A little rant and a bit of advice regarding JSA

Just_a_girl

Jomo wrote: »

What was rude about that? Merely pointing out the absurdness of your comment

If anything, the jobcentre should employ specialist staff for those who are who left school with no qualifications etc., not graduates. In fact I think most graduates would laugh at that suggestion tbh.

It was was slightly sarcastic and a little uncalled for I felt, I have tried to re explaine what i meant. Im not sure if there related to the job centre but connextions and next step advisors do just that for people with no qualifications. Maybe it was a silly suggestion, but just because I went to uni it doesnt make me an fountain of knowledge about everything, i know how to job search yes, but I would feel i would really benefit from a little deeper advice than what JSA offered at the time, thats all....

....Im sorry I regret even starting this post now, I feel like a right moroon

AsknAnswer

Being in the public sector, the DWP has to treat all claimants the same, regardless of the varying status' of their customer's education.

Oldernotwiser

The Jobcentre used to have what was called (I think) a "professional register" which was a supplementary service for those looking for "professional" work. From memory it was never much help and it was certainly stopped many years ago - 20 to 30 if I remember correctly.

Connexions doesn't offer a service to graduates as their remit ends at 19 and Nextstep can only help people with higher than level 2 qualifications in certain circumstances, depending on their contract.

You seem to have forgotton your university Careers Service who are the appropriate people to offer help to someone in your situation. Their service is available to people who have graduated in the last 3 years and will have reciprocal arrangements with a local university if you have moved out of the area.

bestpud

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

You seem to have forgotton your university Careers Service who are the appropriate people to offer help to someone in your situation. Their service is available to people who have graduated in the last 3 years and will have reciprocal arrangements with a local university if you have moved out of the area.

That's good to know!

I didn't realise they did that.

ariarnia

Jomo wrote: »

What was rude about that? Merely pointing out the absurdness of your comment

If anything, the jobcentre should employ specialist staff for those who have left school with no qualifications etc., not graduates. In fact I think most graduates would laugh at that suggestion tbh.

I wouldn't exactly agree, but I also wouldn't laugh at the idea.

I find it very frustrating on two counts. I am willing to do anything (legal and that doesn't involve the armed forces). The job centre advises me of positions, I apply for them, and any other I see (ave 10 or so a day about 3 days a week).

I apply even though most of the jobs recommended require transport, specific experience in the field, specific training and qualifications not on offer form the JC and so on.

The positions are wholly unsuitable, I apply for them anyway.

I may or may not get an interview (I've had 2 in a year as I started looking while still at uni and while otherwise p/t employed)

If I get an interview or not it seems to make no odds, as a graduate I'm penalised for having a degree as they don't believe I'll stay there.

I've not included my degree (which got me the two interviews) and had to honestly answer that all my work for 4 years was part time because I was studying - the interviewer immediately looked disinterested both times.

The second irritation I have with the JSA system is that the only courses on offer to help my partner and I gain work skills while unemployed are basic IT and literary skills.

My partner and I both have good GSCEs in both English and itc and we have both used the English language and computers extensively during our (very recently finished) degrees.

Despite this I am expected to attend a course that teaches basic computing skills, credited at a lower level than my current ITC qualifications (A-level and a ECDL and they want me to do CLAIT).

I would not object to attending if I had nothing better to do, but currently I'm volunteering almost full time (20+ hours a week and antisocial hours) at a local charity gaining admin experience (my previous field of work) specific experience with new software (MODEs) and gaining people facing experience, plus an excellent reference.

Again, I would not object to spending the time if the training on offer were relevant to my current level of knowledge, skill, and experience.

It isn't.

qwertyuiop12345

Just_a_girl you could ask for a decision maker from the jobcentre to interview you to decide whether you are living together as a couple by their definition. It sounds as though you are not sharing finances at all, so you may find that he is not classified as your partner, in which case you would be able to claim JSA.

They will ask you lots of questions about things such as whether you do your food shopping together. Having a sexual relationship with someone is not the deciding factor, but rather how you arrange your lives in regard to finance, bills etc.

It is quite possible for someone to live with a person they have/had a sexual relationship with, without the DWP classifying them as partners.