Last week I wrote about the top five mobile recruiting blunders of 2012.  But even though some mistakes were made along the way, it would be a wrong to let the year go by without highlighting some of the big advancements. The mobile recruiting technology industry has come along way.

With any technological advancement the early adopters fearlessly lay themselves down and sacrifice to blaze the trail in search of competitive advantage. Invariably mistakes are made and lessons learned and we grow as an industry. Mobile recruiting is no exception. 

One of the big opportunities with mobile recruiting is the ability to integrate your print media with your online careers presence.  QR Codes (short for Quick Response) have been around since 1994.  Just in case you have never seen one, it is a two dimensional bar code consisting of black modules (square dots) arranged in a square pattern on a white background. 

Before I joined iMomentous I needed to do some homework. I had been involved with the recruiting technology business since the first applicant tracking systems of the early 90's, and I was still getting a handle on the rapid adoption of Social Media.  Mobile technology was just sort of a future possibility.  So I went to the source that most people go to when conducting due diligence - I went to Google.

Over the last couple of years mobile recruiting has been on a steady incline. But while some companies are jumping in with both feet, for every early adopter there is another 100 companies still on the fence.  Most of what you hear about are the statistics regarding the number of smart phones being purchased and the percentage of overall web traffic that is coming from mobile devices. And while those statistics are impressive and in many cases astonishing, the real question boils down to whether or not job seekers are actually looking for jobs with their mobile device. I have had conversations with many "fence sitters" about this, and the sentiment is usually goes something like this:

Yesterday I shared a few data points from our new white paper Smart Phones in the Workplace, which will be published next week. [Click here to read Part 1] It is a survey of professional workers regarding their smart phone usage which provides some interesting insights on the impact of mobile technology on workplace communications.

A few weeks ago I wrote about how email has become a key driver of mobile recruiting. I was essentially making an educated guess that a big percentage of email is being read on mobile devices, largely because of the way I read email.  Even before I switched from a Blackberry to iPhone, I would typically read emails for the first time on mobile, and then later on the desktop to access attachments or to follow links to additional content.  But with the iPhone, more and more content is now consumable right from the palm of my hand.

If you work in Human Resources chances are you have heard the Silo analogy once or twice. Ok maybe more times than you care to remember. But the silo issue is not exclusively an HR issue.  All business functions are potential silos.  

A few months back we published the Corporate Mobile Readiness Report, an assessment of the Fortune 500's presence on the mobile web. We evaluated the companies on six criteria ranging from native apps, to mobile optimization of the corporate site, the career site, as well as the continuity between them. 

Over the last six months as I have fully immersed myself into the world of mobile recruiting one of the first things I learned about was the difference between an mSite and a native app. I have found that there is a lot of confusion out there on this subject as well as some strong opinions, so I thought it would be worthy of a discussion.

First the definitions:

Last week I posed the question "what is driving mobile recruiting?" After watching the video clip below I had an epiphany. Have a look and see if you get the same point of view:

A few weeks back I wrote a post about the Mobile Apply process and suggested it was a cop-out for employers who stop short of allowing job seekers complete the entire apply process on a mobile device. 

Last week I attended the second annual mRecruitingcamp - the conference focused on the advancement of mobile recruiting. First let me congratulate Michael Marlatt for orchestrating a great event in an awesome facility - the Georgia Tech Conference Center. My only advice for next year is to make it a full day and 1/2 (and maybe not on a Friday).

If you missed the ERE Expo last week in Hollywood Florida, you missed out on some great speakers, some great content and even better networking.  I have been going to this event for fourteen years, and every time I come back with some new insight or learning. The big moment for me this year was on Friday morning. 

Over the last few months I have been quite busy putting together the Corporate Mobile Readiness Report.  I will have to admit it was not that long ago that I was a bit of a skeptic when it came to Mobile Recruiting.