Beware of the posers- mobile site deceptions

Beware of the posers- mobile site deceptions

Segment(s) of the TSC Impacted: Your Organizations Ability to Attract Candidates

Many of us know that the way we are interacting with the internet is changing rapidly, moving away from the time when we had a PC, tethered to a desk on a slow dial up connection to a fast means of accessing almost anything in the palm of our hands from almost anywhere.  People are changing the way they find jobs in the same way they are changing how they shop and how they post content to their social media platforms

Although I have been and continue to be an advocate for companies moving to mobile career sites and apps, I come to you this month with a warning that should not be a surprise.

Beware of the posers
Just like in the early days of job boards and social media, there are a number of companies that are out there trying to convince you that what they have is what you seek- a mobile career site.

Last year I wondered why ATS providers were not jumping into this to gain competitive advantage.

Through my networking and collaborations with some of you, I have become aware of some interesting developments and this year we saw some of the first ATS providers coming out with mobile sites and unfortunately a couple that are outright posers.

Sadly, these companies are not small start ups or fly by night companies, they are sizeable and well known and it’s a shame that at least some of the in their organizations are pitching something that is not the truth until pressed.  This month I will give you the basic questions to ask and the unfortunate half-truths that I am aware of…

The question
The first version of the question is actually quite simple and that is probably why it can be easy for a sales team to try to pull a quick one over on people.  The question is:

“Does your product provide a mobile career site?”

This is where the problem lies… in its simplicity.  I will take you through three instances where a potential customer could have come away with entirely the wrong impression and would have made the wrong decision, at least in regards to mobile recruiting, as a result.

Problem answer #1: Yes we have a mobile site
You may be thinking what is the problem?  Well in this case, I actually don’t think the vendor was being purposely misleading, but here is a synopsis of the rest of the answer:

“Recruiters can log in review candidates, post jobs, schedule interviews, etc.”

Notice there is no mention of candidates?  When asked a slightly different question, the vendor had a different answer:

“Does your product provide a mobile career site for job seekers…”

The answer? “No”

It’s nice that Recruiters can do stuff, but it’s far more important that job seekers be able to do stuff.  Plus, I don’t know about you, but as a Recruiter there is only so much I am willing to do from a smartphone.

Problem answer #2: Yes we have a mobile site
Again all seems well, and the vendor happily showed the potential customer his iPhone with a cool looking app.  The problem didn’t arise until one of the review team members said “Where do I look for a job?” and another asked “Why is there the ability to run payroll?”

The first problem answer was forgivable, this one is not.  There was not only no ability to search jobs, there was nothing to do with recruiting on the app either… this was an HR/Payroll app shame, shame, shame.

Problem answer #3: Yes we have a mobile site
So you get it by now and are wondering what happened.  Similar to the previous example, someone was proud to show off their iPhone and the team looked at it and seemed impressed until someone noticed that this was just the full website of the a client company.  When pressed, the vendor maintained that they had a mobile site and it looks great.  Continued pressing from the review team finally got the vendor to admit that they didn’t have a mobile site, but that “the site renders beautifully on an iPhone.”

That’s all great, but since the screen, even an iPhone is tiny, and 0.5 pitch is difficult for anyone to read I would say this vendor is a total poser… the sad thing was the person being pressed was the company’s President, not an over-eager sales person trying to get commission.

Conclusion
So beware when you meet with vendors about this new platform we all have to manage.

The key question is not whether or not they can provide a mobile site, but is actually a series or slightly more complicated questions.  Here are some of the questions I recommend asking:

Does your current product provide a mobile careers site that enables job seekers to have a mobile experience similar to those visiting our full version website, including searching for and viewing jobs?

What mobile platforms do you support?  iPhone, Android, iPad, BlackBerry, Windows Mobile?

Note: If they support iPhone and Android you are well covered, many iPhone apps work on an iPad; Windows Mobile market share is too small and BlackBerry is declining rapidly.  If you did want to add a third platform, add iPad since an iPad app can be much more robust than an iPhone app.

Do you support mobile websites or downloadable apps, or both?

What types of content can you support?  Is the site simply a job search interface or can we have text content, pictures and video to create a rich user experience?

How refined can the job search be?  Do users have only a couple options or several that deliver targeted results?

Does the mobile site at any time send the user to the full version site? If the answer is yes, then it is not a mobile site!

The important thing is to not go into this blind… just like anything else!

If you have any questions or comments, feel free to send them my way!

© 2011 Michael K. Peterson, All Rights Reserved