Use your phone to find a new job

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People are increasingly using their mobile phone's search facility as a competitive tool when searching for jobs, says a new survey.

Mobility specialist mobilePeople says its findings show the number of overall on-the-move searches conducted in Europe during 2006 was up ten fold on the previous year.

Six per cent of all such searches in the run-up to Christmas were for jobs and recruitment consultants, it reveals. Other popular uses include ordering taxis, looking for restaurants and making last minute purchases.

Mobile market analyst Rob Bamforth of Quocirca says he believes the next wave of mobile searching will be driven by business users as much as consumers.

"Clearly mobile searching, and the use of mobile devices generally, is extending into new areas," he told IT PRO. "People are using their mobiles to keep up to date with developments in key business deals, and to keep track of what's coming onto the market in their industry - all issues that have the need for immediacy that mobility delivers."

Bamforth says he recently agreed a price for a house sale using text messages. "I read that TV entrepreneur Duncan Ballantine concluded a whole deal the same way. There's more transactional use of mobiles going on."

Banks, he says, are among the leaders in developing applications that turn mobiles into remote access points.

"Who would have thought a year ago about looking for a job on their mobile?" said Jens Andersen, chief executive of mobilePeople. "Companies worldwide are now facing winning over the 'I need it now' generation that chooses a mobile phone as a means of searching for information. It's the final call to get on the mobile web or miss out."

The combination of 3G networks and improved device capabilities means that mobile searching is getting faster and easier, says Eden Zoller, principal analyst at Ovum's consumer practice. "It is becoming something people want to try, and as the mobilePeople survey highlights, comes into its own when people are time constrained, on the move and need something quickly."

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