Speakers from companies like Microsoft, Facebook and Research in Motion agree to speak at the first cutting edge mRecruitingcamp conference.

It’s crucial in this economy to find the best talent available, and to do that you need to take full advantage of the best, most innovative techniques that technology has to offer, but what’s the best way to effectively find and attract talent in today’s world? Those at the vanguard of the human resources industry in the business community have developed and are currently developing highly effective recruiting methods in the field of mobile recruiting. Now, on September 30th, 2011, an esteemed gathering of extraordinary, innovative leaders in the field of recruiting, from companies as large and successful as Microsoft and Facebook, are getting together for a collective, informative think tank to discuss mobile recruiting technology in San Francisco, CA at the inaugural mRecruitingcamp. These noted industry leaders will discuss many of the astounding recruitment opportunities that mobile technology offers today.

View Press Release on PRWeb

Live Text-Message Demo…

With the help of my friends over at mResource, I was able to provide a live text-message demo. Webinar attendees participating from the U.S. were prompted to send a text-message with the keyword “SHOWME” to 90206. This simple demo helped to illustrate how easily text-messaging could be used to segment and pre-screen a target audience. The example included some simple questions, a call-to-action, and a redirect to a mobile-optimized landing page. If you are curious on how to piece this type of campaign together, make sure to read my post entitled:  “Mobile Recruiting: The Basics of Building a Campaign”…»

If you missed the ERE-sponsored webinar, you may now easily view the slides below, or download the presentation here.

Click here to view more presentations from Michael Marlatt…».

Watch the recorded version of the Mobile Recruiting webinar:

* Interested in leveraging text-messaging and the mobile web as part of your recruitment marketing strategy? Visit mResource to learn more…»

Margo’s question:

“What was the single most important take away for the #SHRM conference where you were presenting on April 26th?”

The single most important take away?  Wow, now that’s a tough one.  Margo’s question is very timely and deserves more than a simple one word response. With 91% of Americans now mobile subscribers, there’s no better time to discuss how mobile plays into HR & recruiting.

Here are FIVE TIPS for any employer considering a “mobile recruitment” solution:

Tip #1: Think Strategy before Tactics.

While we can agree having the right technology is important, an organization should first ask the all too familiar question:  What keeps you up at night?  Understanding the key “pain points” in your recruitment efforts is critical.  Next, ask WHAT do you hope to accomplish by deploying a mobile solution?  Will it help by filling a particular gap in your recruitment efforts?  As much as I like to talk about mobile, the reality is that maybe mobile is not the right solution for what you are trying to accomplish.  Clarifying the basics needs up front and having a clear goal will ultimately determine a number of other “tactical” considerations.  Avoid a cookie-cutter approach.  Like any other mass marketing effort, develop a customized solution that is in line with the needs of your organization and target audience.

Tip #2: Selecting a Mobile Platform/Provider.

Once a clear strategy & objective has been determined, it will be much easier to proceed with selecting the “right” mobile provider.  When selecting a provider to host your mobile recruitment campaign, you should take time to consider whether they offer the level of service you need in order to properly execute your desired campaign.  For example, let’s say you’re interested in deploying an SMS (text-message) campaign and also need a mobile web presence.  Your initial goal may be focused on building a network of prospect talent via the mobile channel that your company can later engage. Your company might be interested in sending SMS/text-messages related to employment surveys, job alerts, career event info, or other company related updates, etc.  To do this, you will clearly want to identify an organization with a proven track record of delivering SMS solutions. The good news is that there are many providers out there that offer SMS services with flexible two-way text-messaging capabilities.  In addition, many of these companies are typically able to help create a mobile optimized web site, which (in my opinion) is a must have for any employer.

Clearly, determining the tactical part will be much easier if you first understand what you want and hope to accomplish. Avoid the temptation of trying to run before you walk. For now, stay away from trying to integrate trendy technologies such as QR codes, Bluecasting, GPS, etc. While I fully expect providers of such services to disagree with me, my advice is keep it simple and consider your broader audience. When building your talent network, you don’t want to inadvertently isolate your audience based on the technology you select. Start with the end in mind before spending countless hours trying to figure out which is the “sexiest” mobile technology to deploy, or who is the best provider to manage your campaign.

Tip # 3. Develop a Mobile Web Presence

Creating a mobile web presence is important.  Based on your “call to action” (i.e., what you are asking your audience to do during your mobile campaign) – you will ideally want to redirect users to a final landing page.  That landing page could be a mobile version of a company’s site (or a mobile app) that might include a brief “how to engage us” form, a specific job to view, a “click to call” number, or other relevant information a company wishes to display.  While this may sound a bit complicated, just remember, you do not (and should not) have to go it alone.  Keep in mind, there are companies that can help you build and launch your SMS campaign.  Some companies, such as Jobing, are equipped to create a fully functional mobile web version of your career portal.  If you prefer the mobile app route, you should consider AllTheTopBannanas (a company founded by Dave Martin).  Dave’s company is based out of the UK and has a strong track record of rapidly building out “a fully branded iPhone application for your business“.  In addition, they are scheduled to be on Android by the end of May then Blackberry by the end of June.  Definitely keep your eye on this company as you will likely hear more of them soon.

Tip #4: Time, Place, & Relevancy

My friend Mike Galyen said it best:  Time, Place, Relevancy is key with mobile.  And, you know what? He is spot on.  I could write an entire blog on this topic alone; however, suffice to say it’s important that we keep the audience in mind when developing a mobile  campaign.  If we fail to deliver information to our target audience with the proper context of time, place, and relevancy in mind, we will not likely see the level of return (or engagement) we expect.  Why is that?  Well, if you are running a mobile campaign targeted at attracting sales professionals, you clearly would not want to send text-alerts related to software development, project management jobs, etc. Keep it relevant and you’ll keep them engaged.

Oh, and remember this…

There are no short-cuts in mobile marketing. Everybody starts at ground zero when building a mobile network.  With mobile marketing, the success can often be attributed to the fact that it is 100% permission-based.  Mobile phone spam is illegal. Shally Steckerl (at Arbita), produced a very easy to understand post for recruiters on the topic of SMS-spam. There are strict regulations that govern the practice of mobile marketing and the fines for sending commercial text spam are often very severe. A single violation can potentially set you back $11K! So what’s the point? There are no quick fixes or short-cuts when deploying an SMS campaign. It requires planning, patience, and hard work. We all start from scratch and build our mobile network one “opt-in” at a time. If a prospect candidate is opting into your mobile “talent” network it’s because they want to engage with your organization.  We all know that the mobile is a personal device so it’s important we don’t abuse this channel.  Candidates want to engage with your organization and are waiting for you to communicate with them. By keeping the delivery of your content relevant, you are far more likely to engage the candidates successfully and retain their interest long-term.

Tip #5: Remember to Integrate

Mix it up!  Although mobile SMS is the most widely used DATA application on the planet, mobile as a standalone solution will not work. Consider fully integrating your mobile campaign across a wide variety of media channels (e.g., print, radio, tv, internet, etc).

Need real examples?

American Idol

Back in 2005, American Idol gave viewers the option to SMS (text) in their vote when selecting a favorite singer.  Amazingly, 41.5 million responded to this “call-to-action” and voted via SMS.  In 2006, the number of votes via text-messaging totaled 120 million.  The integration of SMS (text-messaging) with live TV was a success and certainly a history-making event.  They nailed the time, place, and relevancy concepts – hence the amazing results.

Obama Campaign

The Obama camp experienced great success in their use of SMS to communicate and engage their opt-in followers.  This was especially evident when Obama announced his VP selection via SMS. An estimated 2.9 million text messages were sent, which is the single largest mobile marketing event in history.

Although both examples above are above the norm, you don’t need to have a large budget to advertise your mobile campaign.  Think viral.  Start by advertising across the standard online channels such as a company careers site, a Linkedin page or group, a Facebook fan page, your company Twitter site or Youtube channel, podcast, etc.  Of course, don’t forget to rally the recruiting team and educate them on the mobile campaign.  Each Recruiter can also serve as an ambassador by advertising the mobile campaign on their signature, Linkedin/Facebook profile, personal tweets, etc.  If you are attending a professional conference as a speaker, make sure to add your SMS campaign to your presentation signature (front or last page).  Include the URL to your mobile site, or point them to where they can download your company’s mobile (careers) app.  Bottom line, advertise and promote wherever possible.  The idea here is to be creative and don’t allow budget to be a constraint.

Final thoughts…

I realize this is way more detail than Margo had requested; however, I provided the deep-dive to help others who did not have an opportunity to review “Recruiting on the Run” or sit in on the SHRM-Mobile Recruiting presentation.  There’s so much more that could be said on each of the topics presented above.  However, I hope the high level provides a starting point for those who are considering a mobile option as a compliment to their recruitment efforts.

In case you missed the event, I co-presented on the topic of mobile recruiting with friend and fellow mobile enthusiast Chris Hoyt (AKA – RecruiterGuy). Oh, and while you are visiting his site, you might want to take a moment to read his most recent post, “What I learned (and taught) at Camp…”. Great stuff as usual. Finally, if you don’t already, I would highly encourage following Chris on Twitter. He’s definitely worth the follow…

Check out the Mobile Recruiting slideshow below…

Enjoy!

Phonecasting, also known as phlogging or phone-blogging, involves the ability to use your phone to broadcast directly to the internet, live. Phonecasting combines the popularity of podcasting with the ubiquity and ease of use of mobile devices.

How does Phonecasting differ from Podcasting?

Well, for starters, podcasters typically use a microphone and recording software to create their programming. In contrast, phonecasters use the phone as the microphone. In addition, unlike traditional podcasting, phonecasting does not require recording software but simply phonecasting service (or application) that allows users to dial a number and record.

Don’t like blogging? Try phonecasting to attract your target audience.

You have often heard me speak about the topic of mobile marketing as a recruitment channel. Mobile recruiting offers the ability to market specifically to a target audience anytime, anywhere, on their mobile device. Since mobile is the most widely used of all mass media channels, phonecasting offers yet another dimension to the idea of mobile recruiting. With phonecasting, recruiters/employers have the ability to share job opportunities in the form of audio podcasts or jobcasts.  Chris Russell over at JobsinPods has built a formidable business providing jobcasting solutions for employers.  Consumers (candidates) can easily subscribe to a phonecasts/jobcasts and listen while on-the-go, at the gym, during idle time in traffic, etc.  You can follow Chris Russell on Twitter to get more on this topic.

In addition to jobcasting, industry voices such as Michael Kelemen from the Recruiting Animal Show, Asia-Pacific’s Most-Connected Recruiter Stan Relihan, and my good friend Jim Stroud at The Recruiter’s Lounge have helped to popularize the general use of podcasting as a form of infotainment in the recruiting industry.

Phonecasting’s self-service model…

In the true nature of Web 2.0, there are many self-services applications today that offer users the ability to begin phone-blogging, or phonecasting with minimal to no costs. To get started, all you need is a phone, a phonecasting service provider, and a message you wish to deliver. If you want to dive right into podcasting, then you will be pleased to know there are many available options to get you up and running in no time.

The following are 10 services that offer either phonecasting, podcasting, or voice broadcasting solutions:

1. www.phonecasting.com – Phonecasting.com is an online social network that brings you the best in podcasting, phonecasting, mobile and video content, plus simple tools for you to publish your own content to the nets podcasting community.

2. www.ipadio.com – ipadio allows you to broadcast from any phone to the internet, live.  Phone blog, commentate, collect audio data, record and update the world or simply let your mates know what you’re doing – ipadio is integrated with Twitter & Facebook.

3. www.gcast.com – Gcast‘s goal is to make personal broadcasting (podcasting) simple. Their focus is to allow users to create audio broadcasts, easily record voice messages, mix in your favorite music, and share it all for the world to hear.

4. www.jobsinpods.com - Jobs in Pods, the internet’s first ever audio recruitment platform built with social media. Unlike the traditional job boards you are used to visiting, Jobs in Pods is a place to actually hear from the employers themselves through audio interviews with their HR managers/employees.

5. www.yodio.com – Yodio offers an integrated, one-stop digital publishing service where anyone can go to self-record, produce, and share audio recordings (podcasts) and personal broadcasts (audio synchronized with digital photos).

6. www.gabcast.com – Gabcast.com is a podcasting and audioblogging platform that offers virtual communities, individuals and organizations an easy way to create and distribute audio content.

7. www.earfl.com – earfl was created to give your voice a voice. We’ve made it easy to tell your stories: just call 415.223.3802 from your mobile phone and start talking. Hang up, log on and start listening. It’s really that easy.

8. www.xmvoice.com – XMVoice offers voice broadcasting that allows you to instantly send hundreds or even thousands of interactive phone calls with ease while managing the entire process right from the Web.

9. labs.jaduka.com/dukaBuzz – dukaBUZZ enables site visitors to leave audio messages and testimonials that can be shared with others. Instead of typing and posting written comments, site visitors record audio comments using the dukaBUZZ widget and their standard phone (no software downloads or headsets required).

10. www.tweetmic.com – TweetMic is a Twitter fan’s must have iPhone app. It’s simple, intuitive, and allows you to make high-quality audio recordings or “Tweetcasts” then publish them directly to Twitter. There is no limit to how much you can record and you don’t need to sign up for any additional service to start using TweetMic. For more, check out the TweetMic review from goodBetaBest.com..

While the list above was not intended to be all-inclusive of the services available, if you feel I have left out any particularly useful sites, please be sure to leave a response and let us know. As always, thanks for stopping by!

See more videos from XtremeRecruiting.tv

How does this mobile recruiting campaign work?

The current campaign is targeted towards attracting Executive-level prospects with program management experience. Subscribers “opt-in” to the SMS campaign by responding to the ad as noted in the image above. Curious about how it actually works? Try it: Send a text message with the keyword “HEWITT2″ to 88000. After opting into the campaign, subscribers receive an auto-response thanking them for their participation, along with a link to view Hewitt’s mobile-optimized job posting. The current SMS campaign is being powered by Recruit2Mobile.

I am very excited to be part of this ground-breaking project at Hewitt, particularly since I am partnering with fellow Sourcerer Mark Tindle, Think Tank Member Tim O’Connor, as well as with Mike Galyen from Recruit2Mobile. Stay tuned, more to follow…



About Hewitt Associates

Hewitt serves more than 3,000 clients who understand that people are their most important asset—and they count on us to maximize their human resources (HR) investment. Hewitt is the world’s largest provider of multi-service HR business process outsourcing (BPO), and the only firm fully integrating HR outsourcing and consulting.

Hewitt has been in business for more than 65 years and has approximately 23,000 employees in 33 countries. Nearly 95% of our largest clients have worked with Hewitt for at least five years. Hewitt’s leadership, reputation, capabilities, and relationships remain HR’s benchmark, giving clients real value in the face of increasingly complex human capital management challenges. Visit Hewitt to learn more.



About Recruit2Mobile

recruit2mobile’s management team fuses a history of innovation with extensive experience in recruiting, talent management, mobile marketing and software-as-a-service technologies. With more than five decades of combined technology-meets-recruiting knowhow, recruit2mobile’s management team has the knowledge and expertise to create a bold new world of mobile recruitment and communication.

Mobile adoption in the U.S. has experienced phenomenal growth. According to CTIA‘s President and CEO Steve Largent, the U.S. wireless industry reached 270 million total subscribers at the end of 2008. While that number alone is already quite impressive, what I find even more amazing is the fact that U.S. subscribers have sent 1 trillion text messages (yes, that’s TRILLION with a “T”) in 2008, which triples the previous year’s SMS traffic. Worldwide, SMS is being used by 3 billion wireless subscribers and is now the most widely used data application on the planet. So, is it really any surprise that SMS (A.K.A. “text-messaging”) has become such a widely used tool within the U.S.?

Mobile Marketing & SMS

If you have followed my blog in the past, then you have likely seen my posts on why I believe mobile-marketing matters, as well as why SMS in recruiting can be key to engaging a target audience. Suffice to say, I’m a big fan of SMS but I also realize that there are still many within our industry that still don’t quite “get” mobile. It is often a confusing topic, which is why I wrote my earlier post on Mobile Recruiting 101.

In general, mobile marketing is a broad term that simply refers to the use marketing over a mobile device. Mobile campaigns may include contests, coupon-give away, info-alerts, job-alerts, mCommerce, movie promos, ringtone give-away, etc. We frequently see mobile and SMS linked because it’s medium by which many of the promos above are offered. SMS services run off a short code, which is typically a 5 or 6 digit number (either shared or dedicated). For example, last year BMW kicked-off a mobile campaign using a keyword and short code to encourage consumers to learn more about the BMW X6. Consumers were prompted to text the keyword “BMW” to 67463 (short code). The result? BMW fans were provided a link that (once clicked) redirected them to BMW’s mobile-optimized site showcasing the X6. Leveraging a mobile through SMS is becoming a common practice for many forward-thinking companies (e.g., Nike, Coke-Cola, Microsoft, etc.) all carry their own version of a short code. That said, SMS is not the only channel for connecting with a target audience. We see Multimedia Message Service (MMS) as another channel for engaging consumers. However, compared to the 3 billion global SMS users, there are only 1.35 billion global MMS users so we will table the MMS discussion for a later post.

Mobile Marketing Success Stories

Two key events have contributed to the popularity of mobile-SMS in the U.S.:

1. American Idol Voting for your favorite singer was made simple (and interactive) by simply placing your vote via text message. American Idol set an SMS record in 2008 when over 78 million viewers responded by “texting” in their votes.

2. Presidential Race in 2008 Most notably, President Obama set a world SMS record when he alerted approximately 2.9 million opt-in subscribers during the announcement of Joe Biden as his VP selection. Followers joined by texting “OBAMA” to 62262 and they were immediately provided real-time status updates. Obama was even named Mobile Marketer of the Year for running one of the most successful mobile campaigns in history.

With 270+ million U.S. subscribers, and 1 trillion text messages sent last year, SMS is clearly a communication channel that we cannot and should not overlook. Kim Dushinski, author of The Mobile Marketing Handbook, cited that companies should think about allocating 5-10% of their digital marketing budget towards mobile marketing efforts. Bottom-line, it’s time to get creative in how we engage prospective talent through this unique channel.

Upcoming Mobile Recruiting Webinar: April 23rd

If you are interested in learning more about how mobile integrates with recruiting, I will be delivering a webinar on Thursday, April 23rd. The event is being hosted by Shally Steckerl from Arbita ACES. You can get more details by visiting the registration link here.

Ok, so I know what you are thinking: Mobile (SMS) is just for the youth market, right? Well, while that may have been the case a few years ago, we are now witnessing a growing trend that reveals otherwise. Today, of the 262 million total U.S. wireless subscribers, more than 138 million users now send and receive text messages. 72% of those between 25-49 use text messaging, and 53% of texters are 35 years-old and up.

While it is easy to get excited about the trends in mobile, it’s important to understand the basics before embarking on any mobile recruitment strategy. What follows is a quick primer that I have put together to hopefully addresses some of the fundamental questions.

Mobile Marketing: Basic Q&A

Q: What is SMS?

A: SMS is an acronym for short message service. SMS is often referred to as text messaging.

Q: What is MMS?

A: MMS is an acronym for multimedia messaging service. MMS messages are typically mobile messages that contain some combination of text, images, audio, or video.

Q: What is the standard length of an SMS (text message)?

A: SMS/text messages are usually limited to 160 characters, with spaces.

Q: What are the two questions that need to be asked prior to executing a mobile recruiting strategy?

A #1. What are the key goals and how can mobile help to achieve the objectives?
A #2. Who is my target audience and what is most important to that audience?

* Identifying the objectives and target audience are both critical to understand in order to craft the most effective marketing program to achieve the desired outcome.

Q: What is a Common Short Code (CSC)?

A: Common Short Codes are short numeric codes to which SMS or MMS can be sent from a mobile phone. Short codes are commonly 5-6 digits, and can be “vanity” codes (which no other company can use) or shared codes (used by many companies). The short codes facilitate an interactive mobile experience between the consumer and host company. See mobile marketing examples by Sprite and Coca-Cola. For more details, visit the Common Short Code Administration (CSCA).

Q: What are the five most common modes of communication available on a mobile device?

The five modes include:

1. Voice
2. SMS (Short Message Service – A.K.A. text messaging)
3. Web (WAP=Wireless Application Protocol, or Mobile Web)
4. Applications (think of any device (i.e., iPhone) that can leverage mobile apps)
5. Email (Not always available to all mobile users.)

* Of the five modes of mobile, SMS/text-messaging is the most widely used data application on the planet.

Q: How popular is text messaging?

A: Consumers today are using text messaging more than ever. Worldwide, there are 4 billion mobile subscribers with 3 billion currently using text-messaging.  In the U.S., there are over 262 million wireless subscribers and 138 million using text messaging.  In Q2 of 2008, a Nielsen Mobile study revealed that in the U.S. there are now more text messages being sent and received vs. phone calls.  See more stats here.

Q: What is a keyword and how is it used?

A: Keywords allow your consumers to interact with your mobile programs. For example: “Text HEWDIVERSITY to 77950“ allows potential candidates to “opt-in” and receive job alerts from Hewitt Associates.  To start, users are prompted to send a text message with the keyword “HEWDIVERSITY” to the short code 77950. In this example, the keyword ‘HEWDIVERSITY’ is tied to an auto-response that confirms the opt-in subscription, as well as a “call to action” message.

Q: Why would any company want to engage in recruiting through mobile marketing?

A: Let’s face it: Technology is changing the way we all communicate at all levels. Our target audience has become increasingly “mobile” and no longer simply sitting at a desk waiting for our call or email.  The mobile device is personal and next to the wallet, purse, or keys, it is the one thing we each carry with us. As working professionals, we are often on-the-go, traveling, in meetings, attending conferences, training, out to lunch, vacation, and so on.  With over 262 million U.S. wireless subscribers, we need to consider ways in which we can increase the odds of connecting with our target audience. As some would say, ‘fish where the fish are’… Click here to read: ‘Mobile Recruiting: Why Run SMS Campaigns?

Q: What is WAP?

A: WAP is an acronym for wireless application protocol and is commonly referred to as the mobile web. WAP sites are mobile versions of a websites, typically optimized for mobile devices.

Many mobile-optimized sites today are using the ‘.Mobi’ extension. More and more companies today are staking their claim in the dotMobi space, which is evident by the fact that dotMobi sites actually experienced a seven fold increase last year. As a standard practice, mobile-sites should not be a “web-version” of your site on a mobile device, but a “MOBILE-optimized” version made for mobile. It should also (ideally) automatically detect whenever someone is visiting a site through a mobile browser. You can get more information on dotMobi, as well as “best practice” development tips by visiting MobiThinking.com.

dotMobi site example: CloudRecruiting.mobi (*Note: From any mobile browser, type either ‘CloudRecruiting.net’ or ‘CloudRecruiting.mobi’ to view site.)

Still have questions?  Please list your comments below and I will be sure to respond back as quickly as possible.

As Social Media continues to influence and impact our lives, it is important for us to understand how to separate the hype from reality. This year, ERE is launching the “first-of-its-kind” Social Recruiting Summit which will be hosted by Susan Burns. The event will focus on exploring REAL “social recruiting” tactics and strategies that are already in the field and working, not pie-in-the-sky ideas.

Who are the Presenters?

The upcoming summit is packed with many key speakers to include Fistful of Talent’s Kris Dunn, JobMachine’s Shally Steckerl, and PunkRockHR’s Laurie Ruettimann (just to name a few).

In addition, I am also very happy to announce that I will be co-presenting with Chris Hoyt, A.K.A. RecruiterGuy, on a topic I have frequently covered on this site: Mobile Marketing and Recruiting. Unlike other demos in the past, this upcoming session will be highly interactive. Participants will be taken through a live mobile “opt-in” campaign to experience first-hand how SMS is used to help build and engage a target audience. Whether you plan to attend this event live, or watch remotely, make sure to have your mobile device handy!

For more details of the upcoming Mobile Marketing (for recruiting) demo, click here.

Video Announcement: Watch as Susan Burns announces the Social Recruiting Summit at this year’s ERE Expo 2009 Spring conference in San Diego, CA…