Universal Job Match at http://jobseekers.direct.gov.uk

AP007

Denno666 wrote: »

On your profile and when you register there are 2 boxes, one to allow the jobcentre access and the other to allow them to email you. I haven't actually ticked the latter and yet I am getting emails???

I've finally been badgered into allowing them access and thought, well at least they'll stop hassling me now. Unfortunately I've started to have a different adviser who is absolutely certain about the benefits of me making my CV public. His argument was rather unconvincing.

Me: I don't want to make it public on JM because I don't know who can see my details.
Man: But then how do you know when you send a CV to a company by the post who it's going to? You don't know whose letter box it might be going through.
Me: Because it's a reputable company e.g. The National Trust, and it's my decision.
Man: But you don't REALLY know, do you?
Me: ermm, well....
Man: And when you respond to a newspaper job advert, you could be sending your CV to anybody.

I found it amusing that he didn't bother to pretend that JM is a good, secure site - he didn't exactly sell it.

LOL who sends a CV by post these days?

Also most people would do research on a company like google the website and look up the address and see it on a google map too before emailing a CV unless it was an agency that you knew off.

I didnt apply for a job once as the job was based at someones HOUSE!!

Denno666

AP007, that's exactly what I thought! Should this make me worried if my adviser is under the impression that everybody still sends CVs by post? All my money would be blown on stamps!
And I totally agree about researching a company - I do this anyway as I want to know what kind of company it is, etc.
As for 'odd jobs' being advertised on JM, I swear I saw one advertising 'escort agency type work' not so long ago - the problem is it sounded so strange/funny I'm starting to wonder whether it wasn't a dream....

AP007

Denno666 wrote: »

AP007, that's exactly what I thought! Should this make me worried if my adviser is under the impression that everybody still sends CVs by post? All my money would be blown on stamps!
And I totally agree about researching a company - I do this anyway as I want to know what kind of company it is, etc.
As for 'odd jobs' being advertised on JM, I swear I saw one advertising 'escort agency type work' not so long ago - the problem is it sounded so strange/funny I'm starting to wonder whether it wasn't a dream....

I know there was one for a Princess lol

Denno666

I wonder how long it will take for the job of PM to be advertised.

weeta_bix

Work programme advisor has started pressuring me to try to sign up to UJM now, have managed to not sign up so far. She used the same argument, that I didn't know who i was sending my CV to in the post or when I apply for other jobs online. I told her that wasn't the point, my CV would already be on the server of a company I don't trust with my data, before I even sent it anywhere. She told me I was being 'funny' with her and that she didn't want to speak to me any more. I told her I was not being or trying to be funny, I just care where my data goes, and gave the example that I don't want to sign up to Facebook either.

She told me that it is mandatory to sign up now. I told her I didn't think this was correct. She said that if it wasn't it would be very soon and that she had already had customers who had been sanctioned for not registering, when they were told to last November. I thanked her for the warning and told her that I wouldn't be signing up until I was told that by the Jobcentre themselves.

I have been trying to get on with my life so I haven't been paying too much attenion to the UJM situation lately. Has anything changed yet?

AP007

weeta_bix wrote: »

She told me that it is mandatory to sign up now. I told her I didn't think this was correct. She said that if it wasn't it would be very soon and that she had already had customers who had been sanctioned for not registering, when they were told to last November. I thanked her for the warning and told her that I wouldn't be signing up until I was told that by the Jobcentre themselves.

I have been trying to get on with my life so I haven't been paying too much attenion to the UJM situation lately. Has anything changed yet?

So on the one hand they tell you it is mandatory then she says it wil be. What one is it? It is or it may be are different things! lol

weeta_bix

AP007 wrote: »

So on the one hand they tell you it is mandatory then she says it wil be. What one is it? It is or it may be are different things! lol

You have to laugh really don't you? I do or otherwise I would cry I think. She didn't seem to be able to make her mind up, which is why I guess I thought it was probably empty threats again, but I thought I ought to check! I am still reading back in this thread...

jayne30

http://www.pcs.org.uk/en/department_for_work_and_pensions_group/dwp-news.cfm/id/78E359C6-7B09-4FC6-98EBD4696432C199

That is most recent I am aware of, may be worth printing off and taking it with you at signing on appointments and work programme appointments :idea:

andy2004

As I had a word with the manager of havant jobcentre the other day, after getting a little het up with the advisor who said my jobsearch had to be sent off to ajudication in cosham.
I said to her thats all their FIT for is sanctioning people, and told her to use the computer she'd just logged into to find all the jobs I was able to do if she thought i didnt look on their jobsite hard enough, which she didnt.
The manager Andy Brown informed me 1 you dont have to sign up to the UJM nor can you be sanctioned for not signing up to it at the moment, but when the new rules for jobseekers come out in the future this may change, but they would prefer people to sign up as it makes it easier for the jobseeker to fine tune their job matching settings and more business's would be able to look at your CV online.
2. rules for jobseekers are changing soon and to "get of my !!! and into work before they do."
examples, minimum number of hours you'll have to search for work a week is one of the new rules, and you'll have to provided PROOF of those hours or face being sanctioned. on the spot.
number of minimum hours 35 a week
your jobseekers agreement will be looked at every 6months and changed where necessary. probably to make it harder for you, and easier for them to sanction you or to add cleaning / carer to the bottom of the jobs your looking for.

Oh as for the UJM, they have found some bugs in it at the moment, where people log in and then get locked out of their accounts.
aka you copy and paste you id and password and on screen it says you've used the wrong user id or password. try again. so you do, and nothing seems to work, its only when you leave the page and reload that you find out when you click login again that your account has been locked.
happened to me.
I was told to create a new account as i didnt login to the old one very much.
And they do know of this bug.

donnajunkie

andy2004 wrote: »

examples, minimum number of hours you'll have to search for work a week is one of the new rules, and you'll have to provided PROOF of those hours or face being sanctioned. on the spot.
number of minimum hours 35 a week

how are you supposed to prove it unless you film yourself? i think this will just mean people giving daft evidence like i logged into jobcentre plus at 8am and looked at it until 5pm. what if you have doctors appointments, voluntary work, job interviews etc during the day? are you meant to make up the 35 hours through the night?