America's Jobline Logo     Introducing
AMERICA'S JOBLINE
Job Search by Phone

What Is America's Jobline?
First, there was Newsline, coming soon to Alabama, but America's Jobline is already here. The National Federation of the Blind (NFB), the largest organization of blind people in the United States, has pioneered creation and dissemination of technology for accessing and searching computer files with a standard touch-tone telephone.

Now, with the proven effectiveness of Newsline, an entirely new service called America's Jobline is possible. Once in operation in any particular state or local area, America's Jobline will deliver information about available employment opportunities to anyone who calls the system from a touch-tone telephone.

If you are looking for employment, Jobline is a free public service provided by: the Alabama Department of Rehabilitation, Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs and the Alabama State Employment Service with assistance from the National Federation of the Blind and the United States Department of Labor. New jobs are listed on the system each day, and jobs that are filled are removed. All that is required is a touch-tone telephone to establish your personalized job-search profile.

Getting Started:
Before your start using the Alabama JobLine we suggest you follow the Ready Reference Guide that will lead you through America's JobLine demonstration at the National Site. It will show you how to use all features of the system and help you to get started the first time you dial in. When you are confident in using the demonstration system you are ready to try Alabama's Jobline at (888) 737-2163, toll-free in Alabama, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

How Does America's Jobline Work?
For the user (normally someone who is looking for employment), America's JobLine:

  • Is instantly available on the telephone 24 hours a day to provide all job announcements in a high-quality synthetic speech format instead of printed text

  • Provides all callers with the ability to search Alabama's Job Bank or a comparable statewide job order database

  • Allows job seekers to create and store on the system personal job search profiles for use in quickly locating vacancies for which they are qualified; and n allows users the option to retrieve only the new and relevant job listings posted since the last call or retrieve previously stored announcements.

With America's Jobline, the user enters a search profile into the system using the standard touch-tone telephone keypad to respond to menu choices. As with the job announcement information, the menu choices are presented in a voice-output format. For a brief demonstration, call (410) 539-0818 and use this Ready Reference Guide.

Whom Does America's Jobline Help?

States served by Jobline

JobLine Helps:

  • Persons who do not have or cannot use standard computers, who now have a convenient and easy-to-use access alternative to job information; and

  • Persons who cannot see or cannot read standard video display terminals, who now have audible access.

National surveys have estimated the unemployment rate for persons with disabilities to be as high as seventy percent. While access to job information by computer is now becoming commonplace in schools connected to the Internet, Job Service offices, professional and vocational preparation and training programs, and the growing number of one-stop employment and training service centers sponsored by the United States Department of Labor, persons who have difficulty using it, whether from disability or other causes, are in danger of being left behind. Accordingly, persons who are blind, individuals with significant visual impairments or dyslexia, and those unable to travel to job service centers will certainly benefit greatly from America's Jobline, which can give them an effective means of obtaining 24-hour-a-day access to the same job listings that can be seen on computer screens.

Implementation plans:
America's Jobline is now available in Alabama by calling (888) 737-2163 under a cooperative agreement between the National Federation of the Blind and, The Alabama Department of Rehabilitation, the Alabama Department of Industrial Relations and the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs. America's Jobline takes advantage of the Federation's experience in creating and building the text-to-speech conversion technology and mass distribution network used for Newsline.

America's Jobline" operates in collaboration with the United States Department of Labor, state job service agencies, and Alabama's Job Bank on the Internet. Using the Internet for the high-speed transfer of computer files, the America's Jobline command center obtains job-orders which are updated daily. The files are then processed and made available for distribution in the full-word speech format.