Smartphones are set to play an increasing role in creating an “emotional” attachment to employer brands, according to Matthew Jeffery, EMEA head of talent acquisition and global talent brand at 3D design software provider Autodesk.

Jeffery, who was recently international chairman and keynote speaker at ERE Global Recruiting Conference in San Diego, US, told Recruiter that mobile app technology would increasingly add to a recruiter’s arsenal due to their ability to reach passive candidates, anywhere, anytime and any place.

According to Jeffery, corporate recruiters need to open up the “corporate iron doors” to let people see what it is like behind the doors to the “nuts and bolts” the good and the bad at an organisation and enter two-way conversations.

In using social networks such as Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn, recruiters should resist merely listing hyperlinks to jobs but also create meaningful content and have regular communication with candidates, developing relationships via mobile communications, as well as more traditional online communication, Jeffery added. “The UK is still very much in the early stages in using mobile apps for recruitment but is on a EuroStar or Eurofighter plane speeding to catch up in this area. A lot of companies are still looking at the best way to talk to candidates and get into social media but are not completely on the ball with taking social media and putting it into an app and combining it with a job search engine in new apps.

“I think there will be a huge rush of companies developing these apps. I think it will be a key theme driving recruitment in the year ahead.

Recruiters will be looking at the way in which they can reach out to candidates through social media. They will be looking at how you take that interest in communications and transparency and take it to those people on iPads on the trains and smartphones. Having those apps captures their attention and promotes the employment brand and promotes transparency and engages communities. You can have that job search functionality in there as well. In all ways, recruiters are the winner in getting their message across.”