Originally published September 17, 2012 Reaching A More Diverse Candidate Pool Using Mobile Recruiting Technology.

There are countless benefits to increasing diversity in your organization. While complying with EEOC regulations is an obvious advantage, hiring candidates that represent a variety of backgrounds, cultures and experiences provides the company with a wealth of viewpoints and ideas that spur innovation and contribute to long-term success. But as employers seek to reach a more diverse candidate pool, they may be finding that traditional sourcing methods and technologies are ineffective.

It is no big secret that job seekers are increasingly using their mobile devices to find opportunities and connect with employers. But what may surprise employers is that U.S. minority populations are among those that access the web – and therefore job postings, online applications and employment branding messages – almost exclusively, from their mobile devices. According toresearch from Pew, young adults and minorities are among those that use their mobile phones as their primary method for going online. A full one-third of these adults lack additional methods for accessing the internet, using their smartphones as their sole resource for access.

In light of these facts, companies that lack a mobile-enabled career site and application process are neglecting a significant portion of the population. Despite this, many employers still fail to optimize their sites, communications and recruiting method for mobile. And for organizations in industries that face increasing pressure to hire with greater diversity in mind – including the banking and financial services – they are seriously hampering their efforts of achieving full EEOC compliance. If they want to reach these populations more effectively, they need to adjust their recruiting strategies to prioritize mobile:  meet the candidates where they are – on their mobile devices.

There are several ways that employers can transition their recruiting strategies from the desktop and laptop to the mobile device. By doing so, they not only gain access to a more diverse talent pool, but also leverage an opportunity to boost employment brand and demonstrate their openness to adopt new technologies. Employers can enhance mobile recruiting strategies through several resources.

Mobile-Optimized Career Sites

As individuals of all backgrounds increasingly use their mobile devices to search and apply for jobs, companies must be able to meet their expectations and provide a user-friendly candidate experience. However, a recent study shows that 90 percent of the Fortune 500 do not have a corporate career site optimized for mobile devices. And for companies that aim to attract a more diverse audience to their open positions, providing a fully end-to-end mobile candidate experience that enables candidates without computer access to apply to jobs is integral.

Additionally, when a company has a fully mobile-optimized career site, it is optimized for searches conducted on mobile devices, further expanding the company’s access to a larger, more diverse audience of mobile users.

Digital Interviewing

To better engage the large portion of adults in the U.S. who rely solely on mobile devices to access the internet, digital interviewing provides a fun, convenient and engaging way for candidates to interview for positions directly from their phones. As more of the world’s employers adopt this innovative approach to candidate screening, mobile access enables those who only access the web from smartphones and tablets to complete their interviews just as securely, conveniently and effectively as those who carry out their interviews from a desktop or laptop.

Digital interviewing not only makes recruiting more inclusive of a diverse group of people, but it also enhances the organization’s hiring practices. This technology enables companies to better navigate the tricky field of compliance, a key aspect in ensuring that companies include people of various backgrounds in their candidate pools. By providing all candidates with a standardized set of screening questions and encouraging a multi-reviewer process, employers can ensure a consistent and objective interview process. A digital interview platform provider should also be able to offer data management technology to help ensure compliance with all EEOC regulations.

A Social Approach to Mobile Recruiting

To better engage a diverse candidate pool, use strategies and solutions that tie in the power of mobile technology with the widespread use and power of social media. A growing number of mobile and social recruiting and sourcing solutions have emerged over the last few years to help employers attract, engage and communicate with candidates – available technology not only optimizes career sites and job listings, but also builds talent communities, delivers text and email alerts for relevant jobs, and even enables candidates to apply for and submit their profiles through social channels.

Companies can enhance their mobile strategies by ensuring their career sites and application processes are mobile optimized and that their job postings appear on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, where they can be viewed by a larger number and more diverse group of job seekers. Additionally, an effective mobile and social strategy will facilitate the sharing of relevant job postings, enabling candidates to send job opportunities to others in their networks. Most importantly, though, a mobile strategy should convey a consistent employment brand that portrays the company as a great place for all people to work through all channels.

Attracting and engaging candidates of diverse backgrounds is so much more than just trying to meet EEOC compliance; it also ensures the ongoing success of the company by filling key roles with people who bring new ideas and thought processes and value to the company. Adopting a mobile approach to recruiting, employers can develop a more inclusive sourcing strategy that reaches the highest number of qualified candidates, regardless of their backgrounds or access to a computer.