It’s been 5 months since the industries first mobile recruiting conference.  Since then, more and more companies are developing mobile recruiting capabilities.  The business case for mobile continues to strengthen for both sides of the table (candidates and recruiters).

According to a Potentialpark communications study – the priorities for candidates related to mobile are fairly clear.  Recruiters on the other hand, continue to be faced with increased demands and competing priorities.  An on-the-go approach is becoming the norm.  While there are literally hundreds of apps available that one could argue have potential or could be used for mobile recruiting it’s not realistic to have pages or folders filled with the “maybes”.  The likelihood is Recruiters rely on a couple of them, at best.  We’ve completed a lot of research, and have highlighted 10 of the top apps for mobile recruiting.

Written Communication (Dragon)
Dragon NaturallySpeaking. This is an easy-to-use voice recognition application that allows you to easily speak and instantly see your text or email messages. Can be used for a re-cap of a phone interview, communicating with hiring leaders or candidates, or can also come in handy for writing blog posts when injured.

Video Interviewing (HireVue)
Several months ago, we published a 4 article series on video interviewing, including the ROI and benefits. Since that time, the video scene for recruiting continues to evolve from interviews to now include video introductions, applications, and even sparks. Last week HireVue announced the HireVue App™ as a way to continue accelerating the recruiting process. Candidates can also learn more about the organization by watching employment branding videos, as well as introductions and thank you videos from the hiring manager and recruiting team.

Sourcing & Networking (beamMe) 
It wasn’t that long ago that beamME was about sending a virtual business card to other devices via SMS or email. With the app, you can now quickly find people nearby based on your profile. You can connect beamME securely to your Twitter, Linkedin and Facebook accounts and see contacts across networks in a single app. You can then easily chat, share your actual location or contact information and meet. beamME even learns your preferences over time – the more you use it, the better it get.

CRM Capability (JobScience)
From sourcing and pipelining to building communities and managing relationships, the need for CRM tools have increased significantly over the past 5 years – primarly due to the limitations of some applicant tracking systems (and the differences in activities between a “contact” and an “applicant”. Jobscience, one of the leaders in this space, launched Jobscience Mobile powered by Force.com, Saleforce.com’s social enterprise platform for employee apps. Recruiters can invite candidates they have just met instantly to apply digitally, and resumes are instantly parsed.

File Management (Box.net)
For Recruiters or companies not using a more formal CRM tool or process that has an app available to clients, Box.net is a great service (and app) that enables to the storage of files (Resumes) for an on-the-go access. With the app, you can very quickly and easily access, view, or share files.

ATS & CRM Tool (Bullhorn)
The Bullhorn mobile app provides their key ATS and CRM features at a recruiters fingertips.  Examples include information on candidates, contacts, companies, jobs, notes, and Resumes.  With single click functionality, easy tracking, and integrated apps for email, calendar, and contacts – everything remains in sync.

Recruiting Platform (The Hire Syndicate)
The Hire Syndicate is the only Recruiter split placement community that enables Recruiters to collaborate with networks of trusted Recruiters and share placements using real time and mobile recruiting technology.

Sourcing (AutoSearch and Google Power Search Utility)
AutoSearch offers Recruiters the ability to scour the Internet for top prospective candidates and leads without spending hours on dozens of individual sites or forming complicated Boolean search strings.  If you source on Google, the Power Search Utility can be helpful in building a search string – with the power of Google built into the app.

Tungle
Tungle is a free app that helps with scheduling time with candidates.  In addition to basic calendar functionality, others can see your calendar availability easily online – so they can schedule and confirm interviews.

Productivity – Reminders (TextMinder)
If you don’t have a personal assistant like Siri :), an app like TextMinder allows you to schedule SMS text reminders to be sent to you at the times you specify, repeating as often as you choose. Whether you need to call a candidate, follow-up with a hiring leader, or set a reminder to conduct some research TextMinder might be worth checking out.

Job Postings (JobSpeek)
JobSpeek is a free mobile job posting app that re-imagines the traditional job description. It combines the unique capabilities of the smartphone and bring your jobs to life.  The app allows you to add a picture to your posting, and Our format lets you add a picture of your business and record a 60 second audio “hiring message” right from your mobile device.

If you’re wondering where the obvious apps are (LinkedIn, Twitter, etc.), we skipped past the obvious ones.  If there are others you use or would recommend – please share in the comments section.

The use and adoption of many of the apps depends on some of the systems you use and the sophistication of your approach.  Regardless, if you find yourself in a state of “app overwhelm”, the most effective app on a mobile device is – no app at all.  Just smile and dial.