SALT LAKE CITY, Utah (April 12, 2011) –

WHO: HireVue, the number one provider of video interview solutions

WHAT: Will demonstrate how their video interview solution helps recruiters and hiring managers assess candidates and evaluate KSAs while improving the candidate experience at the Society for Industrial & Organizational Psychology’s (SIOP) 26th annual conference.

WHEN: Thursday, April 14 through Saturday, April 16, 2011

WHERE:

SIOP’s 26th Conference
Hilton Chicago
720 South Michigan Avenue
Chicago, Ill.

HireVue will be exhibiting at booth No. 619.

DETAILS: During the three-day SIOP 2011 annual conference in Chicago, attendees can meet with HireVue’s video interviewing experts to learn more about how their solutions help recruiters and hiring managers personally connect with high quality candidates, regardless of their location.

Those who visit the HireVue booth during open conference exhibit hours will hear how other companies, across industries, are using video interview in their recruiting processes today, and learn more about the benefits those companies have gained as a result –including the ability to increase time to hire, utilize video assessment tools, leverage their investments in job interview video guides and evaluate KSAs and job fit using scalable methods.

The HireVue team will also be on hand to demonstrate the 1-way virtual, 2-way live recorded, and 2-way live non-recorded video options within their Interview Platform, as well as provide additional information on their mobile solution, Interview Admin and Interview Evaluator capabilities.

SIOP’s 26th annual conference will gather thousands of the country’s top industrial-organizational psychologists to discuss current issues and emerging trends in the workplace. For additional information on SIOP 2011, including registration details and a full agenda, please visit http://www.siop.org/conferences/.

More information about HireVue’s video interviewing platform can be accessed at http://www.hirevue.com/content/services/.

About HireVue
HireVue is the world’s leading video interview platform and brings talent into focus right from the start – reducing the time and money it takes employers to make important hiring decisions. HireVue’s full service video interviews eliminate travel costs, increase productivity, reduce recruitment time and improve new hire quality by providing greater candidate insight earlier in the hiring process. HireVue combines superior service and solutions, improving the hiring process anywhere in the world. HireVue is the recipient of Human Resources Executive® Magazine’s prestigious HR Product of the Year award for 2009. For more information please visit: www.hirevue.com or call (801) 316-2910.

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Note to Editors: Trademarks and registered trademarks referenced herein remain the property of their respective owners.

Media Contacts
Scot Sessions
HireVue
(801) 415.9485
ssessions@hirevue.com

Angela Trombatore
The Devon Group
New Jersey Office: +1 (732) 706-0123 ext. 15
London Office: +44 (0) 207 917 1832
angela@devonpr.com

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah (April 19, 2011) –

WHO: Dr. Van Latham, practice leader at PathPoint Consulting along with Chip Luman, COO at HireVue, a leading provider of video interviewing solutions

WHAT: Will co-present a virtual workshop, “Video Interviews: Improving Interview Reliability and Candidate Quality” during HR.com’s next Quality of Hire Virtual Workshop series to explain how web-based a video interviewing platform provides more efficient and standardized methods for assessing candidates during the recruiting process.

WHEN:

Tuesday, April 19, 2011
3:30 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. ET

WHERE: Register at the HR.com Quality of Hire Virtual Workshops homepage.

DETAILS: During HR.com’s upcoming Quality of Hire Virtual Workshop series, Dr. Van Latham of PathPoint Consulting and HireVue’s Chief Operating Officer, Chip Luman will co-present a special session, “Video Interviews: Improving Interview Reliability and Candidate Quality,” to help recruiters better understand how video interviewing can streamline the interview process, without compromising personal, valuable insight to candidates.

Participants will leave with a deeper understanding of how asynchronous video interviews improve quality of hire and other valuable business metrics – allowing recruiters to view and assess candidate knowledge, skills, abilities and characteristics against the job requirements – while easing the scheduling process, reducing time spent with unqualified candidates and eliminating the need for costly travel. The presentation will also explain how organizations can use captured video interviews to establish job interview video databases that Organizational Effectiveness professionals can use to validate, refine and measure the reliability and effectiveness of interview questions and content, and determine how they impact the talent acquisition process.

Dr. Van M. Latham is an industrial/organizational psychologist specializing in human resources management and is known primarily for his work in organizational and leadership development. At PathPoint, he has helped businesses improve organizational capability and performance through effective people practices. Prior to founding PathPoint Consulting, Latham held leadership roles in Human Resources and Management and Organizational Development at PepsiCo (Pepsi-Cola and Pizza Hut) and Iron Mountain, Inc. In addition to leading PathPoint, Latham runs a private equity fund investing in HR technology start-ups and an LLC investing in real estate rental properties. Latham is member of the American Psychological Association and The Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology where he serves on the Professional Practice Committee.

Chip Luman is a senior executive with 20 years of HR and general management experience and formerly served as SVP of HR Shared Services and Total Rewards at Charles Schwab & Co. Prior to Charles Schwab, Chip served as General Manager of Acclaim Entertainment and held various HR roles at PepsiCo and Marathon Oil. He currently serves as President of the Pi Lambda Phi Educational Foundation.

This virtual workshop is part of HR.com’s Quality of Hire Virtual Workshops series, which is designed to help recruiters gain a competitive edge in their professional space and earn IHR certification. Registration and additional workshop information can be accessed at the Quality of Hire Virtual Workshops homepage.

About PathPoint Consulting
PathPoint Consulting is a human resources consulting firm specializing in the custom design of leadership and organizational development products, interventions and solutions. Our industrial and organizational psychologists, organizational development, and human resources consultants work with companies to deliver people solutions that result in improved business performance. Our strength is linking business and human resources strategy and in the delivery of high quality human resources programs.

About HireVue
HireVue is the world’s leading video interview platform and brings talent into focus right from the start – reducing the time and money it takes employers to make important hiring decisions. HireVue’s full service video interviews eliminate travel costs, increase productivity, reduce recruitment time and improve new hire quality by providing greater candidate insight earlier in the hiring process. HireVue combines superior service and solutions, improving the hiring process anywhere in the world. HireVue is the recipient of Human Resources Executive® Magazine’s prestigious HR Product of the Year award for 2009. For more information please visit: www.hirevue.com or call (801) 316-2910.

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Note to Editors: Trademarks and registered trademarks referenced herein remain the property of their respective owners.

Media Contacts
Scot Sessions
HireVue
(801) 415.9485
ssessions@hirevue.com

Angela Trombatore
The Devon Group
New Jersey Office: +1 (732) 706-0123 ext. 15
London Office: +44 (0) 207 917 1832
angela@devonpr.com

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah (April 19, 2011) –

WHO: Jody Henderson, recruitment coordinator at Scottsdale Healthcare

WHAT: Presented a complimentary ERE webinar, “How Scottsdale Healthcare Hires Better Talent Faster with Video Interviewing,” to help recruiters understand how video interview technology can enhance the recruiting and job interview processes for candidates, recruiters and hiring managers.

WHEN:

Wednesday, April 20, 2011
2:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. ET

VIDEO: View the webinar recording: “How Scottsdale Healthcare Hires Better Talent Faster with Video Interviewing”

DETAILS: Niche job recruiting for healthcare presents challenges that are as unique as the positions themselves. Traditional recruiting methods often fail to help HR professionals reach  and assess the best-qualified candidates in a timely manner. When met with these challenges, Scottsdale Healthcare turned to HireVue’s video interview platform to improve time-to-hire by sourcing and connecting with the best candidates, regardless of their location.

During the complimentary webinar, “How Scottsdale Healthcare Hires Better Talent Faster with Video Interviewing,” Scottsdale Healthcare outlined how video interview management technology has streamlined their recruiting process while enriching quality of hire. Webinar participants will learn how HireVue’s video interview platform eases scheduling challenges by allowing both candidates to record and hiring managers and executives to review interviews at their own convenience. Scottsdale Healthcare also shares how they save time and money with greater insight to candidate qualification and cultural fit earlier in the interview process.

Presenter Jody Henderson, PHR is the recruitment coordinator for Scottsdale Healthcare and has worked in industry for over eight years. During this time she has led and initiated several process improvement initiatives for recruitment, including web-based on-line reference tools, video interviewing and corporate social media websites for branding and recruitment purposes. Jody also recruits for nursing positions and is an ambassador for the Diversity and Emotional Intelligence program at Scottsdale Healthcare.

About Scottsdale Healthcare
Scottsdale Healthcare is a not-for-profit organization led by a volunteer board of directors comprised of leading local citizens. That means we answer to our community, rather than stockholders. A leader in medical innovation, talent and technology, Scottsdale Healthcare was founded in 1962. Today, we serve the entire Northeast Valley and beyond through two comprehensive medical centers and the first hospital north of the Loop 101. Scottsdale Healthcare also offers outpatient surgery centers, home health services, and a wide range of community health education and outreach services. Not to mention clinical and research services not typically found in community healthcare systems. Our compassionate staff members and expert physicians are dedicated to providing world-class patient care. Supporting Scottsdale Healthcare’s staff in providing patient and family-centered care is a corps of 800 volunteers who donate more than 155,000 hours of service each year.

About HireVue
HireVue is the world’s leading video interview platform and brings talent into focus right from the start – reducing the time and money it takes employers to make important hiring decisions. HireVue’s full service video interviews eliminate travel costs, increase productivity, reduce recruitment time and improve new hire quality by providing greater candidate insight earlier in the hiring process. HireVue combines superior service and solutions, improving the hiring process anywhere in the world. HireVue is the recipient of Human Resources Executive® Magazine’s prestigious HR Product of the Year award for 2009. For more information please visit: www.hirevue.com or call (801) 316-2910.

###

Note to Editors: Trademarks and registered trademarks referenced herein remain the property of their respective owners.

Media Contacts
Scot Sessions
HireVue
(801) 415.9485
ssessions@hirevue.com

Angela Trombatore
The Devon Group
New Jersey Office: +1 (732) 706-0123 ext. 15
London Office: +44 (0) 207 917 1832
angela@devonpr.com

Quality of Service Enhancements – Several elements have been added to the candidate interview UI to make it easier to gauge how suitable a user’s network is to video interviews.  These include:

• Network Quality Meter – A simple meter (green, yellow, red) has been added to the Live interview page to give candidates, managers and participants a visual indication of how suitable their network upload and download speeds are for live video interviews.  Network bandwidth and latency are major factors in determining the quality of a live interview and with this addition, all parties will be able to see whether they have sufficient network speeds to safely conduct an interview.
• Upload Progress Bar – Candidates have occasionally disrupted the upload of their interview answers on very slow connections by refreshing the page prematurely.  This problem is now alleviated with an upload progress bar that appears with a message to wait until upload is finished.
• Descriptions on Network Connection Test – The network connection test that is part of the interview setup now includes more descriptive text as well as directions on when it is or is not safe to proceed with an interview.

Usability Enhancements – Several usability enhancements have been added including:

• Review and Retake Practice Questions – Candidates now have the ability to review a practice question, checking for lighting, sound and examining their on-screen image.  They can also retake practice questions up to three times with sample interview thought questions.
• Quick Reconnect – If an interview session is terminated prematurely, the “Quick Reconnect” capability will allow users to return immediately to the position in the interview that they were working on without having to go through the initial setup process for checking microphone, camera or network test.
• Volume Controls – Volume controls for both microphone and speakers have been added to the user interface for candidates and participants, simplifying the ability to make adjustments without going to the system or Flash controls.

Manager Enhancements – Changes made for account admins and managers include:

• Names of live interview invitees are now included in the User Self-care reports so that manager can have a record of who participated in an interview.
• FedEx shipping screens are now included for shipping webcams to new managers/users in both the Add User and Add Group screens.
• International Shipping is now an option that can be enabled or disabled at the account level.

Scot Sessions
HireVue
801.415.9485 | ssessions@hirevue.com

HealthcareSource launches Interview Manager^SM powered by HireVue. Partnership helps healthcare providers prepare to meet oncoming hiring boom with recorded and live video interviews that streamline hiring logistics, reduce costs and greatly speed time-to-hire.

WOBURN, Mass. and DRAPER, Utah, May 12, 2010 – HealthcareSource^®, the leading provider of talent management solutions for the healthcare industry,and HireVue, the number one provider of video interviewing solutions, today announced that they have formed a strategic partnership. HealthcareSource will become the exclusive reseller of HireVue to U.S. healthcare providers and will integrate the software into Position Manager®, its industry leading applicant-tracking solution used at over 1,000 hospitals. The solution will be marketed as HealthcareSource Interview Manager^SM powered by HireVue.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports the healthcare industry will generate 3.2 million new wage and salary jobs between 2008 and 2018, more than any other industry, largely due to growth in the elderly population.

“While Healthcare remains at the top of the hiring market, healthcare providers have been forced to pull back in response to the recession,” said Peter Segall, CEO and President, HealthcareSource. “The demand is still there but the recruiting budgets are limited. However, with the economy showing positive growth, the healthcare reform bill adding millions of potential patients to the mix and no change in elderly population growth, the pressure is building for new ideas that reduce recruiting costs. Our customers are asking us for help. We knew this problem couldn’t be solved with traditional thinking, that’s why we turned to HireVue. They are changing the game and our customers will benefit with competitive recruiting advantages.”

HealthcareSource Interview Manager^SM powered by HireVue is a video job interview platform that allows employers to dramatically improve the interview process by using video interviews to create a historical record of the interview that can be reviewed at any time and compared against other candidates. Organizations can drastically cut time and cost from their recruiting processes while giving hiring teams deeper insight into candidates’ strengths and weaknesses. The result is improved candidate screening, reduced interview time, reduced recruiting travel expense, and more consistent, compliant and effective interviews.

“The bottom line for healthcare providers is that, combined with Position Manager, HireVue is ideally suited to help them deal with the pressures of talent management in today’s healthcare environment,” said HireVue CEO, Mark Newman. “HealthcareSource is a true innovator for talent management in healthcare. This partnership is proof that they not only hear their customers, but they are keeping pace with the changing face of talent management in this evolving space.”

Current HealthcareSource clients can register for a live webinar at: www.healthcaresource.com/imlaunch

About HealthcareSource

With more than 1,000 hospital customers, HealthcareSource is the leader in talent management for the healthcare industry. Through its software-as-a-service solutions, HealthcareSource helps hospitals acquire, develop, and retain the best workforce possible in order to maximize the quality and efficiency of patient care. The company’s talent management solutions include performance management, onboarding, applicant tracking, video interviewing and a leading healthcare job board. A private corporation, HealthcareSource focuses exclusively on the healthcare industry and consistently earns high marks for client satisfaction and retention. To learn more, please visit www.healthcaresource.com or call (800) 869-5200.

About HireVue

HireVue is the world’s leading online video-interviewing solution that brings talent into focus right from the start – cutting down on the time and money it takes employers to make important hiring decisions. HireVue is certified Safe Harbor Compliant by the U.S. Department of Commerce and is used in over 110 countries around the globe. HireVue’s full service video interviews eliminate travel costs, reduce recruitment time and provide greater candidate insight earlier in the hiring process than ever before. HireVue combines superior service with superior solutions to power any video used in the hiring process anywhere in the world. HireVue is the recipient of the prestigious HR Product of the Year for 2009 awarded by Human Resources Executive® Magazine. For more information please visit: www.hirevue.com or call (801) 316-2910.

The global online recruitment magazine “onrec,” featured HireVue in their analysis of virtual interviewing, “Virtual Interviewing – US Perspective.”

“New technology solutions allow employers to forego face-to-face interviews. But is virtual interviewing as good as being there? For clients of HireVue, a leader in interview solutions, the answer appears to be a resounding yes. As video and related technologies have become more pervasive, employers have become increasingly comfortable with adoption…”

The Wall Street Journal article, “How to Nail a Job Interview – By Video” emphasized the growth of video interviewing and tips for job seekers.

“These days, a job-seeker can land a job without ever setting foot inside the company’s office, thanks to video communication tools that connect employers with candidates over the Internet. Several people in the career and job-search industry say video interviewing using remote technology software is on the rise for a broad swatch of industries…”

The increasing industry adoption of video interviewing in general, and HireVue’s video interviewing and decision management solutions specifically, is becoming more and more obvious. Stay tuned as we announce incredibly talented recent hires at HireVue and the acquisition of some amazing new clients.

HireVue and Taleo have joined forces to offer a more effective recruiting process at a fraction of the cost. Taleo customers can now launch HireVue’s award winning video interviewing solution directly from Taleo Enterprise. To show you how you can benefit, HireVue and Taleo are proud to bring you:

• Directly reduces recruitment costs & travel
• Decreases length of your talent searches
• Ensures candidate fit and quality
• Improves first year retention
• Enables the ability to bring your employment brand to life

This is a free webinar but seats are limited so be sure to reserve yours today.

Featured Speakers:

Melissa McMahon
Senior Director, Talent Acquisition
CDW

Lorna Hagen
Vice President, Talent Management
Dow Jones & Company

Josh Schwede
Vice President, Business Development
HireVue, Inc.

There’s a lot of buzz of late around using video interviews in the recruiting process. Sure, talking to candidates via webcam over the Internet provides a ton of cost savings. Plus it really helps shorten time-to-hire on the right candidates. But what happens once the interview is over? Nothing…unless you conducted the interview. What about the others on the hiring team who have input into the hire?

This is why having a platform that records your video job interviews is so valuable. It allows the hiring team to see the same thing as the interviewer and allows the hiring team to collaborate.

You know what is even cooler? REAL candidate comparison. At HireVue, we offer our 1-way Virtual Interviews in addition to 2-way Live Interviews. Our clients typically use the Virtual product after a phone screen, but before an interactive interview (over the Internet or face to face). The Virtual Interview is done on a broader set of candidates (approx 7-10) where all of the candidates answer the same set of questions, which are configured by our clients. When the candidate completes the Virtual Interview, it is available in HireVue for the hiring team to review.

This is where the “Killer App” of Video Interviewing lies. Let’s say there are a couple of key competencies or skills that are needed for a particular job opening. Our clients use the HireVue Virtual Interview to ask those questions. Because candidate’s responses are recorded, they can be easily compared using the comparison tools within HireVue. With one click, the reviewer can stay on that same question, but listen to each candidate’s answer. This is REAL candidate comparison and is almost impossible to replicate in normal interviewing cycles. Using HireVue’s Candidate Comparison and Evaluation tools allow the hiring team to get a deep perspective on candidates and really make it easier to decide which candidate should advance in the process.

This is exactly why HireVue exists today…and why companies that use video job interviews are so passionate about our offerings.

2009 was a year full of enormous positive changes here at HireVue with the addition of a new team, new platform, new investors and many new customers. 2010 seems primed for major changes not only at HireVue but across the entire HR community.

A New Newsletter in 2010

I’m pleased to announce one of our first changes of 2010, THE VUE, a new monthly newsletter from HireVue. You can look to THE VUE each month for news, updates on changes happening at HireVue and valuable information on video interviewing and recruiting in general. In every issue you’ll hear from me or one of the HireVue staff. We’ll make sure you know what’s going on at HireVue and perhaps share a thought or two related to current events. Sometimes we’ll focus on video interviewing and sometimes we won’t but I’ll make you this promise – whatever we have to say, it will always be relevant and may even be insightful and entertaining.

We’ve also asked a number of writers in the HR community to contribute one article each newsletter with helpful tips and best practices in all areas of HR, not just video interviewing. For example, in this month’s issue, NAS’ Caroline Slomski opens our eyes to the promise of mobile recruiting and gives some tips on what can be done to get on board.

For those of you still wondering how video interviewing fits into your talent acquisition strategy or for those of you who’ve implemented it but want to find other ways to use it, we’ll include a customer success story each month to help you see how others are using HireVue. Also, whenever possible we’ll include special content such as white papers, webinar recordings, articles and other things you need to get and stay fully informed.

To subscribe to the newsletter, go to the HireVue home page and scroll down to the newsletter sign up in the right column.

Planning for Change

If you’re not following John Sumser’s series of articles on preparing for the future of recruiting on ERE.net, you should. In the second article of the series, he recalls that old Eisenhower quote attributed to him during his days as the Commanding General of European and African Allied forces where he was tasked with ending World War II. “The plan is nothing. The plan is everything.” As the quote implies, change is inevitable but that’s not why we plan. Planning simply helps us to survey the field and do our best to consider our options. It might even give us a pretty good map of the battlefield but as Eisenhower well knew, things can get disorienting in the heat of battle and relying on the map alone can get you killed.

The war for talent has been on hiatus but if the economy turns around any time soon it could heat up quick. According to the Washington Post, economists typically look to six elements of the economy when judging its health. When three of the six show significant improvements over a two to three month period, they say recovery is on the way. I took a look at the indicators they suggest and here’s what I found.

1. Jobless Claims - Jobless claims have dropped every week but 1 over the past 20 weeks, reducing weekly claims by nearly 100,000 over that same period. That’s 1 out of 6. (Source – U.S. Dept. of Labor)
2. Durable Goods – New orders for durable goods excluding transportation increased 0.9 percent last month. This is a good sign, but we need to see this positive trend over two or three months and this is the first increase since September. So the score’s still 1 out of 6. (Source – U.S. Dept of Commerce)
3. Existing Home Sales – After a rising surge from September through November, existing-home sales fell as expected in December after first-time buyers rushed to complete sales before the original November deadline for the tax credit. However, prices rose from December 2008 and annual sales improved in 2009. While it’s tough to know for sure if this trend’s for real due to the tax credits, this looks to be a good sign that investors and would-be homeowners are back in the market. I’ll buck my usually skeptical ways and give this a thumbs up – 2 out of 6. (Source National Association of Realtors)
4. Consumer Confidence – The Consumer Confidence Index has risen steadily since October 2009 (about 6%). Economists say that’s enough to expect things to continue trending upward so who am I not to agree. That makes it 3 out of 6. (Source – The Conference Board)
5. Retail Sales – retail sales have improved 1.8% over the past three months adjusted for Holiday sales. I think you get the idea – 4 out of 6. (Source – U.S. Dept. of Commerce)
6. Interest Rate Spread – The Wall Street Journal says that the difference between the yield on risk-free, three-month Treasury bills and the London interbank offered rate, or Libor, a rate at which banks lend to each other is a pretty good indicator of economic health as long as the gap is 1/2 percentage point or less. As of today, it’s 2/10 of a percent. 5 out of 6. (Source Wall Street Journal)

Prepared for Change

From what I can tell, it’s time to start sharpening your swords, the battle looks to be back on! From NPR to your brother-in-law you’ll get no shortage of advice for how to prepare so I’ll make mine short and sweet. Of course it’s related to video interviewing. Don’t panic. “How is that video interviewing related?” You ask. One thing video interviewing does extremely well is support the demands of the current recruiting environment – the one built on the old economy, the one that has you doing more with less – while setting you up for the new paradigms of a recovering economy. So with HireVue you can sit tight and see which way the tide rolls because you’re prepared no matter what happens or how fast it unfolds. Below is a comparison I often share to explain how we do this.

Today: Bear Market

In a Bear Market, HireVue helps you:

• Do more with less since interviews can be conducted and reviewed anywhere, anytime.
• Live with reduced staff.
• Interview anyone even with travel restrictions.
• Improve the quality of your hires since you get a clearer view into your candidate pool.
• Manage high candidate volume.
• Give candidates an opportunity to interview without feeling like they’re jeopardizing their current job.
• Reduce the risk of a bad hire.
• Access passive talent and keep all talent invested in the process.
• Gain greater efficiency from a much simplified process.
• Learn more about the benefits of video job interviewing.

Tomorrow: Bull Market

In a Bull Market HireVue helps you:

• Be more efficient as you scale for growth.
• Push your brand message further.
• Manage high requisition volume.
• Make it easier on high value candidates to pay attention to you.
• Increase your speed-to-hire & improve your workflow.
• Give you a competitive advantage due to ease-of-use and “wow” factor.
• Help you access and find the best candidates in a highly competitive situation.

The future of our space is exciting to think about. Not just the 5-year future but what will transpire in the next twelve months. I’m optimistic about it; even more so after looking under the hood a little at the economic trends, and though, as Eisenhower eluded to, nothing is certain. I think the change we’ll experience between now and this time next year will be positive. Still, you’ll have a lot to think about regardless so if we can help reduce the stress a little with HireVue we’d love to help.

I hope you found this article and, if you received it, the newsletter beneficial. Don’t forget to read Caroline’s article on mobile recruiting, I think you’ll find it incredibly helpful. I’d love to get your feedback on anything so don’t hesitate to drop me an e-mail at mnewman@hirevue.com, and if you’d like to sign up for our newsletter, go to our homepage and scroll down to see the newsletter sign up in the right column.

Sincerely,

Mark

This article also appeared in this month’s issue of THE VUE, HireVue’s monthly newsletter. To sign up, go to the HireVue home page and scroll down to the newsletter sign up on the right.

We can all breathe a sigh of relief. 2009 is officially over. But the last year has brought more than a change in government, home values, and 401(k) plans. Companies battened down the hatches to ride out the economic wave; and, yet, something else has been brewing: The way in which we consume information. We emerged from our safety shelters and entered a world that is more on-demand than ever before. Leading the revolution? The mobile web.

Last Wednesday, Steve Jobs stepped onto Apple’s stage once again to finally announce one of the most highly anticipated mobile devices of our lifetimes. The Apple iPad. The iPad and other similar new generation mobile devices on the way from Research in Motion (RIM), Nokia, Archos and Vliv may not yet be the perfect mobile devices for recruiting due to lack of support for most video file types and critical HR applications but the promise is real and it’s closer than you think. In fact, your candidates have already begun to arrive at the party and they expect you to be there to greet them even if it hasn’t completely started. There are a number of things you can do to ensure they don’t leave before things get really interesting.

First, let’s consider what we have to work with today. The mobile web is exceedingly more diverse an experience than the web interaction you get from your standard desktop or laptop computer because there are so many variables. The iPhone or Google’s Android phones give you a different mobile web experience than say RIM’s BlackBerry devices. A WAP-enabled Nokia phone, a different experience still. The mobile web introduces a completely new set of rules and challenges that the HR community must adopt.

Considering mobile adoption numbers, if you’re committed to delivering a best-in-class candidate experience and to truly engaging A-level talent, here are your steps for getting mobile-ready:

1. Build a mobile career website. Why? Because despite the fact that most phones are not going to support those beautiful flash pieces you spent months perfecting, the mobile web of today is about snackable content. Your mobile career site is the online equivalent to the 30-second elevator pitch. Deliver only the most essential information and don’t forget to consider your visitors’ needs.
2. Forget about “apply now” for the moment. Your online job application forms are not compatible with most of today’s web-enabled mobile phones. But you can’t afford to miss an opportunity to engage these visitors. Instead of driving them to your application, encourage them to complete a short form that includes their email address and area of interest. Add these names to your talent network and push out relevant career and company information.
3. Expand your communication channels. A mobile-ready site brings with it a whole slew of new communication venues to add to your sourcing strategy: 1) Mobile search marketing, expected to grow to a $2.9 billion business by 2013; 2) Mobile banners, which typically receive much higher click-through-rates than the traditional online banners; and 3) Text messaging, now more popular than calling.

The good news? Until the richer mobile experience promised by the next generation mobile devices, mobile websites work today, and, as compared to your traditional sites, they’re relatively inexpensive to build. If you have already built a strong career website, your transition into the mobile space should be pretty painless. The bad news? You can’t wait any longer to take action. Ask your agency or web analytics team to report on site traffic from mobile phones over the last 18-months. Now consider the growth that the mobile web is experiencing. Do you want your name equated with a poor user experience or as a “johnny-come-lately?” Can your hiring efforts afford to let A-level talent pass through your site without leaving behind their information?

Caroline Slomski is a Digital Marketing Strategist & Consultant for NAS Recruiting Communications focusing on employment branding, website design and online strategy. You can follow Caroline on Twitter @CarolineSlomski.

This article also appeared in this month’s issue of THE VUE, HireVue’s monthly newsletter. To sign up, go to the HireVue home page and scroll down to the newsletter sign up on the right.