Helping redundant folk in the uk

AHZB

Last year i was made redundant and was shocked by the lack of help out there for folk in this position. Since then i have been trying to set up and organise a site where folk in a similar situation look out for each other . .helping folk to help themselves.
At present I have set up a site and have a number of people interested but want to know how i can take things further.
So far i have set up a site and am sending out letters , emails and the likes to try and get organisations to buy into the ethos of helping specifically folk that have been made redundant in the current climate. Including government , private sector and the royal family . . .personaly i think everyone should be involved in helping. Anyhow If anyone has any thoughts or ideas on how to progress this I would very much appreciate your thoughts and ideas.

Horace

There is a lot of help out there for folks who are made redundant if you look - I had loads of help from ACAS and other places when I got made redundant. There is also a section on MSE that is devoted to redundancy.

I think that you're duplicating help that is already out there and therefore your site is unworkable.

qw3rt7

^^^ This
If the site aim was genuinely to help people, then i feel for you, but its still unworkable IMHO.
I tend to believe it is an attempt at helping the public, due to the general naivety of the site - you are not a charity or any kind of trust, so dont expect ANY donations.
I mean there isnt even a single user in the site forum!

1st page results for search term "redundancy advice":
http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/index/your_money/employment/redundancy___an_introduction.htm
http://www.acas.org.uk/index.aspx?articleid=1611
http://careersadvice.direct.gov.uk/helpandadvice/redundancy/

It doesnt seem that help is that lacking really.

Sorry if this seems a bit harsh, but i couldn't decide whether this was a genuine albeit misguided attempt at public help or a badly executed scam, so worded my response somewhere in between.

AHZB

No this is not a scam it is a genuine effort to try and get folk that are in such a difficult position to feel part of a community that understands what they are going through.

The whole idea is that it is not just an information site but is also a place for people to vent, for people to support each other, for people to put up there CV's so companies can go head hunting for free (unlike other job sites which always charge for that kind of thing) .
Its all geared to try and help people in this position. this is why I am writing to and contacting firms out there to check it it. Also am contacting job agencies to have a look . . .selling the idea that they can search the database of people looking for work.
I am also explaining that at present I need to get the site up and going with members by word of mouth so it will take some time.

Maybe I am being naive but am still in the process of asking organisations for support. ie: the ones listed . . .if it works all well and good and hopefully it will help folk. You seem to be very confident that it just wont work and obviously now that you have mentioned scam it doesnt help at all. I am not sure wht you did that.

You also seem to have dismissed the info part and other aspects available to registered members without even registering yourself. Registering is free in fact pretty much everything is free unless you want to advertise your own business and that is geared to encourage folk to offer discounts for other members.

If it doesnt work then alas and alak I appear to have wasted my time BUT at least I have tried something as i am in the position of having been made redundant and am currently unemployed.

As far as the site not having users in it yet well i have only just put it live and am trying to sort out search engine submissions and the likes.

Horace

There are a lot of internet sites out there for jobhunters where folks can register their CVs for free: Jobsite, totaljobs, topbanana, monster etc. etc.

I was made redundant and used my union, my employer, the jobcentre, etc for advice - sure folks get angry but folks have to get on with life and they are not going to do that sitting on the internet venting to unknown people - better that they are more proactive in their jobsearch.

I think you need to do more homework because its just not a viable business. Yes, you want to help people but websites cost money, hosting costs money, google ads cost money - how are you going to recoup the money that you have paid out? If you are not going to get the money from the membership then how is the site going to be funded?? If you havent thought this through and I dont think you have then the business isnt viable - you need to be making money (even charities make money).

ceridwen

Hmmm...some not very "charitable" comments here methinks.

Give the guy a break and its very early days - hes only just started.

We all know that MSE attracts a lot of spammers - hence why some of the commenting - just in case this is yet another spammer. But - my personal feeling is that the guy is genuine - so wait and see how things develop.

Personally - I have been unemployed before myself - a fact that made me feel totally incredulous (as well as angry) when it happened to me. That sort of thing was "never going to happen to someone like me" - until it did to my astonishment:mad:.

Personally - I think other people in this situation DO need a website to "get together" on - and not just some job-hunting info on already existing commercial websites.

Anyone who doesnt think so isnt watching the current state of play in the World of Work actually - with all the stuff employers are doing these days trying to cut pay:eek::mad:. Nor can they see what I see about how things are likely to develop for many over the next few years.......

To date - the only help I have been able to discover is a couple of Claimants Unions have recently started up again - though I was surprised that there arent more yet - but I think it will come (even though we have the phenomenon now that some unskilled women think to become a single-parent family deliberately is a way to get their income - ie in State benefits:mad: and they are too stupid and selfish to realise that it wont even serve THEM for a "salary" for that long. This wasnt a feature on the scene back in my time and wont be for that much longer hopefully).

Horace

Ceridwen - I wasnt being uncharitable - I was stating that as a business its not viable.

paulwf

Anthony your aims are admirable, do you mind if I post some comments on the direction of your site?

A lot of websites follow the internet mantra of "think global" when in fact you may be best thinking locally. As an example even if you get 1,000 CV's uploaded the chance of an employer finding anything relevant is small. However if you had 100 CV's from the local area a local employer has a much better chance of finding something.

In my area there are business grants and open evenings arranged by the council that are simply not advertised anywhere, there are also local funding schemes and enterprise agencies that only get a brief mention in mainstream press. A local site could cover these in depth and make a real difference.

On the job front you could post alerts for any major employment opportunities arising, forum posters could help each other to network and find jobs. You could post contact details for the local branches of CAB, job centre and suchlike.

My concern is there are thousands of websites out there on all sorts of topics that come to nothing because they end up being so diluted as to be ineffective. You need focus and a USP (unique selling point) if you want to make a real impact.

qw3rt7

Sorry if i have offended you, as i said in my post, i tend to believe this IS a genuine attempt to help people, BUT it is essentially a commercial site - you are SELLING advertising space.
This alone will reduce your chance of donations to 0.

As way of an apology for offending you (though i stand by my original points), here is what i would do with the site:

1)As mentioned go local, VERY local. Target your town. Gear your site entirely around this town, including the town name in the website title and main page heading. local SEO is also super easy.

2)Make all advertising free, for 3 reasons: a) you will not get any paid advertising on an empty site. b) it will put off any potential donors . c) you can offer free advertising to LOCAL companies in return for a targeted link to your site - right now you need visitors desperately.

3)Put something useful on your site! There is no real value to the site at the moment, just your hopes and dreams. Put all the sponsorship stuff on a separate page, as all requests remain unfulfilled it just looks like a failure. I doubt your target audience want to see that!
Search for some targeted rss feeds, here is an example:
http://www.jobs.ac.uk/rss/06.xml
rss feeds are a great way to add value to your site with little to no effort, so long as they are targeted. The above example is for jobs in scotland, as i dont know what town you are from. I bet your local newpaper will have an even more targeted rss feed(s) though.
I am not a massive Joomla developer, but here is the 1st thing i found for rss integration:
http://extensions.joomla.org/extensions/external-contents/rss-readers/4286
There may be better options available. DO THIS YOU WONT REGRET IT.

4)Flesh out the static parts of the site. Just go googleing for articles about cv writing, attending interviews etc, and re-write them in your own words. If you find stuff that you do not feel you have the authority to re-write, quote sections of it and add a link to the original when citing your sources.

5)Flesh out or remove the interactive parts of the site. No one likes to eat in an empty restuarant, same principle applies to internet forums. You can do this in a few ways: a) remove the forum until the site has more visitors b) add some stuff yourself!
I would go for option b, but do so less deceptively, reduce the forum to a single category and call it Q&A. Make up some users, have them ask a relevant question and answer it. Once you get enough real users asking questions, you can split the categories.

6)Now you are no longer competing with government agencies and job sites with 100K advertising budgets (as per step one) promotion becomes easier. Go find every website relating to your town and ask for a link to your site. Provided you have followed these steps in order, you will no longer look like a commercial entity, and should find it simple.

7)Go put links to your site every relevant place you can. So long as the site is reasonable related to your topic, add the link, be it in the footer of your forum profiles (where allowed, eg not MSE!) the 'your url' section on blog comments, whatever. I will not get into arguments with people about this - links are vitally important to your website, provided you are not blatantly spamming (eg offering no value in your contribution - do not reply to a blog about the Newfoundland ferret fanciers association with "great website - find jobs in scotland {link to your site}")
When placing links, if you can choose the anchor text, choose a search term people might use when looking for the information your site provides, and be consistent in your use of this term - alter it a bit but keep it similar.

Well thats about it for now, thats my advice, take it or leave it!
Any questions just ask.
PS i am ready for people to disagree with many parts of this advice - that fine, just make sure you include your reasoning.

AHZB

Good morning,

Yes this is exactly the kind of feedback i was hoping for.

I am contacting people and firms locally.
I have been passing links to the site to family and friends hoping to get them to spread the word too.
I am contacting various organisations governemt etc via letter instead of emails so that all takes alot of time.

Problem is the chicken and egg situation.
I wasnt sure whether i needed to contact folk first and then put the site up or vica verca . . .so in the end i am doing both so at the moment the site is empty (hopefuly this will change)

As to any advertising I have made it very cheap (no real profit to me) as want the site to help small businesses advertise. Its cheaper than advertising in the local corner shop.
Yep i know this is suicide as far as a business goes BUT thats not really the main reason i started the site. My only aim is to cover costs of running the site not to make a massive profit as cant see this happening.

Thanks again for your comments I am taking them on board
Anthony

patjenkins

Personally I think someone should set up a charity for people who have been made redundant (not unemployable people) The government should donate millions and cut back in areas that are not necessary like helping other countries out or wielding military campaigns and spending that aren't necessary.

It's about time we sorted this country out before it implodes!!