How to Use Cell Phones for Recruiting
Dr. John Sullivan, professor at San Francisco State University, recently posted a great article at ERE about how employers and use smart cell phones for recruiting. Some of his article dealt with your mobile phone as a tool in the hands of the recruiter so focused on ideas such as being able to check email while you're away from your desk but much of the rest was a great check list of strategies and tactics for how to use the phone for recruiting:
- Text messaging (SMS or simple message service) to introduce recruiters to candidates, set up interview times, answer simple questions, and direct new hires through orientation activities.
- Job opening alerts.
- Event alerts to drive candidates to your career fairs etc.
- Social networking through applications you can download from Facebook, Twitter, and other services.
- Text and reply information requests via keyword advertising. Want an example? Text the word "college" (without the quotes) to 876289.
- Physical world hyperlinks to allow, for example, college students attending a career fair to snap a picture. If they upload it to your web site, they can win a prize and you'll capture their contact information.
- Blog feeds. Subscribe to CollegeRecruiter.com Blog, for example, through your smart phone's RSS reader.
- Video messaging (MMS or multimedia message service) to send recruiting videos. Make 'em short! No more than 30 seconds and preferably 15 or so.
- Podcasts.
- Web links. Email or SMS potential candidates a link to your web site or other on-line content that is relevant to their interests.
- Temporary jobs. Send a message to a pre-defined group within minutes of learning that you have a sudden hiring need.
- Friends e-newsletter to build relationships with potential candidates.
- Text message options on your web site. If you don't provide your Gen Y candidates with the option to text message you, then you're going to lose many of the best and brightest to your competitors who understand that email is seen as archaic by this generation. You no longer insist on mailed or faxed resumes, right? So why should texting be any different?
- Candidate relationship management (CRM) touches to keep in touch with candidates over time. Don't think you have time? You'll have more time if you get more proactive by building a talent pipeline.
- Surveys/polling.
- Mini interviews. Don't laugh. Have a list of sales candidates and want to quickly narrow it down to those who have business-to-business sales experience? Text each in minutes, get the responses almost immediately, and spend the rest of your time talking with the finalists.
- Global positions system (GPS) allows for restaurants to send offers to potential customers when they're in the vicinity. Why not alert a candidate that they're near one of your facilities or career fairs and ask them to drop in for an on-the-spot interview?
- Mobile phones can also be used to deliver recruiting video games (think military on that one), music (is anything more powerful?), recruitment ads, trivia games, or best-practice sharing.
Date: Thursday, September 25, 2008
Time: 2-3pm EDT / 1-2pm CDT / 12-1pm MDT / 11am-12pm PDT
Space is limited. Reserve your free seat today.
This is a very interesting post. As a recruiter serving the construction and real estate industry, I've seen a lot of changes over the last 10 years. Gone are the days of faxing resumes. Now it's texting, key words, social networking, and even more..
John P. Kreiss
www.johnpkreiss.com