Being the second Tuesday of the month, today heralded another scheduled visit to the Job Centre, a pre-requisite of recieving any JSA. For any unemployed graduate this is effectively extra financial aid you shouldnt do without and in the end its worth the time spent feeling out of place and the small cost of time and money to travel to it.
With in an increase in the number of unemployed continuing I imagine it gets busier every week but this week I had to wait half an hour for my appointment. Sitting on the laughably bright blue and red sofas scanning the faces you could tell no-one wanted to be there. Looking around you note the closed body language, heads down, arms crossed, silent, waiting for the moment each name is called so they can find freedom, minutes afterwards. Every stereotype you would expect there is represented and then a few people who clearly feel out place, myself included.
As part of the process you are asked to keep a record of everything you do to find a job, including job searches, applications, interviews etc. This is then checked every two weeks at the scheduled time, you sign to say you have been there and leave, guaranteeing yourself another two weeks worth of money. Watching those who came before these can last anything from 5-10 minutes as the adviser discusses what you have done and what else you could do.
Mine lasted a minute, quite literally. I was asked two questions, signed and left.
As simple as that. So if an graduates out there are not on JSA or loooking at the benefits open to them, you are just losing out.
No new job news today although will email a firm I was meant to hear from last week. I have to say I had expected some communication whether I got the job or not. There are some firms who you know will just not respond, but normally with smaller firms you expect to hear something if you get an interview.
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