Isn’t it great when something you use every day proves to be invaluable? There’s always some new technology in the talent acquisition industry. But few have the broad and apparently lasting impact of mobile.

Mobile affects nearly every aspect of the industry, whether it’s candidate preference or recruiter convenience. And as Selina Kerley for The Undercover Recruiter says, “It’s not just a phase.”

Mobile Leads the Pack in Talent Acquisition Technology

These days, you’ve got a wealth of apps that help you track candidates and evaluate processes, says Kerley. Remember the old iPhone commercials? There really is an app for that.

Kerley asserts that mobile has plenty of pros such as:

• One-click apply convenience
• Social sharing
• Job ad buys
• Test runs for every strategy and process

But let’s not forget the basic function of a mobile device, which is communication. That’s one of the biggest pluses of mobile for recruiters. Communication on many different fronts and from anywhere you have a signal gives recruiters a different sort of edge.

But let’s not pretend that some recruiters eschew mobile. If you know a peer without a smartphone, you’re in the minority. What’s changing is how it’s used.

Most people use a mobile device for Internet searches. They check Facebook and Twitter. They order pizza and use GPS. And recruiters get the jump on talent acquisition by being tapped in from anywhere around the clock.

Mobile is central to all of your recruiting solutions. It’s your communication hub and your gateway to every aspect of the hiring process, from ad buys to candidate management.

If there’s anyone left who hasn’t switched to mobile, they’re in the minority.

Mobile Builds Relationships With Communication on the Fly

Communication opportunities abound because of this digital age. And in recruitment, time is of the essence. Mobile captures all of it.

LinkedIn‘s Mobile Recruiting Playbook says, “Job applicants often expect immediate attention, especially if they are in high demand. Stay in touch with them through quick text messages, emails or phone calls.”

The U.S. Department of Labor showed in their November jobs report that unemployment still has a downward trajectory. Top candidates might not be looking for work at all. So when you have an opportunity to communicate, you’ve got to take it. That’s true, even if it’s Sunday night at 7 p.m. when other recruiters might be watching TV.

When a great candidate leaves a comment on one of your social media posts, you can acknowledge it immediately. Even better, you can chat directly with them. If you already have a dialogue, mobile lets you text or take a call.

And if you think mobile is just for connecting with a certain segment of privileged Americans, think again. Pew Research Center says 68 percent of Americans of all backgrounds use a smartphone. That’s only slightly behind the number of computer owners, and smartphones get a lot more play.

Whether your candidates check out social media, send you an email, visit your hiring site or like one of your Tweets, your all-in-one communication device is small enough to fit in an Otterbox.

Mobile should be part of every talent acquisition discussion.

The More You Use Mobile the Better it Gets

Mobile communication is a dream come true, but it also gives you insight. While mobile’s benefits from your perspective matter a great deal, talent acquisition is still primarily about the candidate experience.

The only way to truly optimize your strategies to mesh with candidate expectations is to see and experience it firsthand. Candidates more often find you through their own mobile device. When you experience what they experience, you gain perspective.

Check out your hiring site. How does it function from your smartphone? If you’re working an email campaign, does it appear on your mobile device the way you hoped it would? Do videos play seamlessly, or are they data hogs? Your smartphone lets you step into the shoes of a candidate. If they fit too tight, you’ll know it right away.

And the onus isn’t just on you. It applies to the whole hiring team. Mobile lets you communicate quickly with all key players. And that enables quick feedback plus another layer of participation. It lets you improve your brand across social, email and video campaigns as well as the appearance and functionality of your hiring site from the perspective of the candidate.

“The vast majority of professionals are already exploring and even applying to jobs via a mobile device and your recruiters must be ready to instantly engage those prospects on any device, anytime.” – LinkedIn Mobile Recruiting Playbook

Probably the biggest concern is a fully mobile hiring process. If candidates can apply for a job from their smartphone, you’ve got a well-rounded strategy. And the great thing is that you can test it for yourself.

The more you use mobile for your own work, the more you’ll spot any performance gaps that might turn off applicants.

It seems like a Captain Obvious moment to say that mobile works for talent acquisition. But while most (all?) recruiters use a mobile device and everyone knows candidates expect mobile access, what’s sometimes missing is a tightly interwoven strategy.

Recruiters leaped onto the mobile wagon at full speed. And so did the rest of the world at practically the same time. It’s the new way all aspects of business are handled. So it only makes sense to use mobile to its fullest.

That little handheld piece of electronics is brimming with possibilities. It’s your talent acquisition hub. It’s what top talent expects from a recruiter. And it makes your life a whole lot simpler.