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

DCFC79

Surely if your on jsa you should abide by the rules set out by the job centre and attending these courses are 1 of the rules, if you want to get off jsa asap then look for a job, send out spec letters with cv, doo all you can do to get a job

danothy

I think there's some difference in interpretation of this thread's purpose. I personally interpreted it as a question on how beneficial the courses people have attended are and have given my opinion as such in a previous post.

On the other hand some people seem to have interpreted the thread as a commentary on whether or not people should be made to do these courses in principle. The apparent inferences contained within this thread that a low opinion of the courses is an indicator that the opinion holder expects to be awarded JSA with little or no input on their part is frankly insulting.

Personally, I can see the potential benefits of these courses and would say that the idea is sound so long as the courses have real purpose and quality. In their current incarnation however, I do not see that purpose or quality.

MsHoarder

DCFC79 wrote: »

Surely if your on jsa you should abide by the rules set out by the job centre and attending these courses are 1 of the rules, if you want to get off jsa asap then look for a job, send out spec letters with cv, doo all you can do to get a job

The point being made is that these courses hinder finding a job by filling up jobseeking time with pointless course attendance. If the jobseeker is also having to do more at home (to support a working partner) then this is time wasted not looking for work.

Jowo_2

MsHoarder wrote: »

The point being made is that these courses hinder finding a job by filling up jobseeking time with pointless course attendance. If the jobseeker is also having to do more at home (to support a working partner) then this is time wasted not looking for work.

When a person is in full time employment and wants a new job, they spend their spare time finding and applying for jobs. They don't have the attitude that they are too busy, if they are motivated they will find the time.

Therefore, there's nothing to stop a JSA recipient on a course from using their spare time, too, for job searching.

My understanding is that these courses tend to brief and kick in quite some time after the applicant has received JSA.

AdaptiveSequence

I think they're pretty pointless also. They seem to be designed to provide the very basic assistance in jobseeking, such as CV or basic maths skills.
The problem is, as other posters have stated, that they lump all jobseekers in the same boat while we all have different backrounds and
work histories and may need help in the transition from job type to another.
It just is not that easy to get a job stacking shelves and cleaning toilets as some people like to think.
There is also variations in the type of assistance provided by area and by stage of unemployment.

hyperfunk_d

To those that are still replying in a manner as if to say that by creating this topic and voicing my opinion on how good/bad/pointless these courses/groups are at the JSP it means I am trying to find a way to make getting JSA much easier, so that I can slack off and do nothing, then this couldn't be further from the truth (as, if you read all my replies, I have now repeated several times).

View things from a different perspective - put the fact that the JSP provides benefits to one side for a moment and look at the JSP as a kind of employment agency that is 'supposed' to be there to assist you in finding a job - i.e. you have meetings with advisors, show them your CV and they then give you advice and line you up with positions that you have a chance of getting and will be satisfied with. Now, ask yourself, if they were doing a good job and helping me out, why would I want to purposely not take them up on their help? I am signed up to countless job agencies across London - if they began to perform very poorly, give me pointless advice, aim me towards positions that were not relevant or attainable, would I not also take the same attitude that I did not want use them any more?

That really is all I am trying to get across in making this topic/poll. It is nothing to do with skiving or trying to take the easy route, it is only about the JSP helping people properly, and not wasting endless amounts of money and time in running groups/courses that do not serve to do anything other than stack up positive looking figures for the big bosses to look at each month.

So please stop taking the attitude that anyone on JSA/any other benefit must be a workshy layabout - of course there are those that are - 99% of us are here through no fault of our own and are doing all that we can to rectify the situation... we only want to be helped, not hindered!

hyperfunk_d

Well, just a quick update - I have somehow managed to get away with not going to the group session without them noticing...

Couldn't go on the first booked date as I had an interview, but it was booked for my signing day anyway, so still went to sign (appointment was at 9am, signing on was at 2pm) and they rebooked my group session for later that week. Didn't bother attending and went back to sign today (week and a half later) and they didn't mention it and I have received no calls or letters at home. Can't believe my luck.

On a note for the main thread purpose, I have tried to speak to a couple of people regarding the course and why we need to go if we have already covered the topics, i.e. when I couldnt go, it was because I had a 2nd interview for a job, therefore was clearly aware of how I should be jobseeking and how to conduct interviews. Unfortunately I've been hitting dead-ends and have only spoken to the lower box tickers, but have a couple of names of more senior people that I hope to speak to sometime this week.

Cheers again to anyone that voted or made a post.

Edinburgh65

I am employed now, but at the time I found the Back To Work course was as good as useless. The only reason I have given it a score of 2, is because they actually alerted me to the fact that I had been miscounting my weekly actions in my Jobseeker's Agreement booklet, and that a group of actions which I would previously have counted as one action, should actually be split into three, so that advice made my life easier, but not for the right reasons.

The staff who ran the course were really nice, and I felt sorry for them because only the minority of attendees were engaged (or at least appeared to be). The room stank of alcohol, from the previous night's partying, which as a genuine jobseeker appalled me.

The statistics quoted were out of date, as they related to pre-recession times, so I felt as though I was being judged as being a failure for not having secured employment by 13 week stage, even though they were basing their reasoning on a completely different era (the DWP staff admitted that some of the slides were inaccurate at the time).

The worst thing was the fact that for security reasons, the venue had no toilets for attendees, and as the course was starting at 9am when no shops were open, I had to spend an hour crossing my legs in discomfort, failing to properly concentrate. Despite the fact that attendees are prewarned not to arrive late, my course did not start on time because they decided to give latecomers a chance, so they spent about ten minutes telling us that we could have water to drink, but that there were no toilets.

grumpyoldwoman41

Oh dear... I am booked for one of those next week....some Back to Work Session, supposed to last 1 hour.
Has anyone been to one? What is it like?

MsHoarder

If you're already getting interviews, a session which tells you how to find jobs to apply to is next to useless. They also helpfully told us that there are 1,700 jobs currently being advertised in this city, which is wonderful compared with the 80,000 registered unemployed (forgetting about those just hunting for a better job). Also advised us to look in the local paper, which last week was mostly advertising how many people of each skill looked at it each week rather than jobs to apply to.

Meant I got expenses covered for a trip to the city centre to visit all the agencies though