Home Depot is expanding presence in Mobile to attract new customers and new employees – with a social video series and a mobile-optimized careers site. This includes working on a number of digital and mobile innovations designed to attract potential employees and streamline the application process. This is a great example of the ways mobile can address internal initiatives as well as marketing and commercial projects. “We want everyone to have an easy and convenient experience with The Home Depot, whether they’re shopping with us or applying for a position,” said Tim Crow, EVP — Human Resources.
Behind the Apron
When brands and marketers think about mobile, overwhelmingly two things immediately come to mind: how can I use this to attract customers and how can I use this to facilitate transactions from customers. These are understandable instincts, and both areas have seen huge innovations thanks to the introduction and proliferation of mobile. But it is also important for brands to understand the ways that mobile can work for them to address internal needs – especially for recruiting.
The Home Depot is now using mobile as a way of attracting employees and streamlining the process by which they apply for a job. The first step for this is massively streamlining the application process through mobile and digital enhancements with the launch of a new careers site that is fast, responsive and optimized for mobile. A stated goal of the campaign is to make applications easy on any device. The application process has been sped up by 80 % and can be completed in under 15 minutes. Additionally, the Home Depot is promoting a digital video series aimed at showing potential employees what it is like to work there called ” Behind the Apron “. The digital campaign is coordinated to make the process of learning about Home Depot, finding a job and applying for it as simple as possible.
Expanding Opportunities with Mobile
Using mobile as a means of recruiting new employees leverages popular technology. Going forward, as mobile continues to grow in popularity and dominance of the digital landscape, it will become even more important to make mobile an integral part of their business. Home Depot has already doing this with a commitment to chatbots and beacons (see story). Additionally, mobile is being used to solve a difficult paint-related problem (see story).
“In talking to Customers, we were able to identify where the biggest gaps were in the experience,” said Samara Tuchband, Senior Director and General Manager of Online Merchandising. “One of the big nuggets that came out was that we really needed to focus on color and their ability to have confidence when using mobile, like in the store with our color wall. Since it is different, we had to reimagine how to approach color in a nontraditional way and digitally replicate the store experience.”
March 6, 2017 CAIL …. from Mobile Industry commentary