How much info should you give to A4E advisers?

111222

Mine seems to push for every detail of my life, and then subtly threatens me that I will have my benefit stopped if i don't cooperate or turn up, which is pretty humorous as I've never missed an appointment and don't intend on doing so and i am always fully cooperative but he tries to dig into my past from years ago. Doesn't seem right to me but i just go along with it. Any options i have here?

imatt

Name, rank and number only! ;-)

On a more serious note, when you say "every detail of my life", what is this exactly?

Is he asking for things beyond your CV such as what type of house you have, your marital status, do you have kids and if so how many, your religous beliefs, your political views, your sexuality, your parents backgrounds, whether you have brothers and sisters and so on...?

If I were in your boots, I'd ask him why he needed to know such info. Then make it clear he is making you feel somewhat uncomfortable and is overstepping the mark. If he persists, than make a formal complaint to his superiors.

As I often say, you are classed as a customer / client at W2W providers. As such you do have basic rights.

It is not as though A4e can afford any more bad publicity right now.

P.S. Are you male or female? Not that it should make a differerence. However, I could possibly see how a woman could feel more uncomfortable in such a scenario.

Apologies if I have over-egged anything here.

imatt

111222

I'm male, I can handle it, but just think there's something funny going on, I know these advisers are only pushing to get their commission and that's what drives them.

Where do I live, who do I live with, do I have many friends, what do I do in my free time, and then digging into all my work history and how it was. Maybe he's ok but i get the impression he's trying to play some mind games here. If he didn't keep saying that I can get my benefit stopped at any time then I may forget it. I have a perfect history of turning up being cooperative and being reasonable so I just don't know. I suppose it's just the way he is trained. Hope I can hold my tongue.

maninthestreet

Call his bluff - only give him the information you are comfortable giving him. Ignore his threats about stopping your benefit, let him do his worst.

anamenottaken

111222 wrote: »

Where do I live, (should be asking about where you would be willing to work) who do I live with (no relevance, don't have to say unless you want to), do I have many friends (so how big is the pool of people who know you are looking for work and what you can offer an employer), what do I do in my free time (interests may suggest alternative/additional work opportunities or organisations which would be good to work in), and then digging into all my work history (relevant - some aspect of something early in your career could be useful. Being able to talk about successful aspects of your job is good and may indicate another avenue to explore or as an example to use in describing how you would perform in a future role) and how it was. (What did you like - would like? Where were your particular successes? What difficulties did you overcome?).

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