Is it possible to find a job using a cellphone app? Can you imagine connecting with your future employer through Facebook or doing a labour interview through Skype? Even though, a few years ago these would seem strange to us, it has become evident that technology is radically changing the way people look for a job, as well as the approach companies have when hiring new employees. Technology has assisted on broadening the availability and access on the labour market’s supply and demand information.

Advanced countries have long ago perceived the implications technological advances would have on the labour world. Therefore, those nations have made important investments to develop efficient technologies that aim to connect job seekers and companies. Sweden’s Public Employment Server -one of the most innovative countries on these issues- offers its services through mobile apps, social networks, chat, Skype, videoconferences or YouTube, among others.

During a seminar in Brasilia, several experts told us that in order to make new technologies lead to more transparency and better adjustments in the labour market, it is necessary to have a “multichannelling” plan. In other words, it is necessary to strategically determine which services have to be offered to which users and through which channels. The goal is to integrate traditional and digital channels to offer services is the most efficient and effective way possible.

Public employment services must keep on innovating to take advantage of the entire potential of new technologies. This does not mean that traditional channels will disappear. As the author of a research that compares “multichannelling” schemes in 13 European countries, Willem Pieterson, says, some groups are very little familiar with new technologies and some services, such as custom-made advice, are quite difficult to move to the online world. The challenge is finding the most efficient combination.

Labour market’s digitalization has also arrived at Latin America. Almost every employment service in the region already offer some kind of online service, despite the fact that there is great diversity as regards the degree of maturity and penetration of such services. The good news are that Brazil and other governments in the region are already giving thought to their multichannelling strategies and they are doing so using as basis lessons learned from more advanced economies, such as the Netherlands, Sweden and the United States.

Author: Dulce Baptista

Source: http://blogs.iadb.org/trabajo/2014/09/05/encontraras-tu-proximo-trabajo-en-la-red/