Business

Jason's invention has mapped out a career

BELFAST business student Jason Davidson already has his career mapped out - but he's hoping he won't need his Job-Mapper invention to help him find a job of his own when he graduates.

The 18-year-old Business ICT student at Queen's University Belfast has designed a mobile app for job searches and has recently partnered with job website indeed.com, linking online searches to a visual 'map' of vacancies across the world.

"I had the idea last year when I noticed on job websites there were just lists and lists of positions advertised," he said.

"I thought it would be easier to look at them on a map - with the lists enhanced with a geographic inter-face showing all the jobs in one area grouped together."

So far the app has been downloaded for free to 550 devices, generated more than 58,000 job clicks and been used for almost 17,000 searches in more than 50 countries.

"JobMapper is pretty unique and the feedback so far has been very encour-aging," Mr Davidson said.

"It lets the user search for a specific keyword in a specific location and in response they will be able to see the jobs in that area on a map-based interface.

"This involves the typical list-based search for jobs being visually enhanced on a map with the most up-to-date job results and details from our providers.

"Our partnership with indeed.com, the largest job site in the world, has allowed us to have access to 16 million jobs in over 50 countries.

"There are other added benefits too - for instance, if you zoom in on Australia, you can also also pick out nearby hotels or hostels close to where a job is based."

It was while on holiday in 2013 that the former Grosvenor Grammar School pupil asked his friend Craig Wootton, who works in computer science, to come up with a prototype to test his idea in practice.

"It did work and a few months later we applied for and received an Invest NI PoC (Point of Concept) grant for £10,000 which allowed us to progress the idea to where it is today," he said.

"It has been very exciting, especially as we haven't even advertised properly yet, but I'm still a student and need to concentrate on my studies at the same time.

"I've also made the final eight of the Dragons' Den competition at Queen's and I need to prepare a 10-minute pitch for the final on April 29, so it has been a hectic few months."

The prize pot is £5,000, but the teenage entrepreneur won't be taking himself off on another holiday should he win.

"I have a few more ideas, so I would probably use the money for further development," he said.

"At some point, I would like to make money out of business innovations and inventions but I don't think I'm going to make my fortune just yet."

JopMapper is available on android and iOS and work is currently being finalised on the development of a desk-top version due to be launched later this month.

* VISUAL: The JobMapper app developed by Belfast student Jason Davidson, right