DWP Recruiting Again - 2012

athenajm

Sorry tdiof, I meant in my region they have all heard (as far as I am aware - still in contact with a lot of JCp staff who know lots who have applied)

tdiof

Ah! They could have had some quick postings from existing CS all over - we weren't required to fill in references etc so apart from CRB, what are they checking? We still have a 4/5 week release date to come too.

athenajm

It's crazy isn't it? I can't understand the delay in contacting the existing CS, and once they've received non-CS CRBs and if necessary references, what else is there? They could have had us all starting a lot earlier which surely would have helped the departement (although my cynical side says they planned it so no-one could start before Jubliee week so they'd save on paying people for 2 BHs). They could have (and may well have) decided locations whilst the various checks were being done, obviously some may be subject to change due to people failing checks (but I doubt many people would fail, after all why would you apply if you knew you had a record?).

On a slightly different note, my old Job Centre has been given 23 staff from another office which has closed - 19 of those are term time only!!!! And out of the 4 new staff they will be allocated, one has been told, and she's due to start mat leave soon/has just started mat leave! How are either of those things going to help the fact that the JCPis understaffed? Surely the reason behind the recruitment was the JCPs need more staff - surely using over 2/3 of a JCPs allocation on part year staff and using another space for someone that potentially might not work for a year,. is a bit short sighted and ridiculous.

sammyroser

Went to the jc today and apparently all the internal applicants there have started hearing, scarily one of them has a position is Slough! Not that I have an issue with the town it's just such a pain to get to!

tdiof

Ha! 19 term timers? I thought my team was bad with 4 of them.

athenajm

I know!! How the old office (the one which shut down) coped with 19 of them I have no idea. It was a really small office so I would have thought that was nearly half of their workforce!!

When I worked at the other JCP, we had 2 term timers on the team of 7 advisers, one was also officially part time, the other one acted as if she was part time! It was a nightmare in the holidays, all we'd need was one person on AL and then someone to call in sick and it would be madness trying to fit in all the interviews.

I can't believe that people are still allowed to be term time only once their kids get past a certain age. One of the above women I mentioned had kids who were 15 & 17, yet she still insisted she needed time off (not AL though) if the schools shut for any reason, wouldn't work half term or holidays, would refuse to work 'late' (ie 5pm) etc etc. Madness.

Sorry, that was a mini-rant and completely off topic but this thread has been quite quiet recently so maybe no-one will notice!

tdiof

Well term time is just one of the "family friendly" policies new joiners can look forward to (a colleage of mine would replace the word "family" with another word beginning with "f" and ending in "y" - shocking!). The way paid special leave is used can be eyebrow raising. One colleague had their little freddy or janey come down with a cold. Certainly no holiday she said and got paid special leave to tend to their needs (during a queue-busting Alton Towers trip.)

I'm sure my team will miss my constant summer and Christmas attendance.

athenajm

As far as I know (and I may well be wrong) they don't let people do term time only anymore - I certainly hope they don't!! I loved working at the job centre and felt that civil servants are often maligned, but then I'd think of the part time, part year people and realise why people think being a CS is a cushy job!!

tdiof

Don't get me wrong, I support these policies (I may need them myself in the future) but teams are often unbalanced with too many unusual working patterns.

Generally, casework teams only receive enough work for those present that day/week to do but on a customer facing team, people don't stop coming through the doors because 5 people are on a non-working day.

It can, and has, affected customer service.

MissK36

It is truly a bonkers process!!

I'm the same, still waiting! Every unknown number that comes through on my phone makes me think this is it, but no, it's someone to see if I want to claim back PPI!!

At least there's a lot of us in the same position so it does ease the panic a little and I'd like to think I'm laid back about it, but in all fairness it's driving me nuts!! A friends boyfriend who is internal and applied for South West Wales has apparently had a start date of May 28th, which I find even more frustrating!
I reckon if I start before September I'll be happy!!