Creating Mobile Recruiting Apps = Time Wasted

Recents statistics from a company calling themselves comScore show the mobile Internet audience is using Facebook nearly an hour more a month than they’re using it on a desktop.

With the many apps now on hand (physically) in the mobile world; users have the option to either use the downloaded app version, or the mobile version. This data has confused many industry commentators, with many bloggers writing that applications are “winning the battle.” This interpretation is in fact wrong. 

Notice these happy-gents all showcasing their mobile devices with the Facebook logo? Yes, well these five blokes are a tiny bit of the many that probably believe that a mobile app would better produce results for recruiting. On the contrary: your mobile recruiting strategies should have nothing more important than offering your candidates an optimized mobile website, and here’s why.

Facebook, Twitter, etc. are channels. We all “browse” media through these social channels. The people and businesses we follow within social channels curate web content, which we discover and consume. The Twitter and Facebook apps are our preferred window to consume the web; not only do these apps direct us to new content, they fetch it and display it for us in one place.

Frequently we click links on Twitter from our mobile app. The webpage loads in our Twitter app. We do not take the URL and open a web browser and read the content. Social channels are the true “browsers.” We do not have to search or have a pre-conceived idea of what we are looking for. Instead we browse the social channel and when we see something we like, we order up more content by tapping the hyperlink.

Empowered with the knowledge that Twitter and Facebook apps on our mobile are the new browser, and knowing the enormous volume of users and time spent consuming these channels, what do you feel matters when it comes to mobile recruiting optimization? As recruiters wishing to reach a market it is very simple: a mobile-optimized career site/recruitment campaign coupled with social media activity puts your message in front the audience.

Check out the top mobile native apps: Instagram, Angry Birds, Facebook, Twitter, Ebay, etc. As a user I expect to return to these apps frequently either for fun or social interaction or new content. Looking for a new job at a single company is not a repeat process. The effort and reward of downloading an app to work at just one company does not add up. The native app will attract downloads from those doing additional research, those really interested in your firm, but these people have probably already applied for a job. Unless your employer brand creates incredible hunger and has millions of people desperate to work for you, an app in AppStore or Android is unlikely to deliver high ROI when it comes to talent attraction.

The mobile site is becoming a must-have for candidate marketing. The mobile application is typically better positioned to assist the selection and onboarding process.

(via: David Martin's article)

How Many Hires Can Facebook Provide?

It may be worth $100 Billion, but just how many hires will Facebook get you? Just this week, General Motors confirmed it was cancelling $10 Million worth of ads on the site because, said the Wall Street Journal, it found they “had little impact on consumers.”

The article arrived like a bombshell, coming just days before the IPO. It set off all sorts of debate in the marketing community — and beyond, of course — as experts weighed in on both sides. Rival carmaker Ford even jumped in, firing a shot on Twitter saying, “It’s all about the execution. Our Facebook ads are effective when strategically combined with engaging content & innovation.” Remember that part about “engaging content & innovation.”

For recruiters, this is more than just an interesting sidebar to the stock sale story; which, is opening (but won’t stay) at $38 a share, giving Facebook a market value of $108 Billion. Rather, the General Motors withdrawal raises anew the whole issue of the effectiveness of social media recruiting, and Facebook specifically.

How long is this social-networking site's lifespan expectancy? We have seen from past attempts such as MySpace, just how quickly a fad can grow and expire.  An AP-CNBC poll found 46 percent of respondents believe the site will fade away over time, replaced by something else. (43 percent believe it will survive.) Surprisingly, among its young adult users, while 51 percent say it will stay around, 35 percent say it won’t.) It only seems that it's a matter of time until some bored kid comes up with a new and improved way to hit the media and social networrk with a new and updated outlook on social networking.

The AP-CNBC poll found 57 percent of users never click on a Facebook ad. Employers haven’t much experimented with banner ads on Facebook, though they have spent on SEO and Google’s AdWords. An average click-through rate for an AdWords campaign is about 2 percent. Some rates can be considerably higher, depending on position and subject.

Recruiters who put at least some marketing dollars into improving their position on search engine results pages (SERP) can expect to get the highest click through rates of all. Slingshot, an SEO company, says getting the top position on a Google SERP gets you a click through rate averaging 18.2 percent.

Facebook and Solving Murders

Facebook ads seem to be continuing to evolve in thier use. First general ads, then people trying to get hired through them, and now the police in Britain are trying to find clues that will help solve the murder of Joanna Yeates, a Bristol architect whose strangled body was found Christmas Day, a week after she went missing.
Anyone with information about the case may contact the police at avonandsomerset.police.uk/jo.

Facebook vs. Twitter

Click for full view:

Via: http://www.brandflakesforbreakfast.com/2010/12/difference-between-facebook-and-twitter.html

More Job Candidates Posting on Facebook

This time it is using the Facebook ads.

Here is his website:
http://gmanradionetwerk.com/

Previous candidate's use of Facebook for being hired:

http://patriotadvertising.blogspot.com/2010/03/candidates-hey-facebook-hire-sarah.html

Businesses, Social Networks, Recruiting

EMarketer posted an interesting article about companies using and not using social media networks in their recruitment. Listed as the highest use and hiring rate was LinkedIn, followed by Facebook and Twitter (although quite lower in effectiveness.)

http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?R=1007811

Social Media - Simply Hired Facebook App

Simply Hired recently launched a Facebook app listed on their website. You login from Simply Hired to your Facebook account,your activity with them is not posted on your wall or Newsfeeds, and you can then search for jobs by key words or browse the companies that employ your Facebook friends. You can message friends directly or if you click on their employer you are able to see available job listings.

via: http://ecommerce-journal.com/news/28396_hunting-new-job-turn-facebook

SOCIAL NETWORKS - Privacy, Data and Social Networks

Passing this article along that covers how social media users are responding to their information and privacy and where social media is heading. Adrants also points to articles by CNN and the New York Times that cover data sharing and cross-platform utility. What are your thoughts on privacy and social networks?

http://www.adrants.com/2010/05/data-advertising-privacy-key.php

CANDIDATES - Hey Facebook, Hire Sarah Sultan for the All Online Operations position!

The way candidates are reaching out to their potential employers is increasing in their visibility. Sarah Sultan created a Facebook Group in order to call attention to her proactive nature in vying for the All Online Operations position. Before her, there have been a few other that have taken the route of creating a website to help bolster their efforts. www.Hiremeheadblade.com chronicled Eric Romer's campaign to be hired and continued updating upon being hired to keep his following involved in his company's activity. When it comes to Sarah's approach she is also involving her following by allowing others to offer up support and reviews of her on the wall of the group. It almost seems like she is taking the attributes of LinkedIn (like former employer and coworker reviews) and applying it to Facebook in an alternative manner. I'm interested to see if any other pages like this pop up for more of the Facebook positions.
Check out her group here.

INTERNET - Tripling Traffic to Your Careers Site With a Facebook Account?

This was a great article posted on ere.net that covered Sodexo's entry into the world of social networking and their success. What are your thoughts on your company's stance towards social networking? How do your competitors stand? A few days ago I saw an article posted about Amegy Bank of Texas and their policy never to use social networking for the recruitment process. What are your thoughts on this policy?

http://www.ere.net/2009/04/21/tripling-traffic-to-your-careers-site-with-a-facebook-account/

INTERNET - Be Careful What You Post

This is a nice example of being mindful of what you post online or write anywhere for that matter. In this day in age, information travels fast and anyone can see it. Recognizing this and remaining conscious of it are very important both to employers, candidates, employees and anyone in between. You never know who is watching/reading/following/stalking your posts/tweets/blogs/pods.

http://shankman.com/be-careful-what-you-post/

INTERNET - A Definitive Explanation of Social Media

This simple post defines the three main areas of online social media and how they overlap at certain points. It is a nice overview of what is out there right now and what the capabilities are for the sites. It is a simple article that is straight to the point and clearly categorizes the various online sites.
http://www.mattjmcd.com/2008/08/a-definitive-explanation-of-social-media/