Nokia launches augmented reality job-finding app and partners with startup incubator

Finnish phone maker hopes to create a more intuitive and personal job-hunting experience

Nokia has launched a double initiative to tackle UK unemployment with an investment in a UK tech start-up scheme to try and find the next generation of British technology talent and a new job-finding app called JobLens.

JobLens brings together information from multiple sources, including social media outlets such as LinkedIn and Facebook, as well as information from job sites, to create a list of suggested jobs based on the user's contacts and location.

In an event held today attended by V3, Entrepreneur First founder Matt Clifford announced the partnership with Nokia, hailing it as a landmark moment for graduate tech startups: "Our partnership not only demonstrates the traction that the whole idea of graduate entrepreneurship is enjoying but will also provide our participants with a new set of tools and relationships to build the next generation of disruptive startups," he said.

Entrepreneur First brings 30 university graduates together in small teams to create new startup businesses for London's growing Silicon Roundabout, and Nokia aims to have some of those teams working directly on expanding its JobLens app. The scheme is also backed by corporations including Microsoft, BSkyB and Silicon Valley Bank.

Bryan Biniak, Nokia's vice president and general manager of app development, said he hoped the app would not only help tackle unemployment, but also bring out the best in the graduates.

"We want to challenge these young minds to imagine how JobLens can be enhanced and refined to address UK unemployment, a challenge that unfortunately all too many countries are combating," he said.

Secretary of state for business, innovation and skills Vince Cable gave his backing to the new partnership, saying he hoped it would "inspire even more young people to start their own business and encourage graduates to consider entrepreneurship as a career option".

He added that investment in small enterprises was the key to tackling the financial problems the UK is currently facing.

A video of the application in action is shown below: