Re: Job Application Query : Sat Mar 22, 2014 3:58 pm
Him wrote:
Lol. No, no they don't! At least not from my albeit limited experience of the jobcentres. I help a friend of mine who's currently unemployed. She struggles with her hearing and isn't the most confident of people so she likes to have someone with her when she goes to the jobcentre etc so I help out when I can.
She's required to apply for 10 jobs per week. Which isn't a problem, anyone who's saying they can't find 10 jobs to apply for per week really isn't trying, but she's required to use the Universal Jobmatch website, which is just useless. It has some decent jobs but the vast majority are from agencies which don't tell you the name of the employer, where the workplace is and often don't tell you the hours of work. Which is off-putting when you're applying for a job that you know very, very little about and especially so when the jobcentres are desperate to find any reason to sanction a persons benefits. Also it's difficult to change the CV you use on the site, so it's difficult to tailor your CV toward a specific job.
Unfortunately she gets very little assistance from the job centre. Calling it a job centre is the wrong description really, it's a benefits eligibility checking centre. They don't help you find a job they just make you jump through certain hoops so that they can say you've done this, that and the other and then you can get your benefits.
For instance, she has A-Levels in both Maths and English yet was still sent on an English & Maths Functional Skills course for 4 weeks. A complete waste of time and money for everyone involved, when what she needs is courses that help her with interviews etc to get her confidence up.
Whilst I'm on a rant about jobcentres I might as well say how ridiculous it is that any money she earns from small jobs she gets is deducted from her benefits. Which doesn't really encourage you to take a low hours job or one-time job because you're not going to be financially better off, in fact probably worse off when adding in travelling costs.
Oh and the amount of jobs that are zero hours or low guaranteed hours (say 8 hours per week) that require you to be available every day of the week is ridiculous too.
She's required to apply for 10 jobs per week. Which isn't a problem, anyone who's saying they can't find 10 jobs to apply for per week really isn't trying, but she's required to use the Universal Jobmatch website, which is just useless. It has some decent jobs but the vast majority are from agencies which don't tell you the name of the employer, where the workplace is and often don't tell you the hours of work. Which is off-putting when you're applying for a job that you know very, very little about and especially so when the jobcentres are desperate to find any reason to sanction a persons benefits. Also it's difficult to change the CV you use on the site, so it's difficult to tailor your CV toward a specific job.
Unfortunately she gets very little assistance from the job centre. Calling it a job centre is the wrong description really, it's a benefits eligibility checking centre. They don't help you find a job they just make you jump through certain hoops so that they can say you've done this, that and the other and then you can get your benefits.
For instance, she has A-Levels in both Maths and English yet was still sent on an English & Maths Functional Skills course for 4 weeks. A complete waste of time and money for everyone involved, when what she needs is courses that help her with interviews etc to get her confidence up.
Whilst I'm on a rant about jobcentres I might as well say how ridiculous it is that any money she earns from small jobs she gets is deducted from her benefits. Which doesn't really encourage you to take a low hours job or one-time job because you're not going to be financially better off, in fact probably worse off when adding in travelling costs.
Oh and the amount of jobs that are zero hours or low guaranteed hours (say 8 hours per week) that require you to be available every day of the week is ridiculous too.
I was on seekers for a month when focus shut down a couple of years ago, I agree that the online job terminals are a waste of time and energy, have to input your preferred job and what skills you have then will sometime come up with the most random suggestions, kid you not I was suggested to be a wig maker even though I had no experience of any type of manufacturing or even textile work.
Think if I remember correctly I was told to get my allowance which was £100 for the whole month, I had to prove that I had applied for a certain number of jobs, now they never mentions I had to have a cats hope in hell of getting the job just that I had applied so I'm pretty sure some of those who go there apply for what ever comes up even if they can't do that job and if they get a an interview don't plan for it and maybe don't even try to get the job.
The dregs who went into the centre near my house, and they wondered why they couldn't get a job, I think I applied for what ever I could that I had experience in (mainly customer service roles, and labouring jobs) got a reply from one even though I am a uni graduate with a fairly decent degree, had two meetings with my "advisor" who when I arrived late for one meeting (I was at a job interview before and it took me a while to get back) wasn't best pleased I was be leaving job seekers, as I was given that job. Hated having to go there made me feel like I had failed when I took me a while to get a job so I blanket cv'd the retail parks and any shop I could find.
