Asked to look for 8 jobs a week

jobseeking_help

princesskasren wrote: »

Oh and a quick question...is everyone ticking the box to let their advisor have access to their account? I am not afarid of what she will see as i religiously look at jobsites but it does feel a tad big brotherish.
Oh and also when I was at teh jobcentre today she gave me an appt for some group information session? LOl...again it sounds like a cult!

Princess

I would be awfully cautious about offering the login details to JCP. I think they may be able 'sub' you to vacancies. If you miss this submission and fail to apply or decide not to apply then this may have repercussions on the JSA.

Like all other organisations JCP is no different. There are good employees and not so good. If you trust your adviser all well and good.

You can withdraw your permission to JCP staff to access your a/c at any time.

JimmyTheWig

falko89 wrote: »

8 per week, I couldn't find 8 jobs a month out here in the sticks

That's why the Job Centre have suggested the OP applies for jobs out of the blue by going through the Yellow Pages and the likes.
There may not be 8 advertised jobs, but it should be easy enough to make 8 enquiries.

The difficulty is that making enquiries in this way is probably futile.

paulmapp8306

Very futile.

From experience, some employers (small ones particularly) are getting royally P**sed off by continual approaches for jobs that are not advertised or available - predominantly due to JCP insistance for JSA purposes. They get to the point where enquiries by EMail or post are just deleted/binned without even being read. Nothing is kept on file - because there are too many. The only information kept tend to be applications from suitable candidates to advertised jobs - for future reference.

ALIBOBSY

I do think some people on this site have this impression that the job market is the same as it was say 10 or even 5 years ago when it simply isn't. There was a time when there were jobs you just had to find them, we are now in a period when in SOME areas there just aren't enough jobs at all and the people who are more qualified and would normally easily be able to get a job are ending up stuck.

My OH after working part time whilst studying and full time after uni from the age of 15-whilst at uni at one point he did 3 part time jobs around his studies OH was made redundant twice in 2 years. He did do some short term contracts and travelled over an hour each way in some cases. After the most recent 6 months on JSA he has now gone self employed as the jobs are simply not there. He has been told by a number of employers he is too qualified/experience/mature to get a min wage job and the higher paid stuff seems to have dried up.

We also have a friend who has reached the end of his teather he was applying for hundreds of jobs each month and almost 18 months later he is still stuck. He is qualified and in his 40's, the typical "middle class" tax payer type, his wife has increased her hours to keep them ticking over and luckily they had a low mortgage so can keep the roof over their heads, but I think some posters on here need to understand the job market is a different place and beast than it used to be.

But (and this is my bit relevant to the OP) OH for his self employed work goes out everyday to drum up business-leaving leaflets in shops/local business/speaking to people and local businesses he knows to drum up jobs or we are out pushing leaflets with the kids whenever its dry (or not too stormy lol). So alot more than 8 actions a week.

Ali x

BTW we don't live in a big town or city-we are semi rural in a village on the edge of a small town.

sniggings

skintandscared wrote: »

You don't have to move house to work outside of your local village. Just get a local bus map and train map and apply for jobs in those vicinities too. I have worked at the same London City firm for 20 years but have lived in High Wycombe, Wembley, Portsmouth, Hertfordshire and now Kent and have commuted from all of them. The 2.5 hours each way from Portsmouth wasn't much fun, but you do what you have to!

try that on £6.19 an hour!

JimmyTheWig

ALIBOBSY wrote: »

But (and this is my bit relevant to the OP) OH for his self employed work goes out everyday to drum up business-leaving leaflets in shops/local business/speaking to people and local businesses he knows to drum up jobs or we are out pushing leaflets with the kids whenever its dry (or not too stormy lol). So alot more than 8 actions a week.

But these are all actions that you see as worthwhile.
The OP is being asked to do 8 a week, of which many will be a waste of time. That's what the OP is complaining about, not that they are expected to do 8 things.

sniggings

JimmyTheWig wrote: »

That's why the Job Centre have suggested the OP applies for jobs out of the blue by going through the Yellow Pages and the likes.
There may not be 8 advertised jobs, but it should be easy enough to make 8 enquiries.

The difficulty is that making enquiries in this way is probably futile.

funny you are trying to correct a post and making mistakes yourself, it was not 8 enquires but 4 application, 3 calls and send CV

brokeinwales

From experience, some employers (small ones particularly) are getting royally P**sed off by continual approaches for jobs that are not advertised or available

A hotel I used to work for used to effectively blacklist people who were constantly coming in pestering for work. Their CVs went on the "pain in the a***" pile and if a job did come up, they were actually a bit less likely to get it than the average applicant (one even had a CV on file with a post it note attached saying "This woman is odd and a damned nuisance. Do not interview.")- and this was before the economic downturn. Other companies I've worked for recently are getting several CV's a day - they usually go straight in the bin. It's worth doing if it counts as an action for JSA - but it probably won't get you a job.

A better approach to speculative applications is to use people you know - people who already work at a company, get them to ask managers on your behalf whether there are any vacancies coming up because they have a friend who'd be really good (at the hotel I just mentioned, most of teh staff we employed were recommended to us by people who already worked there, or who were leaving and suggested a friend or sibling to take their place) . The personal link is much more likely to pay off than random spamming with CVs and letters.

JimmyTheWig

sniggings wrote: »

funny you are trying to correct a post and making mistakes yourself, it was not 8 enquires but 4 application, 3 calls and send CV

Yes, I missed that bit. Possibly because I couldn't make much sense of it.
Wasn't sure if the 4 applications had to be for jobs that existed (if so, that seems to have been missed in this thread) or just "Hello, I am writing to apply for a job within your organisation, if you have any openings" type letters.

sniggings

JimmyTheWig wrote: »

Yes, I missed that bit. Possibly because I couldn't make much sense of it.
Wasn't sure if the 4 applications had to be for jobs that existed (if so, that seems to have been missed in this thread) or just "Hello, I am writing to apply for a job within your organisation, if you have any openings" type letters.

Yeah applications normally refers to applying for an advised vacancy.

I feel sorry for all these business that have to go through all these applications of people clearly not suited for the job, I am applying for the same job 2-3 times, as it ticks the JSA little boxes, and all I'm doing is !!!!ing off the business who is unlikely to warm to me because of it.

I asked the JSA about this and was told that it isn't a problem to keep doing.