Is your company missing the mobile trick?

What is the recruitment industry doing when it comes to mobile?

Are you making use of the media consumption behavior change, taking place?

When jobseekers sit on the train, or bus, or on their sofa, or in a coffee shop, are you exposed to them? Or is your company getting the cold shoulder because you have ignored the mobile revolution?

This Christmas the phone shops of the UK have been seemingly permanently sold out of the Apple iPhone. Is this poor manufacturing and distribution or has the smart phone been selling like hot cakes? Talking to a local vendor they have been selling out within hours of arrival.

So what? I hear you ask. This is a recruitment blog- who cares about iPhones or Andriod? Well put simply - you should! All online entities should!

Here are some stats published last week. The iPhone holds a 17% maket share of handsets, but more than 50% of all mobile web browsing was carried out via an iPhone!

Most of us remember the web, a rapidly growing media format. If you look back at the first 5 years of AOL they reached 7m users. The first 2 years of the iPhone reached 57m users! The speed mobile web is growing makes the fast world of the World Wide Web look like an old banger of a car.

This highlights that the next decade will be the time for mobile. Finally after many poor consumer experiences the mobile dream has arrived.

The intense growth of applications to email, Twitter, Facebook, take notes, buy books, find shops, book restaurants or send postcards has broken the old barrier of the browser. These apps (or RIA Rich Internet Applications) are the future. They offer the potential to provide the user a wonderful experience. This is what Apple got right - the experience. 

The experience is so good, many people will turn to their iPhone while sitting on their sofa instead of picking up the laptop. This means mobile browsing is taking browsing minutes away from the traditional PC. Armed with this single piece of information you should be considering what you are going to do for your customers / candidates on the mobile.

Well, here is a new years resolution every business involved in recruitment should put high up on the list- much higher than the normal boring lose weight and stop smoking!

"I must engage with iPhone users and not get left behind in the fast moving space of mobile web"

Merry Xmas and a Happy New Year

Data sourced from: http://www.macrumors.com/2009/12/16/prominent-analysts-see-iphone-with-two-or-three-year-lead-on-mobile-internet-market/

 Infomation for job boards needing an iPhone app: http://www.allthetopbananas.com/MediaPack/Technology.aspx

 

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December 21. 2009 15:51

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December 21. 2009 16:01

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December 21. 2009 16:15

Andy Headworth

Dave,

The iPhone holds 17% of the handset market. BUT that is still less than one in five. What about the other handsets/operationg systems like Blackberry/symbiam/android/windows mobile etc? They represent more than four out five of every phone user!

If as a job board/ company / software provider, you just focus on the 'sexy' iPhone apps then you are missing out on the majority of your audience.

Just in case you didn't know this fact: Every job seeker does not have an iPhone!

It would just be great for people to focus on the majority for a change, not the minority in Apple land!

Disclaimer Smile
I am a Blackberry user and also use an iPod touch - so before any of you accuse me of not having a iPhone, and being jealous......get over it, my point has nothing to do with that! LOL

Andy Headworth

December 21. 2009 16:24

Alconcalcia

How do you suggest they engage Dave? I only ask as I worry that the man and woman in the street will be pestered by recruiters at every turn. I would certainly regard it as an intrusion to get bombarded whilst I was having a coffee, chatting to a friend or just taking in a bit of leisure time.But then I don't have an iphone (I have an old Nokia that you hands the size of a macaque monkey in order to type in some text) How does one engage without being irritating? And are we right in assuming that everyone who does have an iphone wants to be bothered by recruiters? It's not taking into account job status or current levels of job satisfaction. As I say it would annoy me intensely, but maybe you could explain how it chan be done without being annyoing?

Alconcalcia

December 21. 2009 16:31

Jeff Dickey-Chasins

Unfortunately at this point, mobile-ready job sites seem to be the domain of the very largest job boards. Instead, I think most niche boards would be well-served to follow Dave's advice, particularly if their audience are heavy mobile users (like, for instance, real estate or sales).

Jeff Dickey-Chasins

December 21. 2009 16:36

Graham

As a recent job seeker, I'll have to comment that like so many involved in the recruitment business you've fallen into the trap of being seduced by technology.

What the candidate wants is contact. Proper contact.

Please change your New Year's Resolution so that it reads:

I must humanly engage with my candidates and not get distracted by regularly changing technology. Above all, I will display constant courtesy to all those who have connected with me in their search for a new role.

Graham

December 21. 2009 17:01

Dave Martin

Thanks everyone for such great comments.

I totally agree, that there are other phones with mobile browsing. I have to admit I had got tired of everyone banging on about iPhone, I had a win mob many years ago, followed by blackberry, hell I even had a Communicator 9000 in its day!

As a supplier, Allthetopbananas is leading the way on iPhone and prototyping with Android. If demand is their we will launch on Blackberry and WinMob.
Technology is our expertise we can port to any of them.

Our iPhone focus is not because of 17% but because of 50% of all mobile browsing! 1 in 2 of every mobile web hit! WOW now that is HUGE! If iPhone double its unit footprint what would this stat read?
The trend is getting bigger not smaller!

The exciting thing to me is not mobile web browsing but rich mobile applications making the browsing experience fantastic.

This holds up no matter what platform we talk of - if you use Blackberry do you tweet from the website or via a twitter app?

Best of all, Blackberry and Google are now battling with Apple - which only leads to better consumer products! Bring them on, we will code for the LOT!

I am very pleased that we are actually talking about it - Recruitment seems to have ignored this space in favor for hype such as Twitter.

Dave Martin

December 21. 2009 17:13

Alconcalcia

I think Graham's comment says what I was thinking. Namely, people don;t want to be hassled by recruiters every time they log on to the web or turn their phone on. They want direct contact and a bit of help and guidance. All this talk of Facebook being used as a recruitment vehicle when many that I speak to see it as purely a place to go to keep in touch with family and friends and hassling people via iphone isn't necessarily a good thing. People still want to compartmentalise certain aspects of their lives. if they want to sniff out jobs they already have plenty of places where they can go of their own free will. Being hassled would alienate a recruiter, not endear me to them.

Alconcalcia

December 21. 2009 17:26

Dave Martin

Graham, Alconclcia,
The iPhone app does nothing until a user decides to launch it. It is not pestering the user.

Keep the feedback coming.
Thanks

Dave Martin

December 21. 2009 17:28

Dave Martin

Andy,
Blackberry - 21% of the market. 3% of mobile browsing! Oh and 11% of app usage.

Dave

Dave Martin

December 21. 2009 17:28

Stephen O'Donnell

There is no likelihood of being hassled via your iPhone or other device. You can elect to have Twitter or FB updates to your phones right now, and this would be the same. An app on your phone is, by definition, user-centric, and the user should always remain in control.
As it is, the PC still represents a barrier to those who don't use one for work, don't have one at home, or need to access only via a personal device. A phone that can access the net, and have dedicated functions in the form of a mobile application, is a very welcome addition to many.
We have found that a very different, and additional, demographic has been reached and engaged by the 1Job.co.uk iPhone App, UK JOBS.
The prospects for the Google product in January are very exciting indeed.

Stephen O'Donnell

December 21. 2009 17:34

Kevin

I think those of you that are saying you wouldn't like to be hassled by recruiters every time you turn your phone on have fundamentally misunderstood iPhone applications. Though it is possible to push notifications to you through an iPhone app this is currently rarely used, and is not used at all by AllTheTopBananas' application. I'm pretty sure the user can disable the facility too.

Applications are driven by the user, at a time and place of their choosing, and are more suitably thought of as a substitute for a mobile web site.

I don't think anyone is saying that an iPhone app or web site is the only method of contact we should have with candidates, but giving candidates the option to look for jobs when THEY want to, whether that be when they're having a coffee or not, has to be a good thing, doesn't it?

Kevin

December 21. 2009 17:41

Alconcalcia

That's all good news then but I bet it won't be long (no pun intended) before the penis enlargement and cheap viagra brigade find a way to hack into the system.

Alconcalcia

December 21. 2009 18:09

Dave Martin

Stephen, Thanks for your comments. Some great real life points.

Dave

Dave Martin

December 27. 2009 14:52

Julianna

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Julianna

December 29. 2009 18:53

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December 29. 2009 21:56

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December 30. 2009 04:41

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December 30. 2009 09:29

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