Dear Matt: Mobile recruiting seems to be a hot topic. What is mobile recruiting and why should job seekers be aware of this growing trend?

Matt says: Mobile recruiting is exactly what it sounds like, says Rayanne Thorn, Vice President of Product Marketing and Strategy for Technomedia (technomedia.com), an integrated global talent management solutions organization. "Mobile recruiting is, in its truest form, recruiting on the run, from the road, from a mobile device," says Thorn.

Recruiters are using smartphones, tablets, e-readers and other mobile devices to recruit, interview and even hire, says Thorn. They may read a résumé from a job seeker on their smartphone while riding the bus to the office. They may e-mail to set up an interview from an iPad during a break at a networking event. They may post a job opportunity on LinkedIn while at the airport traveling for business. They may tweet or post to Facebook about career opportunities at their company in the evening while catching up on work.

"I consider everything I do to wrap around mobile recruiting," says Thorn. "Any kind of employment branding done through social media is mobile recruiting. I have hired from LinkedIn groups, I have interviewed from a mobile phone, I have interviewed via mobile Skype. These all fall under mobile recruiting. It is the direction that communication is going. We will see more organizations turn to mobile and social as the workforce becomes more mobile and more tech savvy."

By following the social channels of the organizations that you are looking to work for via Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Google+, job seekers can gain an understanding of what it might be like to work at these companies. They can also learn how these companies use mobile in their recruiting and gain an advantage over nonmobile job seekers.

Some companies, such as HireVue and GreenJobInterview, have video and live-stream interview technologies that can be accessed from a mobile device. In time it could be common to interview from your mobile device. This isn't a trend, it's the future. And for some tech-savvy firms and recruiters, that future is now.

"This will make a difference in how we communicate, in how we do business," says Thorn. "It will not replace the handshake or the interview, but fresh calling may be the next best thing. That's engaging from a mobile device whether it will be e-mail, text, or voice calling."

The bottom line is your job search should no longer consist of just sitting down at the home computer to fire off résumés. You can network, communicate, apply and interview for jobs all from your mobile device.

Become engaged. Become mobile. It's not a trend, it's the future.

Contact Matt at jobslink@startribune.com