Overview

Looking Local works in partnership with Jobcentre Plus to extend their national job search service on to digital interactive TV, mobile and the Wii in order to make it available to those without access to a PC or broadband.

Anyone across the country with interactive digital TV can access the database through Looking Local to search for jobs, whether or not their Local Authority subscribe to the portal. Local authorities who have Looking Local sites benefit from the significant usage and popularity of the service and the visibility it brings their other services on the portal.

Getting to the right audience

Growth in the number of people looking for work in today's economic climate has led to a huge jump in usage. In March '09, 26,000 people across the UK used their TV remote to search for jobs via local government sites on Looking Local, recording a million hits between them.

An online survey of over 1,500 users found that as many as half search for jobs daily and a further quarter access the service at least once a week. Almost a quarter (23.5%) had already found a new job through the service on TV and an additional 18% had completed applications for jobs but not yet been successful.

68% of respondents to the survey confirmed they have no access to PC and broadband and would be unable to search for jobs electronically without the TV based service. A similar number of respondents (70%) explained that the significant benefits to them of using the job search via interactive TV were its convenience and ease of use.

Read how recession drives use of digitally inclusive technologies here.

Benefits

• Helps those digitally excluded to reach Jobcentre Plus jobs without needing a PC or broadband
• Allows unlimited access to those unemployed or people looking for work to find vacancies without spending money or having to travel
• Helps people back to work, which in turn boosts the local economy and builds skills and self esteem
• Gives equitable access to vacancies
• Goes towards meeting local policy, political and strategic objectives

Service Features

• Ability to search for a vacancy by job type, by distance, full or part time or by when the vacancy was posted
• Facility to search across the whole country or by region
• Updated in real time with instructions as to how to apply for individual jobs
• Giving access to the same database as is available online, in kiosks across UK Jobcentres and by telephone
• Free on DiTV, available 24/7 and accessible on the go on mobile phones and on the Wii
• Easy to navigate, accessibility and usability tested and specifically designed for each device

Comments

Karen, 44, from Cardiff, found Jobcentre Plus on Sky Interactive by chance while watching one of her favourite programmes, and is delighted with the job and extra income she has found as a result.

Karen needed a part time job that fitted in with looking after her mother, whom she visits every day. Buses are infrequent where she lives and an expense she can ill afford, so she rarely visited the job centre and subsequently often missed any suitably flexible opportunities that came up.

It was a huge relief therefore when she discovered Jobcentre Plus and realised how easy it was to navigate the site. Encouraged, she started searching immediately and secured a job which fitted in with her commitments within a couple of days. She is now working as a commercial cleaner three hours a day, has the extra income she wants and can still help her mother when she needs to.

"Jobcentre Plus is cheap and simple to use and helped me find a job very quickly. I've never used computers so wasn't really aware of internet based job sites and wouldn't feel comfortable using them anyway. I never had the need to use the internet before and now I definitely don't thanks to Looking Local." said Karen.

Simon Lee lives in the Welsh valleys, 22 miles from Cardiff.

"Looking Local saves me the time and bus fare to go to the Job Centre which is some distance away. I prefer it to the JCP jobs phone line as you have to pay local call rate and I can't afford it. Using Looking Local to job search very useful, handy and convenient."

Gary Marshall, Lea Valley

"I would just like to thank you for making this service available through the TV. I'm out of work at the moment and no money to travel around to interviews, so this really helps me. Thank you."