By Mark Mehler and Gerry Crispin of CareerXroads

September marks the start of the 2012 fall frenzy of conferences, niche conferences, un-conferences, expos, seminars, webinars, (and yes, a Colloquium or two). Not every session at every event offers deep dives but the mobile discussion has been noted everywhere this year. One conference, held in mid-September, the second mRecruitingCamp, was totally devoted to the subject. (Michael Marlatt did an excellent job on this one-day niche event.)

Practitioners offering solid case study insights on mobile technology and recruiting included Matt Lavery [UPS], Chris Hoyt [PepsiCo] and Heather Tinguely [Microsoft]. We encourage you to look for their videos. Bottom line, a rapidly increasing percentage of prospects in their pipelines (prospects who are eventually hired) are engaged and in more and more cases applying through mobile devices.

At the same time the number of companies lagging behind is mindboggling. Several months ago we examined the Fortune 500 list just to see who had mobile-enabled career pages – just 47 by our count. Ed Newman, formerly the head of FutureStep and currently with iMomentous, took the approach a step further and rated each company on the Fortune 500 list on a scale (-2 to +6) based on whether the firm had: a Native Consumer App; a Mobile Optimized Corporate Site; a Careers Link; a Mobile Optimized Career Section; a Mobile Optimized Apply Process; and a Native Careers App.

Just one firm was rated a ‘6’ *pause for drum roll* – – – McDonalds. If you are on the Fortune 500 list (and even if you are not), download Ed’s free Corporate Mobile Readiness Report and check your own scores.

Factoid: Choices [1]

What % of 18-24 year olds would rather have access to the Internet than access to a car, given the choice could only be one? Is it

• a) 6%
• b) 26%
• c) 46% or
• d) 66%?

Source: The Gartner Group via HR Executive Magazine. Answer at the bottom of this blog article.

Factoid: Choices [2]

What % of recent college graduates would rather turn down an offer rather than accept one to a firm where they couldn’t make or receive personal calls? Is it

• a) 3%
• b) 23%
• c) 43% or
• d) 63%?

Source: Adecco Group North America via HR Executive Magazine.

Factoid Answers:

• Choices [1] – (c. 46%)
• Choices [2] – (b. 23%)

– Gerry Crispin and Mark Mehler work full time consulting, educating and discovering how talent and opportunity connect through emerging technology. They can be reached via email at mmc@careerxroads.com, phone at 732-821-6652, or on-line at http://www.careerxroads.com.