There’s been a jump in job applications submitted via mobile phone apps in India, according to a TimesJobs.com survey.
When TimesJobs recently surveyed a contingent of larger companies, they indicated that as much as 20 percent of job applications they received came from mobile phones. That’s up from a range of zero to 10 percent only a year ago.
TimesJobs is India’s premier career and recruitment portal, and one of the most successful ventures pursued by the Times of India Group. Launched in 2004, TimesJobs.com currently has a candidate database of more than 20 million registered job-seekers across levels and functions credited with more than 40 million page every month.
“The change comes with a jump in smartphone sales,” notes the report summary. “With almost the entire working population of India accessible on mobile phones, 65 per cent organizations have now built a comprehensive mobile recruitment strategy.”
To date, the hot fields for mobile app applications include hospitality, tourism, airlines, recruitment, and placement agencies.
“With search engines giving higher rankings to mobile friendly websites – mobile-based recruitment strategies are quickly evolving in India,” explained Vivek Madhukar, COO of TimesJobs.com. “On the other hand, jobseekers have already started to search and apply for jobs using mobile mail, SMS, apps, and mobile networking.”
There’s still some reticence on the part of many companies, however. According to the survey, as many as 45 percent of surveyed organizations “expressed anxiety over mobile recruitment strategy.”
Why?
“While 60 percent of employers feel mobile recruitment is an easy and quick technique, only 25 percent organizations have a career section in their mobile apps,” continues the report announcement. “While 32 percent organizations want to implement mobile recruitment in the next six months, only 25 percent are planning to target candidates through mobile in the next year.”
But it is — despite reservations — the wave of the future.
“Mobile based hiring solutions are an inevitability and will be a core part of recruitment strategies in times ahead, since it not only removes barriers of availability and accessibility but also provides connections with the much larger passive candidate and casual jobseeker base,” said Madhukar.
