Are you taking advantage of mobile job searchers?

It’s not a surprise that job seekers aren’t combing newspapers for help wanted ads, and people have pretty much forgotten many job boards, but did you know that a rising number of job candidates are even skipping LinkedIn?

A Comscore study from 2011 found that 77 percent of job seekers are now using their mobile devices and carefully calibrated applications to find available positions. CMS Wire reports that the number one reason job seekers are using mobile applications is the ability to quickly react to a new job posting. That reason is followed by the ability to job search anywhere and at any time, and another 17.65 percent enjoyed the discretionary ability of browsing online job boards.

Not surprisingly, the majority of job seekers using mobile devices to conduct searches are part of the younger crowds. Millennials are seeking entry-level positions and college-graduate level jobs and make up 24.8 percent of all mobile job searches. Geography seems to be another distinguishing characteristic, as the survey found that an astounding 20.9 percent of all mobile application searches originate from Manhattan. Meanwhile, technology jobs only made up 6 percent of searches – as finance and healthcare both beat out the industry with 8.3 percent and 6.2 percent, respectively.

It’s an interesting development. As a staffing professional, you already know that everything in the industry is becoming mobile accessible. Look at your own staffing software – it allows you to peruse job candidates, track their progress and make on-the-spot decisions so that you can excel at your job. So, it shouldn’t surprise you that as you try to find the best job applicant for a position, a job seeker is monitoring potential openings.

What does this mean for you? It means that your potential job candidates are more mobile-accessible than ever. You most likely will be able to contact them about a position via a mobile device – with an application, text, Tweet or email – and receive a quick response. It also may mean that your strategies for keeping tabs on the industry could be changing in the near future and become more mobile-based. We don’t know yet, but it certainly is an interesting time to be in the staffing industry.