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Only 10% of Southeast Asian firms have mobile-optimised career sites

Bosses in Southeast Asia could be missing opportunities to hire the best talent by failing to let job candidates apply and search for open roles from their mobile devices.

PageUp’s latest white paper, Mobilise Now: Southeast Asia, examined the career sites of 50 of the largest companies across Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand.

It found 90% of companies surveyed in the region do not have a mobile-optimised career site.

This was despite the fact that mobile device use in Southeast Asia has skyrocketed, with as much as 87% of the population of Singapore, and 80% in Malaysia, using smartphones.

Malaysia was, in fact, found to have the lowest percentage of sites that provide mobile-optimised job search experience in the region (55%).

Singapore led the list at 94%, well above the regional average of 78%.

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“Our research shows a significant gap in the adoption of mobile technology between job candidates and Southeast Asia’s biggest companies. Job seekers expect a significantly better mobile job search and application experience than employers are currently providing,” said Karen Cariss, CEO and co-founder, PageUp in a press release.

Malaysia also lagged behind when it came to the ability to apply for jobs via a mobile device, with only 45% of sites providing a mobile-enable application process.

Overall, only 60% of the career sites researched had the ability to apply via a mobile device.

"The Millennials have the convenience of mobile in all aspects of their life, then why not for their careers? They will go to the employer who provides that convenience," Cariss told Human Resources at the launch of the whitepaper findings.

Karen Cariss 2

 

She also recommended 4 tips for companies to get started on making their career websites more mobile-friendly:

  • Incorporating short and clear text on the website with obvious calls to action
  • An application process that takes less than one minute to complete
  • A seamless experience from company site to career site
  • An auto-acknowledgement of all received applications

Image: Shutterstock

 

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