Poll - JobCentre Plus 'Courses': Useful or Waste of Time?

ohdamnit

dmg24 wrote: »

Surely if you are incapable of finding a job yourself, you should be grateful for any advice given?

Troll or numbnut? Trip trap trip trap

dmg24

ohdamnit wrote: »

Troll or numbnut? Trip trap trip trap

I take it you don't have a job?

morganedge

dmg24 wrote: »

Surely if you are incapable of finding a job yourself, you should be grateful for any advice given?

But the 'advice' is generally just being sent on the same 'courses' over and over again. CV courses for example. You sit in a room and a 'qualified CV consultant' changes a few words here and there and maybe alters the layout, and then sends you off.

Then you are sent to a different consultant who just re-arranges it again, lol. This happens again and again. There's only so much you can do with a CV. It's quite funny, but it's just the way it is and no point in saying 'but i've already been on 3 of these CV courses'. Just bite your lip, turn up to the 'course' on time and wait for it to end.

cgk1

dmg24 wrote: »

Surely if you are incapable of finding a job yourself, you should be grateful for any advice given?

But if the advice is worthless is mis-targeted - what's the point? Do you like paying out for poorly designed training courses? As a tax-player, I certainly don't.

hyperfunk_d

cgk1 wrote: »

But if the advice is worthless is mis-targeted - what's the point? Do you like paying out for poorly designed training courses? As a tax-player, I certainly don't.

I think this is the resounding point in the argument - cost. In a time when things are especially tight, how can it be justified to waste thousands if not millions of the taxpayers money in running these courses/sessions?

The 6 week 'back to work' session (or whatever it is called) is a fairly new scheme and for 99% of the people forced to go, it will be a complete waste of time - and therefore, more importantly, money.

We are not all robots and not all identical and it is about time we were treated as such and given some kind of help tailored to match our needs - i.e. if someone has worked for 10 years of their life already, do they really need to have their hands held through the first steps of writing a letter, or where to look for employment? It is truly nonsensical!

Widelats

instead of the pointless, overcrowded and very depressing courses, being treated like a 5 yr old asked where im going when all im doing is going to the toilet, why dont someone help me to learn to drive, the amount of jobs i have skipped for not having a driving licence is massive, more than 90% of my total interest in the job has died when i saw "must have driving licence" i could apply for at least 5 jobs a day if i had a driving licence, instead of searching and searching for a job that doesnt need a licence.

iceblue24

useful sometimes, but most of the time, they tell me what i already know. its not called the "jokecentre" for nothing lol

shikoku

When I last signed I overheard a conversation in which the 'job seeker' expressed her interest in getting help with her CV, the 'advisor' then checked availability and advised her there would be a six week wait for an appointment...

Surely if this 'help' was limited to those who actually needed it, it would make much more sense.

seven-day-weekend

When my son was unemployed some years ago, he was sent on a really useful, industry standard course to get a professional computer techician qualification. He then found a job so could not complete it.

When his contract for the job finished and he was again unemployed, he asked if he could complete the course. The answer was that they didn't do it any more. They sent him on a literacy course (he already has a Grade B in English at GCSE) and a CV writing course, which was useful the first week, but a bit of a waste of time after that. However, he started to do voluntary work as a Computer Technician at the training centre and these people were able to give him an excellent reference for his next job (as well as keeping his skills up to date and not losing the discipline of working).

So, although the courses may be in themselves not too brilliant, they can open doors to employment.

ohdamnit

dmg24 wrote: »

I take it you don't have a job?

Yep troll, no I don't but I have only been out of work 2 months, in which period I have had initially little interest pre xmas, but post Xmas I have had 5 people a week minimum requesting to put my CV forward, and I have had 2 final interviews, and have another 2 this week ,plus four more firsts this week.

what I don't need is someone telling me how to use word to "update my CV", or how to jobsite.co.uk to find jobs... maybe courses on answering competency based questions, or doing a good interview presentation, or role play approach would be useful.

Yep its box ticking but pointless waste of resources paid to external companies.