Flash : Recruiting and Mobile Tech

May 10, 2010

Mashable screenshot 300x243 Farewell to Flash? (And Why That Matters)

Among the Earth-shaking events of April 2010 was Apple’s announcement that iProducts will never, ever have support for Flash.

So?

It may not be important to follow the back-and-forth technical arguments about Flash, but anyone who has anything to do with corporate communications online should acquire at least a high-level overview of this development. And since employer branding in general, and the Careers site in particular, have a strong interest in social networking and multimedia, there are very good reasons to be in the picture on this topic.

Oh?

Skip the details, and the issue is mainly mobility. For good or otherwise—folks today want to see/find/do everything on their phones (and other mobile devices) that they can see/find/do at their desks. In fact they want to do more, since they will be operating in physical space, in real time, rather than just looking at a static monitor. Plus: They want it all to be seamlessly familiar, easily accessible, battery-friendly, and plenty quick.

Leveraging the mobility agenda is increasingly important for effective recruiting. So companies need to be aware of shifts in technology and ahead of the adoption/implementation curve. If IT is trying to talk to you about HTML5, listen. If they are not talking about it, worry.

For a fairly friendly introduction to the issues at play, follow these steps:

Read Steve Jobs’s clearly written and well reasoned explanation of Apple’s position.
Read Mashable’s follow-up post, Apple Didn’t Kill Flash, HTML5 Did.
Read another point of view from Flash developer Richard Leggett
Zoom out and review the big picture with Wired’s analysis of the Top 7 Disruptions of 2009.

Finally, make sure tech evolution is getting serious consideration at your company. Will those high-value passive candidates be able to view CEO greetings, employee testimonials, and other cool Careers content on their iPads??

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Cynthia Giles

Cynthia Giles has followed a serpentine career path from academia to publishing to marketing and design to information technology and corporate communications. There’s plenty of detail about this journey at www.cynthiagiles.com, but briefly--the common theme has been ideas, and how to present them effectively. Along the way, she became an accidental expert on data warehousing and business intelligence, and for the past ten years she has combined corporate contracting with an independent consulting practice that focuses on marketing strategy for smaller businesses and non-profits. Having spent quite a bit of time looking for work, and anywhere from two weeks to two years inside a wide variety of American companies—she has given much thought to what works (and what doesn’t) when it comes to creating a great employment fit.