Jobcentre back to work session

jessbob

robber-inho wrote: »

I went in Friday, waited 20 minutes no announcement of delays, finally some poor chap stood up and whispered my name, so quietly it was almost inaudible(I heard him however) when I sat down he thrust a grubby (yes grubby) series of paper sheets in my hand littered with grammatical and syntactical errors: The Information Session, 45 minute 'Group' session, etc, appointment next week. He seemed distant, embarrassed ( I have an unusual surname he had difficulty calling out!)and totally unfocused. His justification was a weak "we've had a bit of a morning". It really was in every way very a poor show indeed. Even If the letter had been posted this would have looked better, whether grubby and Biro marked or not. I'm sorry to say I've put in a complaint, I realise these people have lots to do, but this was simply unacceptable. Never In my working life have I ever treated a client in my charge in this fashion, its inconceivable. The impression I got was that as an unemployed person, I wasn't worth the bother any more. Oh well, On to the information session then.

Sounds dire :eek:

How long have you been claiming for? Hope this is not what I have in store for September

Giulliana

Last time I went to one of these their computer system was down throughout, we just sat in silence either side of the desk whilst behind me someone lurched around drunkenly expressing his desire for more alcohol.

I didn't feel it assisted my job hunting...

vbird74

Hope I won't get shot....

I actually deliver Back to Work Sessions. At the moment I am delivering the sessions without any IT and becasue myself and my colleague feel some of he content of the 'official script' is a bit how shall I put it...patronising and stating the obvious ..we have adapted the script to make it more digestable and also useful for jobseekers.
These sessions are mandatary that you have to attend and comply with or lose a weeks benefit.
They are SUPPOSED to be done between weeks 6-9 of your claim, however not all districts will be rolled out to the new JR&FND. Also offices have not been ready to deliver these sessions at the correct time.
At week 13 you are then supposed to have an advisor interview.
I have been told that I can't deliver the sessions until weeks 11-13. The reason for this (don't laugh).....there is not enough desks for the amount of staff that have recently been recruited to deliver week 13 interviews therefore our district manager wants us to deliver combined week 13 and back to work sessions!

It's a shame that if you have attended a session you did not get anything out of it, obviously I can only speak for my sessions but most of the feedback from my customers have been that they have gotten something out of it.

mjsukleic

It was my turn today.
Audience of 12 including me.
Person presenting just talked, no slides / overheads / handouts and it was all over and done with in 30 mins flat. Then pointed to some leaflets.
Lady presenter had no idea of the level of the audience and what they could / couldnt do, she just read from a script that eventually sent people off into the land of nod. Whilst I found it a little patronising to be fair to the lady she was dumbing it down as best she could (but hadnt a clue what the audience needed or wanted).
She partly reinforced what is required from the JSA agreement and then went on to other recruitment topics but just skimmed them (last session of the day and she wanted it over with ?). I had a number of issues I could have taken issue with ref the content as some was not just wrong but plain misleading but I couldnt be bothered...............
She had no idea of how to hold a session, no asking audience what where why when etc just blah blah blah from the front.
Whilst we were queing up for reimbursement of bus fares I talked to a few people in the queu and they were totally lost, even though some really needed and actually wanted help.
Still it is something you have to sit through as part of getting JSA so bear with it.