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are Jobcentre staff helpful

Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
i was at the jobcenter today and was talking to some guy whoes
on JSA and he was tellling me he don't get anyhelp at all looking for
jobs the staff they just ask him to sign on his signing on date then he can go for two week and he told me the majic question they always ask is
Hows the job search going
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Comments

  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    i think you only get real help when you enter the new deal programm
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    gladiator wrote:
    i think you only get real help when you enter the new deal programm

    Very true, my job centre are about as helpful as shit on sticks. I just google it now.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    they helped my boyf get a course on mechanics, and when we were having problems with working tax credits messin us about they helped us out with errrrr thets just say we had what we needed when wed signed off and had no money at all this is the new deal im talking about though i think there brilliant wen it cum to helping you out wen your desparate! i think no.one is better off wrkin. we got more money on jsa!! were in big debt now and were workin wen on jsa we had enough money for what we wanted!
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    No, they';re lazy and clueless. They're not paid enough to be arsed, and now Brown is sacking 12,000 of them morale is at an all-time low.

    It's not hard to press the buttons on those gay purple machines though. Seek and ye shall find (a crappy data entry job for £4/hour).
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I'm on JSA myself and all I get is 'So hows the job search going'. They look to see you've filled in your job search log and sign it. They don't actually read it though - I could write in gobbledegook and they'd still not notice.

    They're pretty useless. But then, I wouldn't rely on the 'job centre' to get me a job lol I'll do that myself hehe.

    Ilora x
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Jobcentre staff are undoubtedly some of the most unhelpful people I have ever met. When I went to them a few weeks ago, they told me to sign onto Incapacity Benefit. This, despite me saying I wanted to work. Eventually, after a lot of pestering, they referred me onto an agency. At least they're slightly competent at their job and I get a nice cup of tea every time I visit too!
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    well know that i left my apprenticship i am not sure if it is best to go back
    on jsa (if i back date my claim i might be able to go back to new deal)
    or doing another apprenticship mayby in retail at least you get some
    custormer service experience although motor viecle sounds good as will
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    When i was looking for my first job i went to a job centre, i naivly expected that the staff will help me find something. Only to find out that your expected to do everything yourself!
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    And whats the deal with them being closed on a saturday? Not very student friendly is it?
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    gladiator wrote:
    i was at the jobcenter today and was talking to some guy whoes
    on JSA and he was tellling me he don't get anyhelp at all looking for
    jobs the staff they just ask him to sign on his signing on date then he can go for two week and he told me the majic question they always ask is
    Hows the job search going


    If they helped you get a job then they'd be one step closer to losing theirs!! :p

    Maybe the answer is to put them on commission - i.e. more people they get in employment for at least 6 months the more they get!!
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    i think your write about finding your own job, do you thinks its worth going
    into all these shops and supermarkets and asking for vacancies or doing
    it by phone. i wonder how much money full time person
    gets in a supermarket just for stacking shelvs.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    satehen wrote:
    And whats the deal with them being closed on a saturday? Not very student friendly is it?
    If you're a student you're not entitled to benefit.

    If you're genuinely out of work, you're free to go in in office hours.

    The staff would be better if they were paid a decent wage (a significant proportion of benefit staff are on benefits themselves), and Brown didn't sack 12,000 of them to prove that he is "big on cutting waste" (whilst leaving the real wasters sitting at their desks fucking everything up).
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    The 1 and only time I've been into a job centre, I found the people who I spoke to to be quite helpful and friendly. However, that's in comparisson to the rest of the people in there (on the day I went, I was stood in a queue and heard some people talking about robbing their next door neighbour). But of course, it's going to be different every where you go. Perhaps they were just nice to me 'cause I was nice to them, who knows.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Kermit wrote:
    The staff would be better if they were paid a decent wage (a significant proportion of benefit staff are on benefits themselves), and Brown didn't sack 12,000 of them to prove that he is "big on cutting waste" (whilst leaving the real wasters sitting at their desks fucking everything up).

    I totally agree. The salary paid to the Jobcentre Plus staff is just about the lowest out of the civil service. I work for another department and when the National Minimum Wage was introduced we had to be given a payrise in order to be compliant with the new legislation.

    The jobcentre staff can be quite scary though, I was briefly unemployed years and years ago. I went down to the jobcentre to start my jsa claim and asked what available jobs there were. The adviser said there were jobs at the local chicken factory, I pulled a bit of a face and said I would really prefer an admin type job. I then got the beggars can't be choosers lecture, and told that they wouldn't give me JSA if I was turning down work! Fairy nuff, I see their point but I hadn't actually started my jsa claim at that point. I slunk off and came back a couple of days later and signed on when a different adviser was at the desk!!
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    i was looking for a job last year, told them what i wanted etc (id not mentioned benefits as i really wanted a job) all i got was

    'how old are you?'

    '17'

    'sorry we cant help you, and dont think you can have benefits either'

    i walked out of there so embarrased like id been slapped in the face, not that id wanted benefits but that they wouldnt help me at all, luckily i found another job within 2 weeks
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    To be fair though, char_baby, people don't normally go to the jobcentre unless they want benefits. And if you were just looking for jobs, a well-trained monkey could use the job terminals without needing help.

    Rachie: have a look.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Kermit wrote:
    To be fair though, char_baby, people don't normally go to the jobcentre unless they want benefits. And if you were just looking for jobs, a well-trained monkey could use the job terminals without needing help.

    Rachie: have a look.
    unfortunatly i did use the terminals but only came up with unsuitable jobs, also i was approached by one of the staff while i was looking on these :rolleyes:
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    gladiator wrote:
    i was at the jobcenter today and was talking to some guy whoes
    on JSA and he was tellling me he don't get anyhelp at all looking for
    jobs the staff they just ask him to sign on his signing on date then he can go for two week and he told me the majic question they always ask is
    Hows the job search going

    Must admit that when I turned 18 and claimed the dole for a little bit they just used to ask if I have applied for any jobs and then show you a list of the jobs you might be interested in your selected area.

    New Deal are a bit better altough they more or less force you to take a job.

    Never found them that helpfull apart from one bloke who was really kind and treated you as if your wasn't just someone else on the dole..
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    what do you mean they force you i mean do you have to take what they tell you, and do you think it better to be on JSA then new deal
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Under New Deal (for those who have been on JSA for more than six months) they make you train and train and train. They actually force you to apply for jobs, and make it as hard as possible to remain on benefit.

    Which is how it should be.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    what kind of contracts have the new deal got with local employers what jobs
    did they ask you to go for
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Kermit wrote:
    No, they';re lazy and clueless. They're not paid enough to be arsed, and now Brown is sacking 12,000 of them morale is at an all-time low.

    It's not hard to press the buttons on those gay purple machines though. Seek and ye shall find (a crappy data entry job for £4/hour).
    When you sign on you are not seeing an adviser, quite often frontline staff are only casuals on a 6 month contract with hardly any training and don't care. Also a lot of offices are reduced to speed signing due to majot staff shortages. This means they aren't allowed to do a jobsearch for you as they have to sign that many people that day.If you want their help you need to ask to see an adviser. After 13 weeks you should see one automatically and then every 6 months but there's nothing stopping you asking for their help, but I do agree that when you sign you get no help! Most advisers get pretty narked when they are faced with someone who has been signing for 6 months and its obvious no one on frontline has bothered their backsides to help the customer. You can of course access all the jobs on those lovely jobpoints via the internet now though. Just keep a record to show them, should they bother to ask. I used to do restart interviews and it bugged the life out of me when customers stared blankly when I asked for evidence of what they had done to look for work or when I did a jobsearch for them, and realised their job goals were completely useless but no one had thought of telling them to be a car mechanic you had to be qualified!!
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Char_Baby wrote:
    i was looking for a job last year, told them what i wanted etc (id not mentioned benefits as i really wanted a job) all i got was

    'how old are you?'

    '17'

    'sorry we cant help you, and dont think you can have benefits either'

    i walked out of there so embarrased like id been slapped in the face, not that id wanted benefits but that they wouldnt help me at all, luckily i found another job within 2 weeks
    Unfortunately we are told we can't help under 18's and to redirect you to your nearest connexions office, its government policy. Not that I agree mind!
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    you demonstrate your competency again, by pulling up a thread from March....
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Er....perhaps I've misunderstood, but aren't new posters told by regulars to look for old threads, not just keep starting new ones?

    I'm not defending anyone, but are you supposed to only look at old threads, not comment on them?
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    .
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I've got no problem with that at all, it's just that sometimes the attitude on a discussion board is "Oh no, not that again", but if you weren't around for the earlier discussion, what are you supposed to do?

    Otherwise, you end up with a clique of older posters with new ones frozen out.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    .
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Well, having realised I've stumbled accidentally onto a site for young people, and no longer able to class myself as young, maybe I'll start changing the board into a biddies haven...

    And to think when I was a punk in 1977 I thought I'd never live to 21.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    .
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