job-seekers across levels and functions who clock-in over 40 million page views a month.
TimesJobs.com is positioning itself as an engagement platform and knowledge resource for insights, information, analysis and opinions on the recruitment market. Well-known for its product innovations and unmatched deliverables, TimesJobs.com has pioneered the platforms of:
– JobBuzz.in for candidate engagement with company reviews and ratings
– TechGig.com as India’s leading IT network for careers, coding and competitions
– StepAhead for career assessment and enhancement services
– RecruiteX as the definitive demand and supply recruitment index
– The TJinsite knowledge series and a lot more.
TimesJobs.com serves a corporate customer base of more than 25,000 clients from across the globe. It has been serving clients like HCL, IBM, Yamaha, Godrej, HSBC, Mahindra, Bajaj Allianz, TCS and Thomson Reuters to name a few.