Digital TV enables job searches from home
Friday, April 20th, 2007Jobcentre team up with digital TV providers
The Department for Work and Pensions’ Jobcentre Plus agency is piloting an interactive job search scheme for digital viewers. As a greater number of residents have access to digital TV than the net, the Jobcentre in partnership with DigiTV, a non-profit body owned and run by Kirklees council, have decided to enable a wider demographic with the opportunity to search for local vacancies from their homes.
Employment minister Jim Murphy said: “With over 70% of homes now owning at least one digital TV set a greater number of people have access to digital TV than the web. This is a great way to bring a comprehensive job search facility to those without access to the internet.”
Having said that, as the service is available to anyone that has access to satellite, cable or broadband enabled Freeview boxes, this isn’t entirely helpful for those Freeview viewers who can’t get a broadband connection. And, as and Sky, Virgin Media, BT all offer bundled deals on TV and broadband, a percentage of digital TV viewers may well be able to access Jobcentre information from home anyway.
Still, being able to view details for over 400,000 vacancies a week from home rather than at a Jobcentre desk should greatly aid those looking for work, and is another example of how the digital revolution is changing the shape of TV.
With Oyster card holders in London able to top up their cards online, it is entirely possible that this and similar public services could be accessed and topped-up through TV screens in the not too distant future.
