User talk:Diaspocareers3

Mobile phones and job search in Africa
It's been a while since the internet was introduced in Africa, opening doors to the spread of internet cafés and internet enabled-phones making job search even easier. Job search via mobile websites is increasing in other parts of the world in Europe, America, Asia and in the Middle East as internet users grow due to the introduction of internet-enabled mobile phones. In Africa, however, very few job seekers are still aware of this technology. How easy and cost-effective this would be for so many Africans in search for new career challenges. Mobile jobsites is seen to be the best and affordable way to find jobs in Africa and worldwide irrespective of the location and the time.

What does it mean for online recruitment sites? Well, it simply mean more exposure, more sales and fast service delivery. The reason is, having a mobile version of a job board in Africa is vital to offer every mobile user a quick and easy way of searching and applying for jobs regardless of the handset they own. In South Africa, many job boards now have their mobile websites and very soon, many others will go mobile as soon as the benefits are weighted against the cost of having a mobile enabled website.

This study also demonstrated that a small number of African companies owns a mobile version of their sites while the number of people accessing the Internet via the mobile phone is larger than one that uses the internet to work, at home and in cyber cafés. Thus having a mobile version of a job site in Africa is essential to provide each mobile user in a quick and easy opportunity to apply for a job regardless of the handset they own. According to the Internet World Stats (2010: Internet Source), there are about 110,931,700 internet users from a population of 1,013,779,050. This a very important figure, yet small, but which is predominated by professionals, executives and graduates and is still increasing as technology improves. This shows how important it is to have a mobile version of a job site to reach more people who don't necessarily have access to internet cafe or computer, but internet enabled cell phones. It will be beneficial for people across Africa and worldwide to search for your jobs via their mobile phones with ease.

Mobile based websites specializing in the job advertising markets should see this as an opportunity to increase their presence from people in offices and internet cafés to those who use their mobile phones to search for jobs on the go. They should also realise that this is good news for recruitment agencies, executive search agencies also known as head hunters who would benefit from job boards with high internet traffic. The truth is that recruiters and employers want to reach high quality candidates fast, and a job board that has high traffic on the internet via mobile phone users in Africa would have the highest market positioning. It is well known that job hunting is a very a personal activity, so it seems only natural that people should be able to do it in private regardless of when and where you are. As a matter of fact, time is generally often wasted when sitting on a taxi, bus or waiting for a train, so people can now better spend it by searching for potential careers in Africa from the palm of their hand. Recent statistics have also shown that more people across Africa are accessing social network websites via their mobile than a desktop PC, so it is clear the demand is already there. As an African job seeker, you might be asking: "how do I go about all this?" It is very simple. Here is how you can land your dream job without going to an internet cafe or wait for the next day at work to use the office work computer to search and apply for jobs. You can do it at right from your own mobile phone:

Start by getting an internet enabled cell phone like Blackberry or any windows phone like Nokia, HTC, etc. Some mobile phones would require you to go to your mobile provider to have your internet set up. You might need to go there in person or simply follow some instructions depending on how they have set it up in your country.

Once you have internet in your mobile phone, you now start with job search. The second step would be for you to register and upload your CV if your phone allows you to do so. a Blackberry or any windows based phone would also have this function, but would depend on the capacity of your phone. In case your memory is small, you can buy a memory card to your phone so you can keep all your important documents in your phone such as CV, motivation letter, qualifications, etc. Once registered, complete your profile or online resume as accurate as possible to make it more recruiter friendly. Please note that an online resume is your business card by which the employer or recruiter can see who you really are. many jobseekers miss job opportunities because they just don't have a good CV written.

Remember. The idea of Job boards is so that job seekers can have a free platform where they manage all their careers online without having to search for all the recruitment agencies. This is a very difficult job, having to get all the recruiters and send your CV for a job. No human being can do such a job. Now this job has been easy both for job seekers and recruiters. With your mobile phone, being connected to the internet, can help you best in your search for better career opportunities no matter where you are on the continent.