This is probably more of a rant but it would be useful if someone could confirm what I have been told is correct.
I was made redundant recently & decided to claim contributions based JSA. I had my first 'meeting', signed my Jobseekers agreement and was given an appointment to go back for a Personal Advisor Interview.
During the last 2 weeks, I have...
- Signed up with 6 recruitment agencies (met with 4, the other 2 later this week.)
- The agencies I met with have sent my CV off to 7 jobs.
- out of the 7, 4 want to meet me (1 interview this morning), 3 to follow.
So was feeling fairly positive until....
My Personal Advisor Interview was this morning after the job interview.
Unfortunately I was 10 mins late at the job centre as the person interviewing me for the job was 25mins late. So I was given my first warning letter. My advisor refused to look at my proof I was at a job interview. In fact, she didn't even ask me how the interview went. Clearly it's not part of the Advisors role to show any interest in my job search.
Apparently my efforts to find a job so far aren't adequate. I need to do 3 DIFFERENT things to find a job. Contacting 6 different agencies is doing the SAME thing. Its not enough even though it has resulted in 4 interviews.
I was advised to look at a local newspaper and send my CV directly to companies. I tried to explain that this would be fruitless for the type of role I was looking for. I was told that if I failed to stick to my Jobseekers Agreement (ie do the 3 different things) I wouldn't receive any JSA.
So, in conclusion. I have learnt:
- it's more important to be on time for a Jobseekers appointment, than it is to attend a job interview
- it's more important to be able to tick different boxes than it is to focus on the most productive methods of getting a job.
Obviously, I'm being facetious but I'm pretty annoyed. Not for me (i'll now play the game) but for the people who genuinely need some guidance but are being forced to follow these rules that are actually not really going to help them.
Rant Over.
I was made redundant recently & decided to claim contributions based JSA. I had my first 'meeting', signed my Jobseekers agreement and was given an appointment to go back for a Personal Advisor Interview.
During the last 2 weeks, I have...
- Signed up with 6 recruitment agencies (met with 4, the other 2 later this week.)
- The agencies I met with have sent my CV off to 7 jobs.
- out of the 7, 4 want to meet me (1 interview this morning), 3 to follow.
So was feeling fairly positive until....
My Personal Advisor Interview was this morning after the job interview.
Unfortunately I was 10 mins late at the job centre as the person interviewing me for the job was 25mins late. So I was given my first warning letter. My advisor refused to look at my proof I was at a job interview. In fact, she didn't even ask me how the interview went. Clearly it's not part of the Advisors role to show any interest in my job search.
Apparently my efforts to find a job so far aren't adequate. I need to do 3 DIFFERENT things to find a job. Contacting 6 different agencies is doing the SAME thing. Its not enough even though it has resulted in 4 interviews.
I was advised to look at a local newspaper and send my CV directly to companies. I tried to explain that this would be fruitless for the type of role I was looking for. I was told that if I failed to stick to my Jobseekers Agreement (ie do the 3 different things) I wouldn't receive any JSA.
So, in conclusion. I have learnt:
- it's more important to be on time for a Jobseekers appointment, than it is to attend a job interview
- it's more important to be able to tick different boxes than it is to focus on the most productive methods of getting a job.
Obviously, I'm being facetious but I'm pretty annoyed. Not for me (i'll now play the game) but for the people who genuinely need some guidance but are being forced to follow these rules that are actually not really going to help them.
Rant Over.