Examples of solutions have primarily focused on the mobile optimization of a career site to some larger employers building apps. While these and other areas are a start (and a strategy for a mobile experience is a necessity), they alone do not meet the changing demands of job seekers.

Many companies now report seeing 20%+ of their career site traffic come from a mobile device (and even higher in several industries). At the current rate of acceleration, 2-3 years from now companies will get more traffic from mobile than they will get from desktop.

The issue up until now has been with the actual application process. There is one company that is changing that, and their name is Mobolt.

I recently had an opportunity with a client to implement a mobile job application process by partnering with Mobolt, and wanted to share the overall implementation experience and the great things their technology delivers.

Mobolt is using their years of industry expertise to completely change the applicant experience in the apply process. To accomplish they have implemented such common sense changes in the apply process such as eliminating non-required fields, pre-populating applicant data from LinkedIn profiles to save keystrokes, and most importantly removing the ATS log-in screen from the front of the process to reduce drop-offs. They do all of this and still submit a completed application into your ATS just as if the job seeker had completed the application on a desktop.

The changes have delivered dramatic results for the early adopters of their technology. Some of the early results show:

• Over 60%+ of the job seekers on mobile devices that start an application in their system, finish the application (a significant increase compared to a desktop user).
• Over 90% of the applicants that submit applications via mobile are unique applicants.
• Over 96% of the applicants that finish an application and complete the Mobolt survey rate the experience as ‘Easy’ to ‘Very Easy’.

The dilemma employers face today with changing technology is nothing new to Scott Garrett, Mobolt’s Co-Founder and Chief Sales Officer – who has been in the online employment space since 1997 when he was an early employee of CareerBuilder. I had a chance to connect with Scott to get his insights and compare today’s challenges to those 15+ years ago. He shared,

“Back then employers were shifting from paper resumes being mailed or faxed in to soft copy resumes arriving by email. We are seeing the same sort of shift now as employers address how best to accept applications from mobile device. The big difference now is that this shift is being pushed by jobseekers. Back in 1997 most jobseekers did not have computers in their homes so employers could take their time making the move to accepting soft copy resumes”.

What I like about Mobolt’s approach is unique to anything else I’ve seen in the market. Their solution is customizable, quick to implement, and can be implemented globally since it is capable of handling postings and applications in any language. Other benefits of Mobolt include:

• They can work with any applicant tracking system.
• Their technology dynamically creates the ATS apply process for every job.
• They can auto-create the ATS User Login, even if login setup includes a ‘Captcha’ code.
• There is an option to move the ATS login to the back of the application process in order to prevent drop-offs
• They offer a Mobile Employee Referral solution that works unbelievably well with a mobile apply process.

While a vendor doesn’t own the problem of fixing a complex job application process at your company, Mobolt is a great partner to brainstorm options and they have proven their solution delivers apply conversions at a much higher rate than from a desktop.

In case you are wondering, no – this is not a sponsored post, I do not have a business relationship with Mobolt, and have not been compensated for this post in any way. After 18 years of recruiting leadership and 6 years of writing articles on Talent HQ, there are very few companies (vendors) that I have worked with that I would promote and put my reputation on the line for, Mobolt is one of those companies.

Any company that believes a job seeker should be able to submit a completed application in an ATS in as close to 1 minute as possible in order to deliver the experience that people have grown to expect from mobile, gets my vote. Especially a company that delivers that, like Mobolt.

The Power of #Mobile #Job Applications The Power of #Mobile #Job Applications

This is the opportunity for us to not only gather key details for the position and build out a recruitment strategy, but we get to set the stage for the entire recruiting experience! Most managers do not hire that frequently, and given recruiting is what we do everyday, hiring managers rely on us (recruiters) to guide the process. So how do we do that? Here are some recommendations to get you started:

Before:

• Familiarize yourself with the hiring manager – how long have they been with the company, when was the last time they hired someone for his/her team, how long have they been in their current role?
• Review the position description. May sound like a no-brainer, but it is worth a reminder. Just because job titles are the same, does not mean the scope and responsibilities are.
• Identify the questions you need answered to ensure a successful search.
• Prepare your hiring manager for the discussion. Let them know the intent of the conversation and what questions you have.
• Review your plans from previous successful searches, including candidate profiles.

During:

• Identify not only the needs of the specific role, but look beyond that – what are the needs of the team, of the company? You can easily fill the chair, but the goal should be to fill multiple seats. Think bigger picture! Look for candidates that cannot only fit the role, but will fit the company so when the candidate is ready, they can easily move into other roles within the organization.
• Determine what sources and methods will be used to find and attract candidates – associations, colleges, groups, social media tools, networking, etc.
• Discuss company values, norms, behaviors. Are these represented in the job description? Determine how you will know if candidates possess characteristics that will ensure their success within the role, team and company.
• Outline roles and responsibilities. The hiring manager has a role in the process, what is it, what support do you need from him/her? Who will do what and when? When and how will the search be conducted? What is the method for candidate submittals and feedback?Who will interview, when, what format?
• Review your talent acquisition process from end to end, let the manager know what they can expect at each stage in the process and what you need from them. Agree on these expectations.

After:

• Provide your hiring manager with a summary of what was agreed to during the strategy session.
• Schedule a recurring recruitment discussions to evaluate the progress of the search.
• Recruit, recruit, recruit!

As with any process, planning is essential. Talent acquisition is no different. A solid recruiting strategy session is key to a successful search!

Setting the Stage for Recruiting Success Setting the Stage for Recruiting Success

A majority of recruiters I’ve talked to sit down in a strategy meeting with the hiring leader and spend 75% of their time talking about the skills needed for the role – and the dreaded job description. Of course a candidate must possess the basic skills to do the job, however the true fit is about aligning the right talents (soft skills) to the company and department culture, not to mention the motivational fit of the person ultimately.

If a hiring manager is driving the conversation and they focus on the job description and requirements, take a leadership position and challenge them by redirecting the focus of the meeting to get the information you need to be successful in recruiting and closing the “right” person. Examples to discuss include interviewing your hiring leaders about the culture of the group, strategic goals and finding out what sets their top employee apart from others on the team.

In your search are you looking to check a box to simply finalize the task? Is it most important to fill the slot or find the best fit?

As a recruiter you’re an impact player, every day you affect the future of a candidate and the direction of a department. Passionate recruiters take this role to heart coaching their leaders and candidates through the process, often driving a different hiring result than the leader initially thought they wanted. Taking time to put the right people in the right role, (it sounds cliché) is one of the most important things you will do in your day.

As emphasized in the book First Break all the Rules by Marcus Bukingham, the concept is simply that you don’t change people. Natural consequences might help a person decide to change, but most behavior change in adults occurs at the margin. Hire for what you need – don’t expect an introverted technologist to excel at sales and don’t expect a highly social networker to sit quietly at a cube for days on end drafting reports.

Challenge yourself to take the word talent seriously and consistently ask yourself if you have hired the best talent aligned to the position. After all, your role is to be a talent champion and the word talent is in talent acquisition for a reason.

The Word Talent is in Talent Acquisition for a Reason The Word Talent is in Talent Acquisition for a Reason

• #7 – Recruiting with Pinterest:  Gag.  Enough said.

• #6 – Mobile Recruiting:  Mobile recruiting is a hot topic and has been for a couple of years. What’s being defined as a fail is the pace at which it is being adopted and the integration within recruiting processes, the candidate experience and job applications. The good news is there is a tremendous amount of work taking place and companies like JIBE are paving the way.

• #5 – The Taleo Acquisition:  2012 was the year for acquisitions in the HR Tech space. Word on the street is the Taleo acquisition by Oracle can be defined as catastrophic.

• #4 – Social Recruiting: You can access “The Truth About Social Recruiting Headlines” for some of the statistics we gathered earlier this year. Companies like find.ly and Cachinko are 2 examples that have been mentioned as social recruiting losers.

• #3 - Talent Communities:  Pick the buzzword from network to community, the concept is often mis-labeled, mis-classified, and isn’t well defined.  Just ask job seekers for their opinion.  One group recently shared, “Talent Communities, my A$$. Figure out the basics and deliver on those. Signing up for a job alert isn’t the definition of community”.

• #2 – BranchOut: 7 months ago BranchOut received an additional $25 million in funding and was boasting 25 million members. Fast forward to today, the app has plummeted to usage between 1.9 million to 2.8 million monthly active users – from 13.5 million earlier this year. The comedy behind this is some of the reporting that called BranchOut the LinkedIn killer just earlier this year.

• #1 – The Facebook Job Board:  A few weeks ago I published “The Facebook Job Board Debacle” referring to the social jobs partnership so I won’t rehash it. I’ll simply add a quote from a conversation last week with a Fortune 500 recruiting leader who stated, “The 5 organizations behind one of the biggest recruiting fails in the past 5 years should be spanked, and spanked hard”.

Have other examples to share? Feel free to email them in, or leave them in comments. Cheers to 2013!

The Top 7 Recruiting Fails For 2012 The Top 7 Recruiting Fails For 2012

LinkedIn continues to be cited as one of the top sites for sales professionals, recruiters, and job seekers. Is the site continuing its’ explosive growth? LinkedIn recorded 4.2 billion professionally oriented searches on the platform in 2011 and is on pace to surpass 5.3 billion in 2012. Additionally, they’ve added 1,000 employees this year. Yeah, that’s growth.

We’ve been working with the Minnesota Recruiters community on publishing some great content for job seekers and recruiters. 2 of the most recent posts include 25 social media tips from Recruiters and 50 job search tips. The focus for this article is LinkedIn and goes beyond the basic tips of using a professional photo.. Here are 29 LinkedIn tips everyone should use:

1. Looking for a promotion or ideas to advance in your current role? Use LinkedIn to search for people and titles of the jobs you’re interested in. This is great research for what skills you’ll need to obtain.
2. Use the CardMunch app for growing your network and LinkedIn connections. It’s quick and easy – use it for every person you meet and business card you receive.
3. Use spellcheck. As Steve Levy told me in a recent call, you don’t want the word moron added to your skills inventory. A great example of this:  Are you the “Director of Pubic Relations”, or the “Director of Public Relations”.
4. Create a more compelling summary. Many LinkedIn profiles lack information in the summary which is near the top of the profile. This is a quick way to stand out from others on the site.
5. Take initiative beyond connecting. Don’t be afraid to ask for a call, a meeting, an informational meeting, or interview .
6. Write and include a creative headline in your profile.
7. Stay up-to-date with your network and use the site often. Don’t just engage with your network when you need something. Give back, frequently.
8. There are now more than 2.6 million company pages. Use the company search function and use the results to research and connect with employees from target companies and follow their pages.
9. Save time by signing up for job alerts – and let the site do the searching for you.
10. Clearly articulate the value and impact you have made in current and past positions.
11. Include specific information throughout your profile (context of roles, location, direct contact info, etc.).
12. Connect your LinkedIn profile from other sites you use (twitter, facebook, blogs, about.me, etc.).
13. Keep the skills section of your profile updated throughout the year.
14. Make an impact by sending personalized connection requests, don’t just send a blank or template-filled request. Feel free to practice by sending me a connection request, and yes, I’ll personally reply to your message.
15. Your LinkedIn profile should nearly mirror your Resume. State statistics and accomplishments.
16. Ensure your profile is 100% complete.
17. Provide and ask for endorsements and recommendations – use the functionality for both.
18. Update your status frequently (at least 2-3 times per month), share news, provide industry insights, etc.
19. In addition to the job search functionality, search for jobs within the groups you are a member of.
20. Know your value proposition and what you deliver to your network – or a company.
21. Create your own URL for your profile.
22. Include your LinkedIn profile URL in all online communication, especially your e-mail auto signature.
23. Focus on building your network before you need it. Identify and connect with people in your target industry with the right number of connections.
24. Understand the impact of search engine optimization and the use of keywords. Create a profile that takes advantage of the sites’ algorithms.
25. Research other people in your field with some other positions and look at how they’ve done their profiles. Read their recommendations and get competitive. Think like a recruiter, a researcher, or sales professional.
26. Use your LinkedIn reach with your twitter followers – with the “share update” check box in the status area.
27. Use the back links feature within your profile. Link to your company site, blog, twitter account, etc.
28. Want to know who’s talking about your favorite topics? Switch the search bar at the top right of your screen to “Updates” to find out. This is a great way to build new connections and find out what people in your industry are sharing. LinkedIn signal
29. Use the tags feature with your connections. The tagging feature is comparable to circles on Google +. This will help you categorize your connections and be able to quickly access and communicate with the right audience.

College graduates are the fastest growing demographic on the site (with over 20 million students and recent grads. Globally LinkedIn continues to add 2 new members every second and has 75,000 developers using APIs to create more tools and services (up from 60,000 earlier this year).

While the membership and network continue to grow, focus on the value of your network – that only you can create and deliver. Follow these 29 steps and you’ll quickly separate yourself from a majority of the sites’ users. Have other tips to share? Use the comments section.

29 LinkedIn Tips Everyone Should Use 29 LinkedIn Tips Everyone Should Use

By now you would have heard Facebook has launched a new jobs app, in partnership with 5 organizations. As you would guess, the experts and news organizations are stating LinkedIn should be scared as they have been “put on notice”.

After receiving some feedback and taking a look at the app, there are some substantial obstacles to overcome before LinkedIn ever has to worry. In fact, they are probably cheering at how bad this is.

The examples:

1. Search Results.  Boasting 1.7 million jobs posted, one would expect some jobs to show up in the search results. I conducted a basic search for a recruiter job in Minneapolis.  3 of the 5 tabs show no postings, while the other 2 show jobs that aren’t even close to a recruiter in Minneapolis.
2. The tabs.  Why would you force job seekers to maneuver between tabs and not integrate all of the job postings into one list of results?
3. Search relevance.  As mentioned the search results were lacking, but the relevance was worse. Ex. a document shredder in California was one of the top listings for the Recruiter in Minneapolis search. What’s even more interesting is some of the sites (tabs) show zero listings but if you go directly to their job board (not through the app) the listings are endless – and accurate relative to the search terms.
4. Apps within Apps. If you see a job you’re interested in you are forced to leave the facebook jobs app and either view that job on one of the web sites listed, or view it through the app which the listing came from – forcing job seekers to install and use yet another app.
5. Networking. You’d expect better from Facebook and industry leaders. How ironic is it you cannot even view your connections and how to get introduced information within the posting? I take that back, you can, if you leave the site and install one of the apps.

What’s laughable is the context of some of the articles and the headlines which show the success and the new 1.7 million job listings on Facebook – as if recruiters have flocked to the app to post their jobs in the past 24 hours.  The reality is every single job listed on the app was already posted somewhere else – and was searchable by job seekers.

Forget what I think, here is some feedback aggregated through other postings about the app:

• Tried a search and got the spinning wheel of death for over 5 minutes. What a piece of crap.
• A Database Error Occurred, Unable to connect to your database server using the provided settings, Filename: core/Loader.php, Line Number: 232
• Cool idea, poor execution. The first apply now button I hit was a broken link.
• Error message: Spark Notes Version –> I’m staying with LinkedIn
• Another band-aid on a bleeding wound.
• The application doesn’t do anything more than what other job boards already do. So what?

My recommendation for job seekers is to continue using top aggregator sites like Indeed.com where nearly all postings already are, and networking sites like LinkedIn which allow you to apply directly to a company without creating a profile in a database, or through another app.

The Facebook Job Board Debacle The Facebook Job Board Debacle

Recruiting Idol Recruiting Idol

Minutes ago at the Recruiting Trends Conference the 2012 Recruiting Award winners were announced live.

This marks the 2nd year for RecruitingAwards.com.  These awards remain unique based on the crowd-sourcing element compared to other awards in the industry.  Thousands of votes were submitted online from recruiting practitioners, Recruiting Trends conference attendees, and the panel of judges.  Rule-based scoring was used in the calculation, ensuring this didn’t turn into a popularity contest.  The competition was fierce in all 3 categories, and as example, in one of the award categories  there was only .38% score differential between 1st and 2nd place.

Congratulations to the 2012 Recruiting Award winners:

Talent Hunter
The nominees were all extreme hunters – and relentless sourcers. They are investigative in nature, and diligent in their approach. Finding a needle in the haystack is second nature to these recruiting pros. This years’ award winner is also a master at successful networking and building relationships with hiring managers, including board level executives. He advises, coaches and plays devil’s advocate to ensure the right candidate for the right job. He is highly regarded and trusted by his clients, peers and candidates. His work and dedication speaks volumes for the relationships he has established and continues to build. Agencies at this company are nearly non-existent given this individual’s work and results. Congratulations to Jason Wickremaratne from Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market, Inc., the winner of the 2012 Recruiter of the Year (Talent Hunter) award.

Recruiting Team of the Year
The competition for the recruiting organization of the year was extremely close! The winning team has built credibility for recruiting within their organization at a level hardly seen.  They completely re-engineered and restructured their approach to recruitment strategy, candidate management, and support to internal recruitment partners. Specifically, the newly created team rolled out a model that focuses on 4 recurring elements that are integral to an ongoing successful recruitment process: Innovation, Optimization, Collaboration, and Communication. The focus of the team has been on data-driven decisions and recommendations. As a result of success, the team leader has been invited to speak at several national conferences on best practices. Congratulations to Kara Yarnot and the SAIC recruiting team for being selected as the 2012 Recruiting Team of the Year.

Recruiting Innovation
The nominees for the innovation award have focused on setting new boundaries and standards in recruiting. The winner has delivered some exciting results for their company – while creating an engaging approach for candidates. With 20+ years of industry experience, this years award winner works with Fortune 500 companies throughout the world to develop and implement world-class talent acquisition solutions.  Specifically, he utilized LEAN methods as an innovative approach to recruiting. Congratulations to the 2012 Recruiting Innovation Award winner, Zachary Misko from KellyOCG.

A special thanks to Recruiting Trends for hosting the 2012 Recruiting Awards, and to the RecruitingAwards.com sponsors Checkster, SuccessFactors, LinkedIn, HR.com, and TalentHQ.

Announcing The 2012 Recruiting Award Winners Announcing The 2012 Recruiting Award Winners

Social Media and social networking is no new concept in the job search space.  Depending on who you ask – you’ll receive varying tips to build your network and possibly land a job.

Some of the advice is good, but as one Recruiter shared, “Don’t listen to all the bad advice out there – if it seems crazy it’s because it is”.

At a Minnesota Recruiters event a week ago, we asked Recruiters to identify useful tips for job seekers when they are leveraging social media in their job search.

We compiled the list into the following 25 bite-size tips:

1. Use social media as a vehicle, not a substitute for an in-person interaction
2. Remember your audience and that social doesn’t necessarily mean casual
3. Engaging in social shouldn’t be a one-way communication or conversation
4. Don’t fall for all the fads.  It’s likely you won’t find your next job browsing Pinterest, although some of the worst recruiting consultants make it seem like a viable channel to be found
5. Pick one or two social sites and be active.  It’s also important to have your profile and any links on other static sites that you do not visit as frequently
6. Use the right keywords in order to be found
7. Have a Skype account, make the offer to conduct a digital interview or ask if the company uses a video interviewing service
8. Post industry content on the social sites and be focused
9. Don’t be afraid to reach out to employers directly via social sites
10. Your social presence is your personal brand – protect it
11. Use social media for validation, see who you know, what they’re saying – it’s great for research
12. Don’t listen to all the bad advice out there – if it seems crazy it’s because it is
13. Check out a company’s social profiles to see if they have FAQs to help answer any questions you may have
14. Increase the visibility of your personal and professional brand by posting several times a month on the various social sites
15. Educate yourself about it before using it
16. Keep your information current
17. Be targeted and visible
18. Set goals and prioritize activities (making connections, in person meetings, etc)
19. Post your resume on sites like Facebook – it’s part of your brand too
20. Follow company pages and social channels as they can contain information or updates you might not find elsewhere
21. Stay on top of changes to the sites (ex. LinkedIn’s recent launch of “endorsements”)
22. Quality vs. quantity
23. Don’t sit back and wait for things to happen – take charge and make it happen
24. Do it right or don’t do it at all
25. Giving back to your network should be as big of a priority as receiving

Additional tips? Use the comments section.

25 Social Media Tips from Recruiters 25 Social Media Tips from Recruiters

LinkedIn continues to be cited as the top online channel for both job seekers and recruiters. Yet, most do not spend an adequate amount of time investing in their online profile. Reasons for this vary from not enough time or knowledge, to the an awareness gap in keeping up with the sites new enhancements and features.

I’m pleased to share that Paul DeBettignies, Co-Founder and VP of Recruiting at HireCast Consulting, will be leading a webinar next week to help close this gap.

Paul is a popular speaker and trainer. He has presented at SHRM events, MobCon, Minnesota Recruiter and Staffing Association, Twin Cities Human Resources Association, Human Resource Professionals Minnesota and Minnesota Recruiters. He has also presented nationally with The Fordyce Forum and Social Recruiting Summit.

While this session is designed for Recruiters and HR Professionals – other individuals will also benefit from the content, including job seekers, executives, etc.

The webinar will be held on Friday, October 12th from 1:00 – 2:30 p.m. Central Time.

Additional details:

As a HR professional you likely already on LinkedIn but are you really using it to its full potential?

• Does your profile adequately represent you and your company
• Can you be easily found by potential candidates
• Do you know how to find people
• Are you using all the tools like Applications, Answers, Events

The core of the session is to create a strategy to:

• Rank higher in search results
• Work with marketing and sales colleagues to optimize the company profile
• Highlight jobs and the employer brand
• Contribute content in status updates and groups

Included in the session will be basic and advanced LinkedIn searches, tips and tricks for sourcing candidates, how to build a network and more.

PLEASE NOTE:  If you already have an optimized LinkedIn profile, know how to use the advanced search function and are using the various tools for candidate generation then this session is likely NOT for you.

Paul DeBettignies is a Minnesota IT Recruiter, Co Founder and VP Recruiting at HireCast Consulting, author of the Minnesota Headhunter blog and Co Founder and Advisory Board of Minnesota Recruiters.

Paul is a frequent local and national speaker and article contributor on recruiter, HR, career, networking and social media topics.

He is also involved in the Minneapolis and St Paul technology, marketing and social media community as a sponsor, volunteer and mentor.

You can find him online by clicking:

LinkedIn Training – Talent HQ Event LinkedIn Training – Talent HQ Event

Entelo, a talent search engine which is launching today has put together a white paper touching on the 18 signals of passive candidates, what their behavior is like and what it takes to accept a recruiter’s call.

Inside the Brain of a Passive Candidate, From Entelo Inside the Brain of a Passive Candidate, From Entelo

The nominations to identify the best of the best in recruiting are in, and it’s crowd-sourcing time!

It’s time to vote!

The nominations are in for our 3 award Categories: (Talent Hunter, Recruiting Innovation, and Recruiting Organization of the Year).

Our panel of judges and conference attendees with be casting their votes soon. Voting closes Wednesday October 3rd, 2012 at 11:59PM EDT, and there’s some cash and awards at stake!

Winners will be announced live at the upcoming Recruiting Trends Conference in Las Vegas next month.

• Vote for the “Recruiter of the Year” – Talent Hunter award
• Vote for the “Recruiting Innovation” award
• Vote for “Recruiting Organization of the Year” award

Stay updated online at RecruitingAwards.com or follow us on twitter @RecruitingAward.

Vote Now: The Best In Recruiting Vote Now: The Best In Recruiting