Mistreated at job centre - filing a complaint.

shikoku

November5th wrote: »

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So no, I will not be applying for the jobs they print out for me! I suggest that others are also very cautious about being dragged down and humiliated by employees of the state.

I agree with everything you say bar the bit above, unless you can afford to have your benefits reduced to £39.00 hardship payment, at least make a truly unremarkable application for these.

donnajunkie

November5th wrote: »

Sending an inappropriate CV to an employer is a damaging exercise, it makes you look a fool. Say the right job then comes up at that same employer? You are stuffed, frankly, straight in the bin as you are obviously not a serious contender.

yes this would be a big problem. i think it is fairly unlikely though.

donnajunkie

November5th wrote: »

So no, I will not be applying for the jobs they print out for me! I suggest that others are also very cautious about being dragged down and humiliated by employees of the state.

well you do risk getting sanctioned if you dont do what they say.

bitsandpieces

November5th wrote: »

I wonder how common this is? It is certainly wasting an employers time, why would anyone advertise with the job centre when you are going to get an avalanche of responses from people who are not qualified nor interested?

When I was last on JSA (a while back now) I was told to apply for jobs I really wasn't qualified for. Job requirements included things like a forklift truck license, which I didn't have and couldn't really fudge :eek: I ended up deciding it was less hassle for me to apply (making clear I didn't meet the requirements) than to try to persuade the person at the Jobcentre it was a waste of time to apply.

I did feel bad for wasting the employer's time. I don't think there was much alternative, though. Luckily, I wasn't made to send stupid applications to any employers where I subsequently did apply for jobs I could do and wanted to get.

GotNoMoney

You can get the forklift licenses if you ask them. That I know for certain. Thats all the praise I have however...

I got a sheet at the Job Centre with all the jobs that require "No Experience" for my area.

I asked the woman there "How do you compile these lists of jobs where they all say no experience required?" because I wanted to find them myself as soon as possible, she said they manually check through all the jobs, then she told me "you used to be able to tick an option on DirectGov so you can find them all online yourself but they took away the option"

So there you go - they don't even want people to get jobs. They make it as hard as they can to find a job via anything they provide. It is a joke centre.

Think yourself lucky... I am on the stage 4 four week "mandatory" work programme now - starts at 9AM and they couldn't even tell me when it finishes.

Surely if they cannot tell me the time it finishes I can just refuse to go? I even tried to get a rough idea by asking "2PM? 3PM? 4PM? 5PM?" and she still wouldn't answer. I know if I refuse to go they will just stop my "benefits".

Its almost as if they are trying to make people turn to crime. The stuff they have people doing these days for £65 a week is not even worth £65 a week.

Its a running joke where I live, you can ask ANYONE that signed on the dole at any time in their life if the Job Centre found them a job........ the answer 10 times out of 10 is an emphatic NO, they found the job off their own back.

You're going to have to literally walk around the nearest industrial estate and go in EVERY SINGLE company with your CV. You could even count the companies situated there and print that many CV's. I am on the verge of doing this myself.

I have been on the dole for ages now but I still have hope... because of how long I worked for in the past I know I can do a job once I learn the basics. Unfortunately for me, none of my skills are "transferable" because what I did in my last job, is a really selective thing, it was too much of a specialist thing for me to find any job doing that again, plus technology has advanced since, pretty much wiping out the trade.

donnajunkie

GotNoMoney wrote: »

Think yourself lucky... I am on the stage 4 four week "mandatory" work programme now - starts at 9AM and they couldn't even tell me when it finishes.

Surely if they cannot tell me the time it finishes I can just refuse to go? I even tried to get a rough idea by asking "2PM? 3PM? 4PM? 5PM?" and she still wouldn't answer. I know if I refuse to go they will just stop my "benefits".

she probably just doesnt know. it wont be any earlier than 3pm because you have to do a minimum of 30 hours. if they are so'n'so's they wont include lunch break in your hours and that would mean the earliest finish time would be 3.30pm depending on how long lunch is.
on mine we dont finish until 6pm. we dont start until 12pm though.
if your placement is with a proper company then expect an 8 hour shift each day. it maybe less but expect 8 hours a day.

dugdale_2

You're going to have to literally walk around the nearest industrial estate and go in EVERY SINGLE company with your CV. You could even count the companies situated there and print that many CV's. I am on the verge of doing this myself.

This beggars belief, you've been unemployed for over 12 months and you are only now on the verge of handing out your CV round your local industrial estate. If I was your adviser I would be very suspicious that you're actively seeking work.

donnajunkie

GotNoMoney wrote: »

Its almost as if they are trying to make people turn to crime. The stuff they have people doing these days for £65 a week is not even worth £65 a week.

it is like being unemployed is a crime. you get punished if you refuse to do it. i have heard how on the placement i am on when someone has been daft enough to nick off a couple of hours early 1 day that they have been sent back later to do the 2 hours.
so the whole thing feels like a sentence and is like being on probation. so some will no doubt think if i am getting the same punishment as what i would for committing a crime then i might as well commit a crime. of course most wont. most will just become more resentful and disillusioned.

CCFC_80

GotNoMoney wrote: »

Its a running joke where I live, you can ask ANYONE that signed on the dole at any time in their life if the Job Centre found them a job........ the answer 10 times out of 10 is an emphatic NO, they found the job off their own back.
.

You are right on this as The Job Centre Plus staff are not there to help people find jobs, they are just there to make sure you satisfy the requirements of being able to claim JSA.

They are some of the last people you should turn to if you want help getting a job.

donnajunkie

GotNoMoney wrote: »

You can get the forklift licenses if you ask them. That I know for certain.

i dont think you can do that around here. i think with anything useful that costs money they will only pay for it if you have a job lined up. unfortunately most jobs require you to have it before they will offer you anything.