In 2002, when we launched a mobile site, the idea of using the internet on your phone was very new but we could see that this was likely to change and wanted to be there from the start.

Eight years on and it’s clear to see that mobile for many is fast becoming a popular method for job hunting. In the last 19 months, Jobsite has seen an increase of over 600% in mobile traffic and visits from mobile now represent over 5% of our total website visits – more than double what Yahoo and Bing search engines provide to us combined. This is pretty incredible in such a short space of time and these numbers are continuing to grow at an astounding rate, especially with the arrival of new smart phones.

Improving the mobile user experience

To ensure that people have a good experience when accessing Jobsite via their mobile phone, we designed our mobile site so that it recognises the visitor is using a phone  and adapts the layout and design automatically.

We’ve also produced apps for the various handsets to help make job hunting as quick and easy as possible – our number one aim. Our iPhone and Vodaphone 360 apps are already available and by the end of 2010, Jobsite will also be available as an application on the Android and soon to launch Windows Mobile 7 platforms.

To give an idea of their popularity and reach, our iPhone app has had over 120,000 downloads to date and by May 2010 had been used for over 660,000 searches.

We’re continually developing additional services for the apps and we maintain close relationships with technology giants such as Microsoft and Google to ensure we adapt and evolve our mobile offering in a way that best utilises the latest technology.

Mobile advertising

Given the way people are now using their phones, mobile is also a key part of our advertising strategy. Starting in October 2010, we’ll be running the UK’s largest ever pre-roll video campaign across premium mobile channels and sites (3, Orange, Sky, ITN etc). This will run for 8 weeks, serving 3 million impressions and is forecasted to drive an additional 250,000 visits to Jobsite. We invest a lot into making sure we use mobile in the most effective way and the Mobile Merit Award we won for our advertising in January is a good sign that we’re getting it right.

The future of mobile recruitment

To ensure we maintain our market leader position in mobile, we also take an active role in discovering what the next developments are likely to be in mobile recruiting. We co-hosted a roundtable in May 2010 with leading brands such as Microsoft, Google, Reuters and the IAB to produce the Future of Mobile Recruitment report and in September we’re lead sponsor of the first Mobile and Video in Recruitment Conference.

Leading through innovation

We don’t focus on mobile in isolation though. To truly achieve our aim of taking the pain out of job hunting, we make sure that we enable people to search for jobs in the most convenient way for them. That means when they want, where they want and how they want. For example, we have our Jobs-by-Twitter service and Jobsite on Freesat. So, whether you’re watching TV, using your mobile, at work or socialising with friends, Jobsite is always at your fingertips.

This is integral to being a market leader, recognising new ways that people might want to job hunt and building tools so that they can do it quickly and easily. Being focused on just one job hunting medium is not enough.

If you have any suggestions or questions please feel free to leave a comment below.

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