Getting a job in this country. (unemployment thread)

New Deal is a joke. I had friends who were on it and they got taken bowling and paintballing, not given information and training for seeking work. I think it's another way for lots of people to milk money from the DWP.

 

New Deal is about individual self-empowerment. Team building and competitive activities/sports might seem an unusual approach, and probably aren't the norm (everyone I've spoken to on New Deal finds the voluntary work incredibly tedious) but are in keeping with its ethos. The idea is in fact the opposite to milking money from the state, it's about weaning people off the state. It is a product of a post-Thatcherite consenusus, which has changed the rules of the game, turned them against state orientated redistributive policies and towards the politics of individual self-empowerment, competition and success in a market economy....

 

A more useful way of looking at it might be in terms of citizenship. Whilst immigrants might receive fewer citizenship rights, certainly if they are illegal immigrants working under the radar for poverty wages without the support of welfare state; it is important to recognise that all British citizens, whether born here or whether successful applicants for British citizenship, should be entiteled to the same rights and the same opportunities....

 

Don't get me wrong, some of the programmes on New Deal are in line with helping to find work. I think the prospect of learning new skills, like learning to drive, typing qualifications etc is a great idea. It opens more doors for people looking for work. However, I don't see what people get out of going paintballing etc. I think most people who are offered these sorts of things are only going because it's something to do and it's free, not because it helps to promote team building and the like.

 

New Deal used to be good, but now it is more of a raw deal in some cases. Going to Action for employment in the year 2006 was a nightmare. Situated high in the capitals most hated building, The Tower Block, the staff had attitudes and I had to travel to Colliers wood just to do a bit of jobsearch. The local jobcentre in colliers wood is closed. And the library internet is largely for members only. And they are hardly ever open.

 

You could always call Jobseekers Direct, although sometimes it's tedious...I know, I used to work for them. Also, I don't know how much it is to call.

 

price of a local. 0845 number. Getting through to one of the many robots can be infuriating at times. There are rumours suggesting callcentres will replace the jobcentre. Wish I was 18 in 1990

 

That wouldn't surprise me. The contact centres end up doing a lot more work than the people who work in the jobcentres.

 

Oh the staff in the jobcentre pretend to be busy. I notice how they have twelve tea breaks in the day(I counted how many teabreaks) They like swivelling on their chairs and they get ratty as hell when you make them realise you the client exist. I reckon callcentres will be the future of all jobsearches.

 

I don't think there's ever been a good word said about the jobcentre. I agree with you, they are fairly slack and end up sending half of their work to the contact centres. The other half they have to do because it involves 1:1 interviews and whatever.

The only reason I managed to get a job at one was because I was headhunted as I went to sign on. I was pretty impressed though, at least they're actually recruiting in the jobcentres and not through agency or whatever.

 

I think within any job centre there are a few people that actually help.
The majority just lie through ommision or just can't be arsed to listen to you.
The call centres are just as bad.
I suspect responsibilitys have been shifted because of all the violence that occurs in jobcentres - you can't fight with a phone.

In my jobcentre they have free telephones and have just made ''new claims'' a 0800 No. - so you can phone outside the JC - for free.

 

how about working festivals for a while litter picking or stewarding there are events up to sept looking for people .
usually you get free food and live in a tent but its a bit like being in a party all the time

 

I still dont get why you have to get a job, why cant you use some initiative and start teaching yourself something you can sell. Knowledge sells. you dont need money to set up a business, you just need initiative and knowledge

I refused to sign unemployed - not out of pride but because its too easy and I relied on my own resourcefulness, wit and cunning to get what I got now
from absolute poverty to reasonably ok - not rich by any means but not relying on anyonelse certainly !

 

The problem is, everything has been invented. A lot of it has to do with too many people coming into the country and a lack of funding from the government being injected into Newdeal programme centres. There is also a nasty turn of reality in that employers don't really like cold calling or having speculative letters thrown through their pigeon holes anymore. Shame really as a lot of jobs are not even advertised./ By doing things this way, you successfully avoid the stampede of wilderbeast all putting in their applications and then discovering the job has closed due to too many applicants.

if anything, this is perhaps the worst era to be unemployed. God I wish I was a 60's child.

 

That's good, I never understood why they used 0845 numbers for the jobcentre and benefit lines.

 

yeah yeah great so you dont even try - thats what keeps you unemployed is a lack of initiative see - now all you gotta do is stop repeating that BS and actually just start telling yourself that nothing will stand in the way of you and money - you will get what you want because you will work for it ! you dont need money do you? sign on and teach yourself something valuable - carpentry? computers? gardening? what do you enjoy ? whatever it is - turn your knowledge of it into a business stop telling yourself that crap like its everyonelses fault your unemployed - its not - you are to blame !

 

*grrrrrr*
Stealth tax
*grrrrrr*

To be honest I have no idea - i'll ask them next time I sign on.

 

Are they going to change jobseeker direct into an 0800 number too? It would encourage more people to phone it, that's for sure. not that they need any more people phoning in!

 

http://www.jobcentreplus.gov.uk/JCP/News/SSC052907082530.xml.html

It does not look that way.
Maybe they would prefer people to visit the job centre rather than being able to phone for jobs at home. I think altering that No. will throw up too many difficulties and complications.
Ye never know though.

 

I believe the violence that staff recieve is simply a result of;

Lack of care
Lack of support
Lack of common sense
A load of long labyrinths for a simple enquiry. If you are late for example. You need to ring Belfast then they put you through to someone above your head (Literally on the second floor!)

Though violence is never right. It is quite often understandable when you have mothers with children who need new clothes and who have started growing out of a King Edwards outfit.
Men, young people, not enough to eat. Well sometimes it it their own fault for running out of money. But sometimes bills come in and it throws the budget out the window.

The jobcentre will probably close and then only a phone number will do to be able to claim the most savvy of claims. All this no doubt don't help many people get back into the world of work. Money withdrawn from the Government and organisations bording up one last time so you end up with a ghost town scenario or Friday night in Grove park.