Blind job-seekers have traditionally been at a disadvantage, for few job vacancies have been widely posted in accessible format. How were you supposed to find out about the position in a timely manner? If you didn't have an adaptive computer, or a sighted reader with you, you didn't find out.
Now, the National Federation of the Blind, the largest organization
of blind people in the United States, has pioneered in developing the technology
to access and search computer database files with a standard touch-tone telephone.
To access AMERICA'S JOBLINE®,
simply telephone: 1-800-414-5748.
For the user (normally someone who is looking for employment), AMERICA'S JOBLINE®
is instantly available on the telephone, 24 hours a day, providing all job announcements
in a high-quality synthesized speech format, instead of printed text. The system
provides all callers the ability to search AMERICA'S JOB BANK (administered
by the U.S. Department of Labor), allows job seekers to create and store in
the system personal job-search profiles for use in quickly locating vacancies
for which they are qualified; and allows users the option to retrieve, if they
wish, only the new and relevant job listings posted since the last call, or
retrieve previously saved announcements.
With AMERICA'S JOBLINE®, the user enters a search profile into the system, using a standard touch-tone telephone keypad, in response to menu choices. As with the job announcement information, the menu choices are presented in a voice-output format. To try JOBLINE® yourself, call: 1-800-414-5748.
America's Jobline® was created to help:
* Persons who do not have or cannot use standard computers, who now have a convenient and easy-to-use alternative means to obtain job information; and
* Persons who cannot see or cannot read standard video display terminals, who now have audio access, without expensive adaptive equipment of their own.
What are these jobs? Where do they come from? AMERICA'S JOB
BANK, the database JOBLINE® searches, is the set of jobs listed in the U.S.
Job Service, the world's largest job database. At any given time, there may
be a million open positions in there, catalogued by region and job type. If
you are an employer, and you post a job vacancy with U.S. Job Service in your
state, blind users of AMERICA'S JOBLINE® can now access that job as soon
as it is entered. (To learn more about AMERICA'S JOB BANK, go to website: www.ajb.org
or contact your local Job Service office.)