The average American mobile subscriber owns 1.57 mobile devices, according to Wireless Intelligence, the research arm of the GSM Association (an association of mobile operators). It's even higher in the rest of the world. A July 2012 report from World Bank asserts that three-quarters of the world now has access to a mobile phone. In addition, ownership of multiple subscriptions is becoming increasingly common, suggesting that their number will soon exceed that of the human population. Astounding, isn't it?
These numbers tell us that the world is going mobile for all kinds of activities and information. It would be safe to say that 2013 is the year that just about everything goes mobile, from shopping to job seeking. In fact, today's plastics industry job seekers are slowly becoming more tech-savvy and are using the following job-related functions on their smart phones:
* Search for jobs.
* Apply for jobs.
* Receive job alerts.
* Contact a recruitment team or hiring manager for more information.
* Search for career-related events.
* Read about recruitment processes and tips for interviewing.
* Share content on social networks such as Twitter.
Savvy job seekers are also up on the latest job apps that allow them to discreetly search for new positions, at any time and from anywhere. For example:
* Real-Time Jobs is an app from TwitterJobSearch that streamlines the job-search process, allowing users to quickly find and apply for positions posted to Twitter.
* Hidden Jobs app tracks close to 2 million unadver-
tised jobs from organizations that are growing and making headlines.
* LunchMeet is an app through LinkedIn that allows job seekers to network. Just search the location and time slot of your availability, and LunchMeet will hook up the job seeker with others in the same area who are also available for lunch.
To keep up and stay connected to this new generation of plastics-job seekers, businesses need to embrace the integral roles that mobile phones and other mobile platforms now play in acquiring talent. That said, have you checked your company website lately to see how it looks on phones and tablets? Unless it's been specially coded for mobile devices, it might not look that great. At the very least, it may require a lot of zooming and scrolling, a potential turnoff for job seekers. Realizing this ourselves, DRI acted quickly and made changes. Our website is now mobile-friendly.
In addition to a mobile-friendly website, I suggest that hiring managers and recruiters jump on the mobile app bandwagon. Here's just a few of the most popular and effective recruitment apps you might want to know about and benefit from:
c HireVue. This iPhone app allows you to design interview questionnaires on the phone and then send them to candidates. Candidates can view the questions, video their answers to the questions at their own convenience and send them back to you.
* Jobscience. This app is from Force.com and gives you applicant-tracking capabilities on your mobile phone. Hiring managers and recruiters can invite candidates to submit their resumes digitally and the resumes will be instantly parsed to quickly identify suitable candidates.
* Google Power Search. This app makes it easier for hiring managers and recruiters to search the Web for candidates. This app presents a simple graphical interface you can use to search the Web for candidates, putting an end to those complicated Boolean search strings.
There's certainly a new shift in the plastics industry recruitment world for both job seekers and employers. The staggering rise in the number of mobile subscribers and mobile devices is presenting new opportunities. Job seekers have more ways to find their dream job and hiring companies are able to reach the greatest number of relevant candidates to recruit them before their competition does. In addition, this all can be done faster than ever before.
To sum it up, go mobile or get left behind.
Peterson is managing partner at Direct Recruiters Inc. of Cleveland.
