BBM used to broadcast jobs

The Dala U Crew (DUC) is helping South Africans find jobs by broadcasting them to its community of 24 000 BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) users.

The initiative, brainchild of young Durban businessman Sanjeev Singh, uses BBM to broadcast job opportunities to a community of 24 000 people.

DUC started out as youth community focused on keeping people informed about parties, clubs and other events. Singh decided to tap into this community to help people find jobs after a number of people approached him to help them with their searches for employment. Over the past two years, the community has blossomed and Singh carries job advertisements from a range of employers on BBM every week.

Says Singh: “I realised that BBM would be a wonderful avenue for helping people to find jobs, because it could connect thousands of people around the country to employment opportunities. Now that BBM is available on Android and iPhone devices as well as BlackBerry smartphones, nearly anyone has access to the BBM capabilities.

Since he started using BBM to connect the community to job opportunities, Singh has quietly helped thousands of South Africans to find jobs. Some employers get 300 to 400 responses for their ads, and around 200 people per week join the DUC community. More recently, Singh set up a DUC mobisite, which gets thousands of views a week.

Now, DUC plan is also offering other classifieds ads in addition to the job ads. Contacts are able to browse an assortment of services available ranging from jobs, cars for sale, services and photos from events on the company’s mobi site. “The immediacy, reliability and accessibility of BBM is helping us to make a real difference in people’s lives,” says Singh.

* Follow Gadget on Twitter on @GadgetZA