Jobseekers allowance help - 'New deal'

Horace

bjjr wrote: »

Hi all, have a question regarding JSA.

I finished my uni degree a good 6 months back, so have been unemployed for around 6 months. I have been signing on in the mean time as i have found it pretty difficult to get a job in my specialized area. I've been getting interviews and phone interviews etc, but with no luck. Today i had a 'new deal' interview with JSA, and they were pretty much pushing me away from my desired job and into a job search which i have no interest in. Now i understand that it could be along time before i get into my desired job, but for now i don't want to be distracted with job interviews for jobs i don't want, i did not complete a 4 year degree course only to give up in a few months.

What i would like to know is, although i have just signed up for this 'new deal' agreement, am i eligible to just sign off JSA now without giving a reason? and if so, would i be able to sign back up again in a few months time? (in case i have not found for job i desire, hopefully i have) I heard there would be a 13 week gap before being able to apply for a new claim, is this correct? Also one last thing, i asked the man who i was interviewed by, if i wanted to sign off how would i go about doing it? He told me to give him a call and let him know, is this necessary, or could i just hand in the booklet at the desk, tell them i'm signing off, and that'll be it?Thx all for your time, all advice is welcome.

If you have signed up for a New Deal agreement then you would still receive your JSA. Unfortunately the rules of claiming JSA is that you apply for any job even if it is not in the field of work that you want to go into - if you say to the jobcentre "i am not going to apply for it because I don't want it" means that they have every right to terminate your claim for JSA. I know its not your fault that you are unemployed - a lot of us are, I too am on a New Deal programme but I am disabled and have set up my own business and getting support from the jobcentre whilst I do it. I re-trained to do something totally different.

Have you thought about registering with some temp agencies, or even writing to the companies that you want to work for in the field that you specialise in? If you don't ask then you don't get and writing to them out of the blue may just help especially if you offer to work for free or temp for them as a way of getting experience. Don't just limit your job search to the UK either.

Without wanting to be harsh - you need to grow up a bit and start applying for jobs even if you don't want them - a job is a job and once you have one it is far easier to get another one. See it as extra money because it will certainly be more than the JSA you are currently receiving. It is much harder to get a job from unemployment because they are less likely to employ you - sorry but that's the way it appears.

Good luck.

PS. I found these today - they are job websites for journalists etc. As you can see I have even listed a job.

http://www.redgoldfish.co.uk/jsviewjob.asp?jid=227580&sectors=19&region=&jtype=&keywords=&offset=0

https://www.editorialjobs.co.uk
https://www.journalism.co.uk They have 71 vacancies listed.
https://www.pressgazette.co.uk

Try not to limit yourself to London - London isn't the centre of the universe and you need to think about diversifying.

dmg24

Tarry wrote: »

I went to college and done a legal secretarial course and as I didn't get any work in that area, I went into retail, and I don't regret doing so.

If you did want to secure a job in the legal sector I would recommend looking at your use of grammar first.

Tarry

Once can be lazy sometimes

I've just read back and see what you mean! That was a badly, typed sentence! I can do better, except when I am been lazy.

viktory

Tarry wrote: »

Once can be lazy sometimes

One can be lazy twice!

Tarry

Yep

I tend to think faster than I can type anyway. But anyway, I am hijacking the OP thread about how they can't find work.

ruby_eskimo

I am in the exact same position as you. I just found a job last friday but still went to my New Deal interview to find out how I go about signing off and stuff. The problem is that because it's going to take a few weeks to process my CRB and health checks and stuff I can't sign off straight away. So guess what? They made me sign onto new deal and are now making me still look for work. Even though I have a job...You are supposed to come to a comprimise with your advisor as to your action plan. I was told tha tif you don't agree then you can put your case with an adjudicator who will basically say that you have to do what the advisor says unless you have a good case. To be honest I was applying for all kinds of things because I needed anything to help fund my MRes I want to do in September, it might be the case that you can apply for pretty much anything and then think about dong further qualifications afterwards to help you in your chosen career. It really is difficult out there for us who graduated 2008, it's going to be a million times worse come June this year. Wishing you the best of luck with the Job centre and hope you can come to some resolution with them.

mrsp_4

bjjr wrote: »

Hi all, have a question regarding JSA.

I finished my uni degree a good 6 months back, so have been unemployed for around 6 months. I have been signing on in the mean time as i have found it pretty difficult to get a job in my specialized area. I've been getting interviews and phone interviews etc, but with no luck. Today i had a 'new deal' interview with JSA, and they were pretty much pushing me away from my desired job and into a job search which i have no interest in. Now i understand that it could be along time before i get into my desired job, but for now i don't want to be distracted with job interviews for jobs i don't want, i did not complete a 4 year degree course only to give up in a few months.

What i would like to know is, although i have just signed up for this 'new deal' agreement, am i eligible to just sign off JSA now without giving a reason? and if so, would i be able to sign back up again in a few months time? (in case i have not found for job i desire, hopefully i have) I heard there would be a 13 week gap before being able to apply for a new claim, is this correct? Also one last thing, i asked the man who i was interviewed by, if i wanted to sign off how would i go about doing it? He told me to give him a call and let him know, is this necessary, or could i just hand in the booklet at the desk, tell them i'm signing off, and that'll be it?Thx all for your time, all advice is welcome.

Just before Christmas My OH was in a similar situation and this is what happened to him:

Since finishing his Computer Science Degree 10 years ago he found himself out of work for the first time in his life. He did everything in his power to find work and always went above and beyond the requirements of the JSA agreement, after three months the job centre suggested that he looked for alternative roles, which he did and still found it very hard to secure work. After 6 months of being unemployed he had the New Deal interview and was one of the unlucky ones who got refered to the local community training centre to assist in his job search.

The training centre was full of lay about bums who had no interest in getting a job and were only there because they were forced to attend or lose their benefits. It was a 2 day a week course and he was informed that for 1 of the days he would have to attend the IT basics course, which included such taxing and challenging subjects as sending email's and using the internet. It turned out that my OH was more qualified than the person teaching the course and found the whole process counter productive to his job search. He was forced to sit in a room with 5 other dole draining layabouts who only cared about how many bottles of WKD they were buying or how much weed they were smoking that night.

The new deal conditions were quite strict with regards to people who signed off just to avoid the new stipulations. If you sign off you cannot sign back on until six months have lapsed otherwise you will continue on your new deal program.

OP Consider yourself lucky that you have not been put in this situation and stop being so pig headed and take any job you can. Look at it from an employers point of view, would you employ someone who is fresh out of UNI and considers themselves too good for any type of job. With most jobs you need to start at the bottom and work up, don't ever believe that it is your god given right to jump in at the top just because you have gained a degree. There are hundreds if not thousands of people who did better than you in Uni and have more qualifications trying to get the same job. Be realistic and take any job you can to pay your way in life and then you can start to look for the "dream job" you so desire.

P.S. Im happy to say that my OH secured work 2 days after being refered to the new deal program and did it with NO help from the course.

hippy-chicy

I was in the same position when i graduated in 2006.
I had a degree in a specialist area, but I couldn't find a job. I signed on for three weeks and then I took a job in a hotel as a receptionist.

It may not have been the job I spent three years reading my degree for, but it was full time and paid a lot better than £47.95 a week (or whatever it was at the time for under 25's).

You'll be waiting a long time for the perfect job to come up. Least if you are working you are getting 'work experince' and any work experience is better than just signing on. At least when that dream job does some along you'll have skills under your belt you wont get anywhere but the work place.

BTW i now have a job doing what I trained for but it took me over a year to find it. I agree that it looks better if you come from some sort of employment rather than from unemployment, plus you dont want to have to explain big breaks in your CV to potential employers. In my personal opinion it just doesn't reflect very well on you.

DCFC79

OP do you have your own car as that could help widen the search