The recession, benefits, the safety net, and the learning curve

Max_Headroom_3

Oh yes, and this morning I was on the local job site and saw an almost perfect job that i was well qualified for, and was local (most of the stuff I've been applying for involves an hours commute each way), and seemed a good company. Posted up today, woohoo!

Wrote a letter, printed off my (tweaked again last night) CV, and instead of emailing it i had a shave, put on my new suit and drove over and walked in with it.

To be told that the advert had gone in today by mistake (in fact they hadn't even realised it had till I mentioned it to them) and they'd recruited someone for it last week.

Another of these required I think. :wall:

LydiaJ

Max, that's heartbreaking.
I'm so sorry you had such a rotten let-down.

PasturesNew

You can console yourself with the fact that, having missed the job that didn't exist, you aren't now committed to working with idiots.

Max_Headroom_3

Ah, I didn't explain it very well. It was the local paper/web sites fault, it was supposed to go in two weeks ago. (I don't reckon it did, I reckon they put it in the paper and forgot to put it on their site, and then realised and stuck it on now and hoped no one would twig).

So not the companies fault, it was the advertising people.

fc123

Max_Headroom wrote: »

Thanks LJ. I guess the problem with situations like this is that it will always be geared to the lowest common denominator, and in the case of the general public, that's pretty blimmin low.

My "homework" should i make it to the next assessment thing (in six weeks I think, I forget now, was losing the will to live) is to fill in my A4 sheet of paper with my "Three Step Plan".

Headings to be completed are:

Step 1: Jobs that I can do

Step 2: Contacts
e.g. People i know who can help me

Step 3: Use different approaches
e.g. Making contact with employers

Followed by

Things I will do in the next month to help me get a job

1.

2.

3.


I don't want to be snobby about it, and maybe there are people out there who really do need to be taken by the hand and lead through these procedures, but for me it is utter patronising garbage. I was doing this stuff the minute my redundancy was announced and a whole month before I even finished work or signed on. Nothing I write on this bit of paper will make the slightest iota of difference, I'm not going to start some new strategy because writing it down will make me think of it. If there were anything else I could do I'd already be doing it.

I'm afraid that it feels very much like I'm in detention at school with the "thick set" for not performing adequately.

Painful. :wall:

Someone, somewhere probably got paid a wedge for producing the above 'tick list' for job seekers.

BTW, you're writing style is great..any possibility of taking it further..even if it means low paid or even free internships for a while?
OK you have to keep on with the JSA if it's freebie work but there's always ''Tax Credits'' to subsidise the next step.

I don't know if writing was part of your last job so tell me to buttt out if you were a journo on Nuts or The Local Argus.

1echidna

Max_Headroom wrote: »

Thanks LJ. I guess the problem with situations like this is that it will always be geared to the lowest common denominator, and in the case of the general public, that's pretty blimmin low.

My "homework" should i make it to the next assessment thing (in six weeks I think, I forget now, was losing the will to live) is to fill in my A4 sheet of paper with my "Three Step Plan".

Headings to be completed are:

Step 1: Jobs that I can do

Step 2: Contacts
e.g. People i know who can help me

Step 3: Use different approaches
e.g. Making contact with employers

Followed by

Things I will do in the next month to help me get a job

1.

2.

3.


I don't want to be snobby about it, and maybe there are people out there who really do need to be taken by the hand and lead through these procedures, but for me it is utter patronising garbage. I was doing this stuff the minute my redundancy was announced and a whole month before I even finished work or signed on. Nothing I write on this bit of paper will make the slightest iota of difference, I'm not going to start some new strategy because writing it down will make me think of it. If there were anything else I could do I'd already be doing it.

I'm afraid that it feels very much like I'm in detention at school with the "thick set" for not performing adequately.

Painful. :wall:

You are probably right about it being geared to the lowest common denominator. Can imagine it might be quite difficult to get a lot of people they see to follow these steps.

PasturesNew

Having read fc's posting, I went to look for blog names... and found this ... this guy started and stopped in 2002, I wonder what happened to him:

http://jobsworth.blogspot.com/

Other good blog reads (housing related) are:

Estate Agent's Diary: http://agentsdiary.blogspot.com/
Rentergirl: http://rentergirl.blogspot.com/

mvengemvenge

Max_Headroom wrote: »

Thanks LJ. I guess the problem with situations like this is that it will always be geared to the lowest common denominator, and in the case of the general public, that's pretty blimmin low.

My "homework" should i make it to the next assessment thing (in six weeks I think, I forget now, was losing the will to live) is to fill in my A4 sheet of paper with my "Three Step Plan".

Headings to be completed are:

Step 1: Jobs that I can do

Step 2: Contacts
e.g. People i know who can help me

Step 3: Use different approaches
e.g. Making contact with employers

Followed by

Things I will do in the next month to help me get a job

1.

2.

3.


I don't want to be snobby about it, and maybe there are people out there who really do need to be taken by the hand and lead through these procedures, but for me it is utter patronising garbage. I was doing this stuff the minute my redundancy was announced and a whole month before I even finished work or signed on. Nothing I write on this bit of paper will make the slightest iota of difference, I'm not going to start some new strategy because writing it down will make me think of it. If there were anything else I could do I'd already be doing it.

I'm afraid that it feels very much like I'm in detention at school with the "thick set" for not performing adequately.

Painful. :wall:

The problem is, Max, as you yourself have identified, these things have to be designed in a catch-all way. There isn't enough staff/space/time to have different 'sessions' for higher, middle and lower intelligence, and anyway, should it be a civil servant's job to decide who goes in which group?

You may say to me "But I've got a degree", or something similar. To which I would have to say, because it's compulsory at certain stages, "Ok, have a go at this basic English and Maths test".

It's been made compulsory for a reason. Employers don't want to take on people who have qualifications coming out of their ears, but can't spell or count, and believe me, you'd be shocked at how many there are.

All I'm saying is, staff can't make assumptions. They are faced with newly-unemployed who are keen to get back in a job, along with 'regulars', who drift on and off benefits. It's very easy for some people to talk like someone who is desperate for work, but when you say to them "Right, I've booked you a job interview tomorrow morning", they go pale in the face.

You should take a closer look at the Benefit and Employment boards, you'll be amazed at some people's attitudes.

fc123

PasturesNew wrote: »

Having read fc's posting, I went to look for blog names... and found this ... this guy started and stopped in 2002, I wonder what happened to him:

http://jobsworth.blogspot.com/

Other good blog reads (housing related) are:

Estate Agent's Diary: http://agentsdiary.blogspot.com/
Rentergirl: http://rentergirl.blogspot.com/

Blogs are a really interesting sign of the times. This one (and it's her hobby as she works full time too) does a killing and is reference everywhere. http://www.stylebubble.co.uk/ and she called herself Susie Bubble
She is selective on her ads.

The bit I love are the pics she takes of herself on her balcony in Holloway to show stuff. She gets sent tons of freebie clothes in the hope they are featured too.

Parts of this thread could start one off...plus you could take pics of herself on your balcony in economy outfits or the Boss interview suit?

mardatha

I think Max, that nobody at all has any belief in this stupid procedure , apart from the eejit who set it up. The jobseekers know its garbage and so does the jobcentre. Everybody just goes through the motions, ticks boxes, and then goes home. Please try to detach and get through these days xxx Don't let it destroy you. Although I know its hard - been there eh .