'Not following Job Centre Directiions'

Savvy_Sue

mumibear wrote: »

From the experiences of my son - to cut a very long story short - if they print a job advert off for you please apply for it - or they will stop your jsa - it does not matter what the job is that they give you - apply :eek: or else..........

shikoku wrote: »

I have just applied for a very high flying vacancy requiring an 'Accountancy Graduate'

I am not a graduate and I have no experience or qualifications whatsoever in the field of accountancy.

This little number was posted out to me by my 'advisor' and so I have applied for it.

Do you think I'll get it?

And the Job Centre wonder why we won't advertise our vacancies with them!

Actually, it's better than that: I recently had an email from our local JCP stating that if I wanted to advertise with them I needed to fill in the attached forms. I replied saying that I hadn't asked to advertise with them, why did they think I have? Eventually we worked out why they thought I had, by this time the closing date had passed, so I said thanks but no thanks.

And sure enough, a few days after the deadline I had an email from someone saying the Job Centre had told them about one of our jobs. What use is that? We set a deadline, we shortlist!

ohdamnit

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

And the Job Centre wonder why we won't advertise our vacancies with them!

Actually, it's better than that: I recently had an email from our local JCP stating that if I wanted to advertise with them I needed to fill in the attached forms. I replied saying that I hadn't asked to advertise with them, why did they think I have? Eventually we worked out why they thought I had, by this time the closing date had passed, so I said thanks but no thanks.

And sure enough, a few days after the deadline I had an email from someone saying the Job Centre had told them about one of our jobs. What use is that? We set a deadline, we shortlist!

I was told to apply for the position of software testing analyst, and that if I didnt i risked losing jsa. The job required 5 years+ in a similar testing role, which i told them i didnt have, but because it was "IT related" was told I needed to broaden my options... futile to say the least..

ceridwen

ohdamnit wrote: »

To be honest they are not that interested, I had one person tell me that I couldn't choose to base my job applications based on past experience/wage after 6 months. I tried to have a reasoned discussion with them (this is at 3 months) about the fact that unless you are talking about door to door selling, dodgy self employed delivery schemes or such like then no company is going to employ a professional with 15 years experience, who used to earn 40K+ in a 10k a year job, as they know that I will walk out at the drop of a hat for a job I want. However they still tell me I must apply and accept any job, so it seems I will probably be forced to take a job selling electricity door to door or something, if nothing comes up.

I have told them I would be quite happy to do some temp work, but even these jobs require experience (i.e. factory work, driving, etc) and still nobody would employ someone who is clearly over qualified for the role.

I have applied for dozens of jobs in the 25-30k range just to get back into work, but people are naturally suspicious of someone who clearly has a wide experience working in the industry applying for low scale jobs. Roughly I apply for 60 jobs a month, but the market is tough atm.

I have to say, from what I can see, that its simply a waste of time being logical and rational and explaining carefully why you can't do x job and employers probably wouldnt even give you x job in the first place because you obviously do a much higher level/better-paid job - just Play the Game and join in with the pretence that "any old job will do - even for the well-qualified and experienced". So - grit teeth and apply for even the jobs that are clearly not suitable for you and (if need be) go to the interview and fail it (subtly!!!).

I would say the main (quite likely - only) priority of many people you will encounter whilst unemployed is being able to "cover their backs" and "tick boxes" to say that THEY have done THEIR job properly. So - just look at it as not "They are here to help me" (some will be - but how do you work out which ones are and which ones just want to protect themselves by "doing their job properly"). Look at it instead as you are likely talking to someone whose main priority is "ticking boxes" to protect their own job - help them "tick the boxes" and then proceed in your own way (once you have done enough to help them protect their own jobs).

dugdale_2

Some rather strange advice posted in this thread.

Do not accept any job print out from your adviser if it's not suitable. If you don't have the correct qualifications or experience required inform your adviser that you don't meet the criteria. If they insist that you accept the print out again refuse, they might threaten to sanction your claim for refusing employment but don't worry, your adviser can't do that, they simply complete all the paperwork and send it to a decision maker who would then look at the job spec (amongst other things) and then decide what action needs to be taken. If the job spec stated that an NVQ level 3 in (say) childcare was required and you didn't possess an NVQ level 3 in childcare your benefit wouldn't be sanctioned. If your JSAg stated you were only available to work Monday - Friday and the vacancy included weekend work your benefit won't be sanctioned.
I'm an adviser and I only submit customers to a vacancy that they agree to. Quite often I have the opposite problem to what is often posted on this forum, customers ask me to submit them to vacancies that they're not qualified to do. I hate to see people building up their hopes about a vacancy only to have them dashed as the next time I see them they're often feeling even more down than they were before.

As an adviser I should make quality submissions - infact this is monitored at district level. Employers who advertise their vacancies with JCP are contacted and the suitability of the people submitted is questioned. Lots of unsuitable submissions equals an unhappy employer, this results in an unhappy senior management team who pass their feelings down the line until it reaches the advisers manager who would, hopefully, take measures to prevent similar incidents happening again.

shikoku

In an ideal world but this is not what 'job seekers' encounter on a daily basis in reality.

Also it is a lot less stressful just to play along.

If I was awaiting the verdict of a 'decision maker' (I would love to know what qualifies them to sit in judgement) it would be the ONLY thing on my mind until it had been resolved.

I would be too stressed to effectively job hunt.

Much easier to just make that application, and as the poster above confirms many companies simply do not use the job centre to recruit because of their time-wasting.

Sues48

I think that there must have been some misunderstanding here, I have never known anyone be sanctioned for not participating in a BTWS, only for not attending or being ejected for abusive behaviour. The Jobseeker direction letter is produced automatically when the session is booked, I'm pretty sure that the wording states that the jobseeker must attend the session at the date, time and venue stated on the letter, nothing about participating.

In defence of Jobcentre staff we are under tremendous pressure from our managers to meet targets and it is sometimes difficult to avoid tarring everyone with the same brush. However, some of the rudest people I've encountered have been the proffesional/executive jobseekers. I get the impression that a lot of them think that they are far too good to be coming into the jobcentre and that we should invent a special set of rules and regulations just to accommodate them. I try to be polite and curteous to everyone that I deal with but it can be difficult when someone is speaking to you like something they've brought in on the bottom of their shoe!

mandragora_2

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

Why wouldn't you want to take an interest in any people you meet?

If you find it difficult to say, "My name's Fred, I'm 35 and I used to work in Woolworths" then it's likely to be a good idea to overcome this and gain a new skill.

Sorry for going a bit off topic, but it really is a pet hate of mine. It's what meeting organisers, trainers or consultants do as an intro when they're too poor at their job to think of anything else to do.


I have absolutely no problem introducing myself to people, when its needed and apporopriate - I'm pretty confident and outgoing. But I HATE it if I go to a meeting - or, God forbid, a social services training thing, and the very first thing they do is get you in a circle and you do the 'creeping circle of death' - ie go round the room, with everyone saying 'My name is so and so, and I like blah blah blah, I'm here because blah blah'.

It drives me mad. It often takes up the first 20 minutes of any training event, with stuff I really don't need to know! All I want, when I'm at a meeting that takes me away from my workplace, is to get in, find out what I need to find out, ask any questions that I still have that haven't already been answered and then get back to work. Introductions and personal stuff can be exchanged during breaks in the normal way, if it's a longer meeting. I don't want to sit there and listen to it, frankly.

I know that I must come across as rude, because nowadays I just participate in the most brisk manner possible when it gets to my turn. The last one I went to we had to stand up, introduce ourselves and say something about our name - how we got it or some other nonsense. What astonished me was that everyone obediently played along with this idiocy. Well, everyone except me, that is! I sat there fuming at the work I could be doing instead of sitting there listening to 20 people telling me potted versions of their life histories.

FBaby

OP, I would complain and put down that as you already knew all the skills taught on that day -but that you appreciated the refreshing!-, you made the choice to stay quiet to allow the other job seekers for whom this was new to participate fully and that it would have been a selfish position to take time away from them when they needed it more than you....

Print_Screen

shikoku wrote: »

Much easier to just make that application, and as the poster above confirms many companies simply do not use the job centre to recruit because of their time-wasting.

Exactly, the only place taking the moral high ground and asserting you are correct will get you is a submission for sanction to the Decisionator, and then an anxious wait and hope that it would be rejected. Just play the game.

If they want you to apply for Head of Complicated Surgery at the Royal Free Hospital and you were previously a fork lift driver then just do it and apply.

Any cries of "But this is clearly a waste of mine and the hospital's time!" Will be met with claims that you're just being obstructive and threats of sanctions.

Besides placing pallets in the correct position on shelves is almost exactly the same as placing organs in the correct position in a body

Oldernotwiser

mandragora wrote: »

I know that I must come across as rude, because nowadays I just participate in the most brisk manner possible when it gets to my turn. The last one I went to we had to stand up, introduce ourselves and say something about our name - how we got it or some other nonsense. What astonished me was that everyone obediently played along with this idiocy. Well, everyone except me, that is! I sat there fuming at the work I could be doing instead of sitting there listening to 20 people telling me potted versions of their life histories.

Ice breakers can be boring, I agree but it can be useful just to find out whether your fellow participants work in accounts or HR as it'll explain some of their thinking in the rest of the activities.

I certainly never think of the work I could be doing because a, training is work and b, it's always good to have a change from routine.