Results from the inaugural Telstra Smartphone Index show 8% of employees with smartphones are surfing internet job sites, with many doing so during work hours.

Telstra’s Smartphone Index research was conducted online by The Nielsen Company in June and revealed that despite employers’ best efforts to prevent staff from searching for jobs during work hours, by blocking a number of job search websites, employees are now accessing those job sites on their smartphones during work hours.

Smartphones now account for 36% of mobiles in Australia, and are predicted to reach 50% within the next 12 months. Unsurprisingly smartphones such as the BlackBerry, iPhone and Samsung Vibrant have become modern day essentials for legal practitioners. “The partnership has embraced the iPhone world,” said Justin Westbrook, national IT manager at Maurice Blackburn. Chief information officer at Corrs Chambers Westgarth, Jon Kenton, agreed that the iPhone and iPad have been embraced by lawyers.

According to the research, 12% of employees use their smartphone during work hours and 8% use them once a week or more to access job websites. 20% of those surveyed said they had accessed job and recruitment sites on their mobiles at least once. A number of job search websites have launched iPhone applications in recent months to further assist users searching for jobs on their mobiles, complete with alerts and targeted job shortlist.

According to the research 43% of mobile-using males own a smartphone compared to 31% of females, and 41% of smartphone users are over the age of 40. 

The only iPhone application designed specifically for lawyers looking for jobs is the ALB Legal Jobs Centre app,available for free from the Apple app store.

To view all jobs listed on Legaljobscentre, click here. 

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