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

mvengemvenge

AP007 wrote: »

given to you by an advisor

That could cover a lot of things...

AP007

mvengemvenge wrote: »

That could cover a lot of things...

Like what? I have not been given a job to apply for for over 18mths as I am on the WP.

mvengemvenge

AP007 wrote: »

Like what? I have not been given a job to apply for for over 18mths as I am on the WP.

Ah......that changes things. However, you could always have your JSAg reviewed, at which interview you could be offered jobs. Will be interesting to see what happens when your 2 years are up. I know that in London, one council is going to put all WP returners on F/T council 'placements', basically work experience.

AP007

mvengemvenge wrote: »

Ah......that changes things. However, you could always have your JSAg reviewed, at which interview you could be offered jobs. Will be interesting to see what happens when your 2 years are up. I know that in London, one council is going to put all WP returners on F/T council 'placements', basically work experience.

Offered jobs? Or you mean shown jobs to apply for? Two different things.

Placements will be slave labour. If there is a full time job I'd expect to get paid for it.

Then of course its 100% the WP has failed and I really didnt expect anything else from it other than a time wasting exercise.

john539

mvengemvenge wrote: »

Has it not occurred to you that they just need to call/email a company to ask how your job application is progressing? If you don't provide a detailed job search, when it gets sent to the decision section, the chances are your benefit will get suspended.

It would be more beneficial to your customers if you helped them find jobs, instead of trying to catch them out.

Do you realise how useless UJM is ?

That's a system DWP & JC have implemented.

What is shocking is, it doesn't matter to anybody in the DWP or JC.

john539

mvengemvenge wrote: »

Ah......that changes things. However, you could always have your JSAg reviewed, at which interview you could be offered jobs. Will be interesting to see what happens when your 2 years are up. I know that in London, one council is going to put all WP returners on F/T council 'placements', basically work experience.

Which council ?

Under what basis & authority ?

Have the unions been consulted ?

You know a lot, like the JC people here knew a lot about useless UJM when it started, which has now been hijacked by external job boards & filled with unverified spam jobs or the "voluntary" placements that were shutdown by protests last year.


The JC & DWP are so incompetent, maybe you should worry about helping people finds jobs, instead of finding ways to catch them out or implementing a flawed Tory ideology.

CS007

On privacy/security:

- unless you are using a 'professional' email provider, ALL of your email content is sent 'in the clear' across the internet; just like normal paper letters, anyone who can intercept the message and open without detection can see details of your correspondence.

- Because of an EU regulation that obliges all ISPs (eg BT, Orange, etc) to keep a log of all websites visited by a subscriber (aka you in your house surfin all day) and email servers you exchange messages with (ie you are using something like Outlook Express or Thunderbird instead of a webmail client), someone who is 'interested in what you are doing' ONLY needs one of the following pieces of information about you:

- an email address that you use
- location of the internet access point that you usually use (could be your home address, or a WiFi hot-spot)

& they can then discover the other piece of info.

- current privacy legislation makes it real difficult for anyone to get access to the ISP records of your web-site access patterns; or put a 'wire tap' onto your email traffic.

SO, the DWP could theoretically/technically monitor your every move on the internet; but current privacy laws etc (plus their own incompetence) means they would have a hard time setting this up for just 1 or 2 'suspect' claimants; never mind mass monitoring of all genuine job seekers.

IF the 'UJM engine' had/could deliver the 'dream specification', the privacy barriers etc would be removed (NOTE to an earlier poster; someone needs to do a full security analysis of everything that the UJM site does to your PC before we can all be sure that your activities are REALLY not shared with the 'adviser' if you do not 'click the share button'....just by visiting the site, you have revealed one of the above key info pieces...

On JSA Agreements:

what seems to be happening in my JC is that they are telling all 'customers' that they no longer have to fill in the booklet to record job activities; but instead are given a double sided A4 page, one side per week, where you are asked to record all jobs applied for, and what you did to look for work.

Enough space for 4 applications per week and 7 days worth of 'job search activity'...

I was told that I 'had to' apply for X jobs per week that was greater than the figure I had previously agreed in the initial JSA when I signed on (NOTE this was a reasonable figure, since the adviser seemed to understand the pretty specialist nature of the work I can do).
When I queried this, there was no direct answer to 'why has it changed and what justifies the new figure'; just some whitewash about a growing job market, and if I did not demonstrate X applications per week, 'they' would have a look and suggest some things I COULD apply for...

I made sure that I annotated the form to stress the 'appropriate jobs' aspect; and await with interest the point where 'they' are suggesting I apply for jobs that are patently not appropriate (they do not stand much chance of understanding what I HAVE done, and COULD do..).

Oh, and did I forget ? the page also has to be filled in with your name, NI #, email address AND telephone #..

Ref discussion above on privacy + security...

IMHO they are attempting a 'paper replacement' of UJM; but such an approach would demand an army of people doing data entry from forms to some DWP system, which they will outsource, so compromising the privacy/security of personal information...

If enough people attempt to login to UJM and get into the 'blocked account' situation, that system will eventually 'grind to a halt' (Denial of Service attack).

Not sure how to handle the data privacy/security aspects of information I am providing on the form...

donnajunkie

mvengemvenge wrote: »

Has it not occurred to you that they just need to call/email a company to ask how your job application is progressing? If you don't provide a detailed job search, when it gets sent to the decision section, the chances are your benefit will get suspended.

wouldnt that break the data protection act? afterall you havent given the company permission to disclose information about you. are they really going to employ people who sit there all day phoning each company on each persons job log to check? imagine if a company recieves hundreds of applications. they wont be happy being constantly hassled about each applicant by the jobcentre.

donnajunkie

mvengemvenge wrote: »

That could cover a lot of things...

everyone knows to apply for jobs given to you by the jobcentre regardless of whether they are suitable.

AP007

donnajunkie wrote: »

wouldnt that break the data protection act? afterall you havent given the company permission to disclose information about you. are they really going to employ people who sit there all day phoning each company on each persons job log to check? imagine if a company recieves hundreds of applications. they wont be happy being constantly hassled about each applicant by the jobcentre.

I said that - they can not do it unless its a job they told you to apply for as you know