What planet are the Job Centre Advisers on?

Martynb_

monkeychops wrote: »

I am going to apply but it just seems so pointless and a waste of my time and the company's time.



I really don't want to give her access but she is very pushy and I am not good at sticking up for myself. What reason can I give her not to give access? I am actually dreading my next appointment with her.

I do want to find work - I have worked continuously since I was 17 so certainly not workshy but she obviously doesn't seem to think I am seriously looking.

I wouldn't mind be a train driver - what qualifications do they need and would my age be a problem?

Here's what you do: you take along with you evidence of job seeking activity. Go to the library, use ctrl and Print screen on the keyboard, get them printed off. Tell her that you will give her evidence but you won't let her have your log-in details because that constitutes a data breach. The UJM is not in-house. In other words she could give your log-in details to anyone either on purpose or by mistake. It is a breach of data privacy to pass on your log-in details. Tell her this and bring with you evidence of job searches on UJM.

AP007

Just tell the JC there is no where to add a cover letter so you would not want to apply for a job that needs an account there but you have no problem using the site where the job (and over 60% are like this) directs you to a 3rd party site to apply. No account on the UJM is needed for this

superbigal36

Uranus as most of them are xxxx holes
Pluto cos most of them rival xxxxxx mouse

likelyfran

monkeychops wrote: »

I am going to apply but it just seems so pointless and a waste of my time and the company's time.



I really don't want to give her access but she is very pushy and I am not good at sticking up for myself. What reason can I give her not to give access? I am actually dreading my next appointment with her.

I do want to find work - I have worked continuously since I was 17 so certainly not workshy but she obviously doesn't seem to think I am seriously looking.

I wouldn't mind be a train driver - what qualifications do they need and would my age be a problem?

Stay fully abreast of your obligations as a claimant and be aware of what she CAN and CAN'T say to you, or demand of you, according to her own job description and the rules of her boss, the DWP.
Don't be afraid to pull her up on anything she does wrong, including displaying rudeness or a bad attitude towards you. Do not let her intimidate you, I'm sure there are lots of 'nice' and reasonable advisors but I know for a fact that there are some horrible, power-tripping, nasty one too....
ps. Looks like you've had some good advice on here already, there is a complaints system in place for YOU, if you should need to refer to it.
pps. Some people on here will try to bully people about things like this - just ignore them!

jacques_chirac

monkeychops wrote: »

My post was because I think my adviser is a joke not about what job I can do.

I was a secretary for over 20 years but for the last 15 years I have worked in retail. I am mainly looking for retail although with so many shops closing down that is not exactly an easy job to find plus most shops want staff younger than me.

I am also looking at jobs like receptionist but as I haven't worked in an office for over 15 years I don't have knowledge of up to date switchboards, computer systems etc.

If you're looking for office/ receptionist work then you need to get up to date on relevant systems. There are countless resources online to help you with this - Microsoft Office (Outlook, Word, Excel, Powerpoint), (basic) Sage etc. Don't worry about switchboards, they are much less common now and where they do exist they are very simple to use.

If your experience is in retail and office work then you seem an ideal fit for call centre work. I wouldn't write it off, and once you have been claiming for thirteen weeks you will have no choice.

The point of my original post is that you need to be telling them what you can do, where your interests lie etc, rather than them having to suggest things to you. Perhaps not a train driver, but what skills do they use that you think you would be good at, and what other roles utilise the same skills?

mumcoll

My OH had two 'advisors' when he was out of work earlier this year. One, a middle aged bloke was really helpful and nice. The other, middle aged woman, was horrible - said she 'could' sanction him as he hadn't ticked the right box. Totally disregarded that he was volunteering for two different places and looking for work.

The volunteering was definitely the thing that helped him get a job. He is now paid for helping people use the internet for (amongst other things) looking for work. He has a meeting with the Job Centre soon (in his professional capacity). Ooooh I so hope it's the dragon woman he has to meet......;)

Elvisia

Ideas for jobs:
Could you try any shops that cater for the more discerning (ie older) customer? I worked in a shoe shop and actually got fired as I wasn't the right fit, the other assistants were in their 50s, the customers were over 60 and I was too young (no idea why I was employed in the first place).
For admin stuff are there again any more established people how might want a PA or secretary who can do the basic secretarial things rather than being too bells and whistles? I went for a job last year that would have suited you, it was working in an office only basic use of a computer and mainly telephone work ensuring their workers were in the right place. It sounded like quite a fun job with a great team.

I agree with the JCP comments, I don't drive either and was recommended for jobs in the middle of a business park only accessible by dual carriageway. I was told to buy a bike! There is no way I would cycle up that road. It is frustrating because you want to spend your time applying for things you can actually do, and instead I wasted the first 2 hours every day applying for things I had no chance of getting. Employers must be so frustrated when they get endless letters from unqualified people. I still have a list of the jobs they made me apply for that were unsuitable, one day it'll become a book or a play or something. They even made me apply to be a lecturer in chemistry, I was an English lecturer, I barely passed chemistry GCSE but I was told since it was in a university it was all the same thing *sighs*. They then sent me on a Basic Literacy course, when I arrived at LearnDirect the guy took one look at my CV and asked why on earth I was there. He was rather displeased that I was taking up a place on their free course to avoid sanctioning.

Elvisia

Can you audio type? I know there are well paid jobs doing audio typing for people, ie lawyers, doctors, financial types etc, and that would only required basic keyboard skills. Fast basic keyboard skills!

patman99

OP, if you have been out of work for over 6 months then you should be chasing them to find-out what they can do for you with regards to courses to help you back into work.

You also might want to find-out at which age you can start claiming Pension Tax Credit. Once you are old-enough to claim PTC, then switch. At least then you won't have to sign-on anymore.

[Deleted User]

monkeychops wrote: »

most of the jobs on there are for things like call centres, sales people etc.

Just apply for them, they will likely be scams or non existent anyway

I know they want to get people into work but they need to be realistic. Also the new "commitments" book seems rather stupid. There are only so many things you can do to find work so how are you meant to keep finding 4 new "commitments" every week?

They seem to leave me alone, I've never had my commitments book filled in - UJM shuts them up
When I've finished complaining as they keep telling me 'I'm an open and shut case' it must be all the call centre and sales fakes I keep applying for which results in work trials that comes to nothing but comes out of the public purse as the employers don't generally want to pay leaving the DWP to pick up the tab ahh! - I'm going to try my MP I think

Their a bit clueless the JC staff they can't even realise when their adverts are fake! scary :eek: