CareerBuilder CEO on how tech is transforming job hunting

With a strong U.S. economy and the unemployment rate at 3.7%, job seekers have more control over their careers, and employers need to work harder to attract top talent, CareerBuilder CEO Iryna Novoselky told Yahoo Finance.

“It’s a tight economy from an employer perspective and the job seekers are running it. But you also have to start from an employer perspective to go to where they are. And they’re moving mobile. We’re seeing a lot of trends on about 60, 70 percent of candidates are finding their jobs on the phone. Former roles of looking on the desktop, it still exists, but not to the level that we’re looking at on the phone,” she said.

The company relaunched its iOS and Android mobile apps last year to cater to job seekers applying directly from their phones. It also streamlined its technology for companies as well, including developing a Talent Discovery Companion App that utilizes AI and analytics.

Novoselsky said that a major challenge for companies is that many job seekers lose interest and give up midway through the application process.

“Most companies see 80, 90 percent of drop off in their application process cause people get tired. It’s a 20 min process, you get bored,” she said.

Companies also lose candidates during the background check process, when about 40% of candidates choose to walk away.

Job seekers may have the upper hand, but Novoselsky says keeping up with technology is key to staying competitive and earning higher wages.

“Sixty percent of the jobs right now have significant technical aspects to them. It’s technology in the jobs that you normally wouldn’t expect really going across the whole breadth of the economy,” she said.

Sibile Marcellus is an on-air reporter covering the day’s top stories in business for Yahoo Finance’s three daily live shows. Follow her on Twitter @sibileTV.

Follow Yahoo Finance on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Flipboard, LinkedIn, and reddit.

More from Sibile:

Kellyanne Conway: The nation’s opioid epidemic is the ‘crisis next door’

Weed company CEO: The cannabis industry will ‘gladly pay their taxes’

Strict federal guidelines compelled U.S.-based Curaleaf to list in Canada

Weed chocolatier explains what legalization in Canada means for the US market