Constructive Advice Regarding Benefits Required Please

thorsoak

OP - do you spend as much time researching each and every employer within a given area and sending a CV out to these companies in case there are any unadvertised vacancies as you do researching Job Centres/benefits anomolies?

I certainly hope you do.

mixtrixx

kazzah60 wrote: »

I can appreciate yours aswell as everyone elses comments, but the fact is, is that I did not have to mention as to how long I was unemployed, the fact that I did was is to provide the Big Picture to those that wish to read the information fully, rather then see something they have feel the need to criticize before actually taking the fact that not once have I backed down from any responses made, I have gave clear and genuine reasons as to why I feel the system has failed me.
What you have to remember is that I could go on for 5 years and provide proof to back up my arguments. So do you honestly think I will not be prepared if it came to a situation in which my benefits, my home, is wrecked after the UK Government who which happily ripped of UK Residents in thousands of pounds worth of Council Tax through employing Volunteers without any experience in evaluating homes, but the UK Public don't bat an eyelid until it is made apparent that they are possibly in receipt of Council Tax Refunds?

So to those who skip paragraphs and make judgement on myself before getting the whole script, due to having 1 pair of hands, but still managing to hold my own against all negativity, should consider looking checking to see if they are due any overpaid council tax, and if you are lucky to claim at least £200, £2000 then stop criticizing someone who has admitted missing his sign on time, has not issue with the fact, the only fact I have an issue is, is the amount of money it's costing me to get clear cut information as to how much, and how long my money was stopped for!! As I don't intend to sit around relying on a information to surface 20 years later, that suggests I am entitled to a to money that had been paid out unnecessarily.
Then perhaps out of the 2 Posts I have actually received, the other one informing a youth to what they are liable to receive as a Young Person claiming Benefits thanks me for nothing more then pasting his question into Google, and pasting the information directly to the message board off the DWP Website.
Point being, this is information he could of easily found himself, but due to how the mass amount of benefits available, to then actually siv through information that is relevant to what your looking for, is those people I am trying to reach.

I'm sure is you search for my only other post, which was made months before this topic even began, I having experienced the same tangled web of information that is either misleading, contradictory, or Controversial, is the main reason as to if this forum (or at least subject in particular) allowed Anonymous Comments without sticking out like a saw thumb after typing in 2 Keywords, then I reckon this topic would be a lot more balanced then what it actually is.



errrm, I'm obviously having a blonde moment as I have No idea how this relates to your ability to get a job - sorry - no idea what your post is referring to.:o

Sorry, I removed majority of my original post as it appeared to be swaying everyones response from the information I seeked actual feedback from. Just could not be bothered to go through and delete all related comments I made which reply to information that is no longer viewable.

mixtrixx

thorsoak wrote: »

OP - do you spend as much time researching each and every employer within a given area and sending a CV out to these companies in case there are any unadvertised vacancies as you do researching Job Centres/benefits anomolies?

I certainly hope you do.

I have a partition on my hard drive that can drag up my complete browser history for the past year when it comes to providing job search activity, so I when it comes to providing evidence to argue my case if need be.

It's just not something I pull out of my PC every fortnight to show the evidence, including posting to Message Boards where Job Vacancies are available, as Gumtree in particular is one reason alone which I would use as a method to replace Old Fashioned methods of sending CV's out to receive a response from staff at Back to work places, that anyone who sends out 100+ CV's a week, has done good if they can actually say they received 1% in response.

Why waste my time writing out CV's, wasting Postage Stamps, Paper, Printer Ink, when I can post an ad looking for work, in a work based area of a site which purely attracts employers seeking employees.
The benefit of this over sending CV's is that the advert comes with a Hit Counter, which basically logs each individual unique IP address that views the ad, so it does not reproduce inaccurate figures where a only a single visit from each user regardless of how many times they click refresh on the page, only counts as 1 page view. OK, so perhaps if I only got 40 Pages views in a week, and let's say at to be fair half of those may of been others looking for the same work I am asking for, then that's about as good and realistic a figure as what can be said for sending CV's, at least I don't have to think about whether my CV actually hit the bin before it was opened.

The only main problem with most employment job search sites, is that results they email, still never always match criteria that you include as to the jobs and areas in where your looking for work.

However, I have quite a few Up to date & live active online CV's, which is there to be viewed 7 days a week 24 hours a day showing what Jobs I am looking for and contact details.

If I fail to get response through those alone, then it's either the CV which was "Adjusted" to tidy up the odd loose end, or the employer had contacted my previous employee for a reference, as to which I already stated I would not trust them one inch to tell any detail of truth.

Working in -35 degree's for periods of over 3 hours to me are just ludicrous to expect even the longest serving order picker, so to expect new starters to adjust to it straigh away and pick 100 cases an hour which is neatly is also neatly stacked on a pallete to which turning corners at 10mph on a low level order picker after hitting a patch of black ice, has already put you 20+ boxes behind with the time it takes to re stack it securely, let alone having it happen in the middle of an Isle so that workers cannot maneuverer past which in turns slows the next worker down. Hardly anyone would stop to help those who seemed to need it, although I did on the occasions as over the 6 years I worked there I eventually got used to the layout and was picking 2 blokes work in 1 day, but as soon as my figures started to drop due to real severe Pins & Needles occurring in my finger tips, I therefore required perhaps the additional warm break more then those that did not suffer the effects, due to not being employed there very long.
So after increased pressure was put on to me to achieve a Target which is what it is "Target" because I could not pull back the 1400+ cases per day I used to pick, effectively loosing 1 member of staff, although I managed to at least achieve an individual target which was 100 cases per hour, I was seen to be taking the xxxx so to speak, so Order Picking Figures which were scibbled down on paper for each worker to keep count of their work load for the day, had been doctored in which those new starters that were still not hitting their 100 Boxes per hour after their initial 3 month probationary period, rather then have the balls to let them go. figures were taken off the orders I had picked to top up those who did not achieve the levels, which in the long run as with cashing up, as long as the as long as the totals tallied up, this was the ultimate way to prevent higher management from pushing the shift manage for results. Unfortunately, this would hardly ever be the case, as the shift manager and warehouse manager were best of buddies and drinked together on a reqular basis.
This was until he was later sacked for Gross Misconduct himself to the extent it went to a court tribunal, but I doubt very much he will ever receive any negativity on his reference when applying for jobs.


Sorry if I have answered more then you cared to hear, but at least someone will eventually take the initiative to patch the pieces together to see the Whole Picture.

PS: Actually although I don't wish to appear as though I know it all, as I don't and appreciate there are more people out there with more brains then myself.
But anything with regards to researching information, whether it be Tracking down relatives for without subscribing to trial based sites or sites such as ancestry.co.uk where it is fee based, all that information is accessible for free.
As to how long it stays accessible, is to how damaging the information is, if it is a touchy subject with the government they then order "Page Take Downs", this goes for all countries where google lists information which should not be surfacing on the net. It's just all stuff I have picked up along the way over 14 or so years.

I use stuff incorporated into google chrome that does pretty much the same thing as the Amazon Deal Finder tool, where it's built in as part of the drop down menu on amazons page, select your percentage of discount, select category then click go.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Titanium-Wedding-Grooves-Available-Sizes/dp/B004LTCQG2/ref=sr_1_21?s=jewelry&ie=UTF8&qid=1298021606&sr=1-21

Voila - Men's Titanium Rings R.R.P £149.99 just £11.49

Then again, it's not always the cost reduction of items that are always the most valuable items worth investing in.

I could offer someone the choice as to whether they would prefer of either a £500 Gift Voucher to spend as you wish, or a Book. Seem's logical to go with the Voucher, but if you knew what was in the book before hand then you would somewhat be tempted to change your mind quite quickly. However, finding such books are almost as hard as coming across a pot of gold

Lateral Thinker you may ask lol .



To your original Question, yes I do & did. I have recently come off Stage 4 FND after 12 Months of being under supervision to ensure that I was doing the most that I could with regards to Sending out CV's to companies that I would essentially be given the chance of an interview if lucky.

However, the fact that Back to work companies are more geared towards how many CV's you actually get out each week, would not actually begin to imagine as to how impossible it would be to actually study a companies background if I were of had to of done it for each and every CV that I sent out. It's not that I could of done it, it was physically unrealistic to expect anyone to be able to do. Although I did obviously spend more time on researching employers that I would willingly work for that were listed in the types of Job Areas that I was looking for in my JSA, over those that I were forced companies that I were forced to send out CV's to, that I did not list in my Jobseekers agreement, but also were companies that were in industries I had no prior work experience in, which is one of the things your JSA requires in order to maximize the chances of gaining employment.

It's somewhat contradictory as to a Jobseekers actual requirements, in the sense that when you go to sign on every two weeks, you are expected to seek and apply for jobs that you have the best chances of getting interviews for as agreed in a JSA.

But when it comes to being sent to a Back to Work provider who are there to provide a service in which they are rewarded for each client they get into employment, regardless of if you have relative experience or not, but are merely there to keep them in a job, through something I can do quite easily at home at no extra expense to either the tax payer or myself, but rather then not take a Jobseeker's word for granted, should then have to not only be made to feel as though they need a baby sitter, but they are also being forced to apply for jobs by individuals that are temp, and have no relative job experience, (perhaps other then sales) where a sales pitch is used to try and convince a Jobseeker that if they do not follow what they say regardless of it not being part of an existing jobseekers agreement, but on the other hand if they don't get a result by using such forceful methods, they don't get rewarded, is why the whole system is a shambles.

Basically it's down to this:

The longer you have been out of work, the harder it is to get back in.
The fact that I was unfairly dismissed from my previous job, automatically makes the above a harder task.
The above fact cannot be resolved by the individual who runs the "Barriers Preventing You From Getting into Work" Course, when asked about reasons for why my job did end, in front of a group of other unemployed people, when introducing yourselves upon the initial induction.
This same individual now has an idea as to who has what barriers preventing them from finding work.
My barriers were never resolved.
End of "Barriers Preventing You From Getting into Work" Interview.

Now, surely the logical next step I would take if I were that course leader, would be to inform staff that are there to help and provide support to those looking for work, the names of those that he/she failed to help in his/her session, that would therefore indicate someone requiring more dedicated one to one support to overcome such barriers, regardless of time needed to achieve this.

However, this is not the case with such places (or should I say this place in particular, which just happens to be the one that I have been sent back to time and time again).

Now either it's down to being understaffed, where staff have are limited with time they have to provide one on one support, or if a Barriers course tutor could not provide help that I needed, then the average unexperienced temp staff that are left to oversee jobeekers doing job search did not want to put their hands up and take time to give it a shot, probably because they did not have an interest in the job they were doing in the first place, therefore leaves people with barriers like myself to much of a case to deal with.

Which is why, when I said I was unemployed for 5 years, cannot be partly down to me, otherwise I would be getting sanctions left right and center over the last 5 years.

The fact is, is that it's a new Government, putting pressure on Job Centre staff to achieve results.

It don't matter about the previous 5 years where Job Centre staff were just happy to send me around in circles because either they or the places they sent me to for further help, could actually help me.

But now, they are looking after number 1 when push comes to shove. If I were to of been given a sanction from someone who gladly accepted my job search activities in order to still be allowed to claim jobseekers allowance for so long, would no longer be working themselves if I were to argue the fact that If I were not at any time over the last 5 years actually complied with my JSA, then why is it only now that I have been, and was only due to turning up one day late, after not signing for over 5 weeks through the xmas and new year closure period.

You won't see anyone willing to investigate my Job Center to investigate my claims as to why I would be allowed to claim jobseekers allowance for so long, if I were to pose the question of "Well why have job center staff accepted all my evidence of job search before". yet barriers they could not get round to help me, still leaves them in employment and me with no income.

SingleSue

I don't think I have my clear head on this morning as that reply didn't seem to actually answer the question quoted at all...and then I got completely lost in the last couple of paragraphs!

Re just posting an advert up......the old adage of seek and you will find comes to mind. In other words, putting in the effort to contact companies, researching those companies and tailoring everything to that particular company would have far better results than simply putting an ad up and making the prospective employer do all the running.

By all means carry on with the ad but a two (or even 3) pronged plan of action would hopefully prove to be more successful.

demir2424

I have just read all this thread and I am quite new to mse and I don't believe in judging others. But most people on this forum are very nice and helpful people.

My advise to you would be to send a letter off to the Job Centre about your experience if it makes you feel better as sometimes putting an experience on to paper can clear your mind.

I would then look at applying for any job that you can find. I have been through an employment tribunal with 2 previous employers and won. My first experience I was discriminated against when I returned from maternity leave and my next employer paid me for 2 months work with cheques that bounced - I won this case but I have never seen any monies from the company as he and his business has simply re-named and disappeared. I now think these past employers did me a favour and made me a stronger person.

These experiences did make me anxious about finding a new job (I was on anti-depressants for a couple of months) - I applied for every job going even jobs I couldnt see myself doing, part time and full time. I was offered a receptionist role for 16 hours a week at a local doctors surgery - it was not the kind of job I wanted, but needs must, I took the job. I had a mortgage to pay and a small child to clothe and feed.

3 years later I have had another baby, going through divorce and my job, well, I am currently training to be a nurse at the doctors practise that offered me my original receptionist job and I couldn't be happier. I have the hours I want to work and those days of past employers is long forgotten about.

So just stay positive and strong and you never know if a job you think you will hate could turn into your dream job. I never even though about going into nursing, but now I love it and I was going to turn the offer of employment down 3 years ago.

Oldernotwiser

mixtrixx wrote: »

I have a partition on my hard drive that can drag up my complete browser history for the past year when it comes to providing job search activity, so I when it comes to providing evidence to argue my case if need be.
).

You seem to have missed the point that Thorsoak was making quite spectacularly.

mixtrixx

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

You seem to have missed the point that Thorsoak was making quite spectacularly.

Thanks for the reply..

Not necessarily, I'm simply diverting my original case to answer questions that so many seem to be asking as to why if I had not done enough to search for work, have I yet still to not find employment.

On the other hand, I am merely stating that I could cover my own back over the last year when it comes to providing evidence if need be, when the Job Centre seem to be able to get away with not having to provide the same evidence in which to suggest that I have not been doing what is asked of me, but more so a mere cover up to get around the fact that it is indeed them, that have not been doing their jobs correctly. Yet it's my benefits that are stopped, not their wages.

mixtrixx

demir2424 wrote: »

I have just read all this thread and I am quite new to mse and I don't believe in judging others. But most people on this forum are very nice and helpful people.

My advise to you would be to send a letter off to the Job Centre about your experience if it makes you feel better as sometimes putting an experience on to paper can clear your mind.

I would then look at applying for any job that you can find. I have been through an employment tribunal with 2 previous employers and won. My first experience I was discriminated against when I returned from maternity leave and my next employer paid me for 2 months work with cheques that bounced - I won this case but I have never seen any monies from the company as he and his business has simply re-named and disappeared. I now think these past employers did me a favour and made me a stronger person.

These experiences did make me anxious about finding a new job (I was on anti-depressants for a couple of months) - I applied for every job going even jobs I couldnt see myself doing, part time and full time. I was offered a receptionist role for 16 hours a week at a local doctors surgery - it was not the kind of job I wanted, but needs must, I took the job. I had a mortgage to pay and a small child to clothe and feed.

3 years later I have had another baby, going through divorce and my job, well, I am currently training to be a nurse at the doctors practise that offered me my original receptionist job and I couldn't be happier. I have the hours I want to work and those days of past employers is long forgotten about.

So just stay positive and strong and you never know if a job you think you will hate could turn into your dream job. I never even though about going into nursing, but now I love it and I was going to turn the offer of employment down 3 years ago.

Thanks for the reply..

Finally, someone who can relate to my situation!

Sorry to hear about your divorce.

I Would actually like to take a job that I would not usually consider, but this is contradicting what the job centre are actually saying one minute, before you get to a point in which you are expected to "Apply for anything that comes along". As usually they only ask you to list 3 work areas in which you have experience in, in which you would stand a higher chance of finding employment.

The fact that you then have to sign the same Job Seekers Agreement, which does not include any additional criteria in order to receive jobseekers allowance which suggests that anyone should have to accept any type of work, regardless of whether your experienced or not is purely ridiculous. This has also been raised by the CAB in a report on investigating the JC+ when it comes to forcing long term unemployed people back in to work, who are faced with threats of sanctions when it's nothing more then a verbal suggestion, and not part of the same Jobseekers agreement that was applicable for any individual prior to reaching such a stage.

So therefore, even I'm not saying that I would not take any type of job if it were Full Time & Permanent, but if it's something I am not experienced in, and fail to pick up after a 3 month probation period, and later the employ let me go, then theoretically, I have been sacked, which affects the decision when trying to reclaim jobseekers allowance, and would leave me having to wait 9 weeks or more to receive help with mortgage interest again, to which I have no dependants to rely on financially to support me through that period.

Like I say, I would possibly stand a better chance of finding work in the I.T area, to which being unemployed for so long, Training in this field should also be looked at as a possibility by JC+ Personal Advisers, but now a 1 week sanction for failing to turn up on the right day to sign on, has now become a 2 week sanction simply because everything I was doing previously for 5 years was good enough to suggest I was actively seeking work, regardless of back to work companies or JC+ staff themselves not actually fulfilling their part of what they were to provide myself with to maximize my chances of finding work, suddenly becomes a breach of my Jobseekers agreement

This now means that I have to live 4 weeks without JSA, Housing & Council Tax, Mortgage Interest Support, Food Money, Utility Bill Money,
and no doubt I will be sanctioned again when they ask what I have done to find work the next time I sign on, after I am 2 Stone Lighter, have telephone and mobile cut off through not being able to pay the bills, have no money to even travel to the job centre and back, in which even claiming for hardship, is not going to resolve the situation I am in now.
I can't even arrange a temporary extra £50 overdraft to cover outgoing bills that are going to bounce which are due out.

Ironically, if this tougher, harsher Government (that I, days earlier) would have been quoted to go down as saying I had no faith in whatsoever, actually imposed the changes they plan to make in 2013 regarding the benefits system, had of been in place now, then I probably would not of been in this situation (with regards to both work & benefit sanctions).

It's pretty hard to keep positive when you fighting JC+ who simply hide behind the government and continue to hide behind the Government when it comes to handing out sanctions like parking tickets without actually being able to take some responsibility themselves.

I am very happy that you managed to land on your feet, and hopefully things work out well for you and your little one in the future.

Many Thanks.

Edinburgh65

Jeez, waken up and smell the coffee. Three days of the same tales, and no lightbulb moment as yet. I am still 50/50 about whether or not you are just a troll.

Maybe you should show a bit of initiative and widen your job search, outwith what your Jobcentre agreement says. They are hardly going to penalise you for being less picky than they have asked you to be...if of course you do really want to work, as your main concern seems to be about regaining the upper hand with anyone who has dared to "slight" you in the past, rather than sorting out a proper future for yourself.

mixtrixx

SingleSue wrote: »

I don't think I have my clear head on this morning as that reply didn't seem to actually answer the question quoted at all...and then I got completely lost in the last couple of paragraphs!

Re just posting an advert up......the old adage of seek and you will find comes to mind. In other words, putting in the effort to contact companies, researching those companies and tailoring everything to that particular company would have far better results than simply putting an ad up and making the prospective employer do all the running.

By all means carry on with the ad but a two (or even 3) pronged plan of action would hopefully prove to be more successful.

Thanks for you reply..

Sorry I should of mentioned that, that was actually just one method of Job Seeking I am actually doing. I am also looking through local papers online & ones delivered through the door, signed up to various Job Sites online that include the ability to post online CV's etc, I also check the DWP database for Jobs.

The reason I don't go out knocking doors to do this, is because 9 times out of 10 these companies have contact details online, that offer the ability to send CV's through E-Mail, which I feel is more cost effective then using benefit money I had received and now no longer receiving to search for local based jobs. Let alone Printing Costs (Ink, Paper etc).

You could say that I am (or was) trying to manage my finances to the point in which I could jobseek with minimal effort and to myself at a minimal cost.

To put that into perspective could be like comparing my moral values as to the Job Centre who always offer to reimburse jobseekers if they had to attend the Job Centre on a day which is not usually their day of signing.
So, that would imply that they would pay for me to travel by bus, rather then a taxi. Which is no different in my Jobseeking methods, just that rather then using Public Transport or Walking about, I can get the same results staying at home. It's not about being clever, it's a loophole that the job centre cant argue against, but instead unfairly penalize jobseekers for no real legitimate reason.


The way I see it, is that the Internet is one of the biggest sources now when searching for employment, the fact that it means a Jobseeker can actually fulfill a Jobseekers agreement without having to walk outside his frontdoor, yet stand a better chance in getting more results jobseeking this way, is not really something that I should be criticized for.

OK, so you could argue that this method of Jobseeking has not exactly done me the world of good, if it was one of the biggest sources of finding work. But who's to say that I actually did have prospective employers view my online CV's and Ad's I have placed looking for work, been lost when they have approached my previous employer for a reference, only to receive one that could potentially put me at a disadvantage over other candidates looking for the same type of work at such a time in which jobs are hard to come by (that are Full Time & Permanent) purely through a previous employer having the opportunity to totally lie against the reasons as to why my job ended, when the question is raised by prospective employers.

Again, although this is irrelevant to what I originally required advice on, which is probably the main reason as to why the topic has become so confusing, but is another reason to suggest valid arguments I make with regards to companies that offer "Expert" help into getting back in to work has actually failed me when it comes to just 1 of a few Major Barriers that they have never been faced with before.