6mth review: JSA and having to go for jobs/interview advice

Jadek

I don't have much experience with the job centre but my partner does. He used to work in his brother's shop but that had to shut down, so he was then on the dole until he moved from Bath, where being young and with not a lot of experience he couldn't find any work, to London to live with me (and he now has a job that he found without the JC).

He ended up being on benefits for over 6 months and was told that he had to apply for every job that they told him to. However, this seemed like the biggest waste of time ever. One job asked him to hand the CV in by post, so he emailed them asking if they'd accept an electronic version to which he received a reply saying he hadn't been accepted for the job, even though he hadn't sent in his CV. When he spoke to an advisor about this he was told that some jobs get filled before the closing date but they still have to advertise until the closing date. He then asked them why they had told him to apply for this job if they knew it had been filled and he was pretty much told it was just for appearances to write on his claims form. As you can understand after this he became pretty sceptical and disheartened about applying for jobs via the JC and when he didn't apply for some he was told to they didn't care.

Basically my point is if you want to find a job the JC is about as useful as a chocolate teapot in doing so. Likewise for any help or advise they give you. The best thing they did for him was referring him to a charity that helped people who have been out of work for a long time get back into work. He saw an advisor once a week and was also offered various sporting activity sessions for free which I thought was quite interesting! I can't remember the name of the charity but they were very willing, helpful and enthusiatic in comparison to the JC. They asked him what he thought he needed help with and tailored the sessions to what he needed. From what he tells me they were really good, but he wasn't with them long before he moved here. It might be worth asking the JC if they can refer you to something like that instead? That's probably what she was referring to when she mentioned the available funding.