The Job Centre- There to help?

I am becoming increasingly frustrated with the Job Centre and in particular their insistence that after 13 weeks of job searching in alternate weeks to signing on I have to sit with an advisor, look at jobs I could find myself and then leave.

You may remember I had requested that these end given their utter pointlessness. At the time the guy was very understanding and said after three weeks he would ask his superior.

The answer was of course no.

What is more the jobs he keeps showing me never actually involve even the smallest element of marketing, instead being mostly admin based. As I explained applying for a permanent admin job is just not realistic. But on Tuesday my advisor wanted to give it another go. This gave me a chance to really vent my frustration at the whole job centre process.

We have now been in an economic downturn for nearly 2 years and yet the job centre has made no attempt to adopt its practices to graduates/unemployed professionals and even experienced managers. They all get the same experience as someone with 3 kids, no education and 20 years of life. I think we really have gone to far down the equal opportunity and fairness path. Because when it comes to the job centre, we are not all equal and should therefore be treated differently. I regularly bring a list of between 6-10 jobs I have applied for. I search every few days and am also volunteering and copywriting. Being bought in to the job centre every other week to look at jobs I am not going to apply for is basically laughable.

The way that the job centre works they would sooner see me working in a low paying admin job I could have done straight out of school, rather than volunteering, gaining experience and trying to realise my potential. These things in fact gain me no extra credit, if anything they are viewed as a distraction.
If necessary i will have the same argument with the advisors each week and win. If they think that I spent £6k to study a Marketing Masters just to spend my life in a basic admin job they are sadly, sadly mistaken. If they ever actually decide they have an interest in helping me I will welcome it. Until then I will attend each Monday meeting, ready for another fight.

The Elusive Right Opportunity

One of the key challenges as an unemployed graduate is finding the right opportunity for you. I view it as unlike most job searches, where you merely look for something your vaguely interested and think you can do. Instead you are looking for something which supports your existing background and which may lead to a succesful career. I have said before how I am now involved in the SCU although my strategy developing as come to a halt as I have not heard anything since sending a draft to my contact there. As well as rejecting me Fubra have offered me the chance to be one of their freelance copy writers. Evidently impressed with my writing style and ability to research they think I would be an excellent addition to their freelance team. I am of course interested, good experience, money and another addition to my growing C.V are too many positives to turn down. One thing potentially stands in my way.

The Job Centre

I have not yet taken my new volunteering role or this offer to them for consideration. Their rules and guidelines state you cannot do more than 16 hours of part time work a week. Similar rules exist for volunteering positions. I am expecting a battle to convince them that whilst juggling a volunteering job and a copywriting job I am still actively searching for jobs.
But then the jobs they put in front of me on a regular basis clearly are not the right career step. This comes back to my earlier post on the job centre quandary. In my opinion, those of us who are unemployed graduates are different from other first time job seekers. I want something which is the right chance for me to show my skills, not a sideways step that merely delays me breaking into my chosen career. The SCU and copywriting positions are excellent experience for someone in my position. They should help me find that elusive right opportunity. The average admin job put in front of me each week, simply wont. I just hope tomorrow the job centre have the foresight and understanding not to limit either potentially career advancing chance.

The Job Centre Quandary

A day late, as yesterday proved to be quite busy. More on that tomorrow as I try to catch up.

On Monday I had to attend the job centre for what will become a fixture in the in between weeks which I sign on. I was not entirely sure of the point of it when I went so was not exactly sure what to expect. If you are on JSA for more than 13 weeks I am afraid it is now compulsory, a new iniative from the government.

I arrived on time and unlike when signing on was immediately ushered to a desk to talk with an advisor. He preceeded to look at jobs for me using the job centre database, incidentally something I can do myself from home. Flagging up several admin jobs we got to discussing what I was really after. This resulted in the quandry.

I am after a marketing job. I have a marketing masters which I paid a lot to get. I am currently volunteering in marketing. Its fairly clear the average admin job isnt for me. Clear to myself, clear to him and clear to the employer.

Let us say I go to an interview for an admin position. A common first question is why do you want the job. Experience, I will answer. When pressed it will soon become clear I view the job as a good way of gaining short term experience and that I have no intention of sticking around for any length of time. I could lie but its not in my nature to do so and so when I put this to the advisor he saw the problem.

This then allowed me to follow up with an honest question. What was the point of me being there. I could search jobs at home in exactly the same way, by travelling to the job centre I paid an unecessary bus fare and took a huge chunk out of my day.
The advisor was quick to admit that in my case there probably wasn't much point, but that others struggled to find jobs and they had make great breakthroughs. This led to the obvious and instrinsic flaw of the program being exposed.

The job centre has to be seen to treat everyone equally.
Everyone is clearly not equal.

In the case of the guy before me, the advisor had found him jobs he had not considered and sent him on his way, having really aided him in his job search

In my case he had wasted my time, and he knew it. The other frustrating thing is that despite the fact we both knew this we have to continue the charade for a few more weeks. Then if it continues to be pointless he will ask his boss if it can stop.

Until then we will both just have to pretend we are achieving something.

Increased efficiency or Unnecessary Bureaucracy

Yesterday was another visit to the job centre. It has become routine now, walk through the door, hand your cellophane wrapped booklet to the man leading to the doors upstairs, go to the first floor, hand booklet to another man, go to zone C, wait for your name to be called.

Except not anymore. For reasons I can only assume have been shown to increase the efficiency of the practice/staff the job centre has made some minor changes to the process.

1. Instead of just going to the door and handing the booklet, you now have to queue at the front desk with anyone else with a general enquiry so you can be handed a small yellow card, which must be handed in to allow you access to upstairs.

2. Zones A-D are now Zones 1-4. Zones 3-4 have moved upstairs. This took me a while to figure out as I sat in my usual place since no-one had informed me. I waited 10 minutes for my appointment till someone called my name only to send me upstairs.

3. Zones 1-2 are for 25+, Zones 3-4 are for 16-24. This I suppose is to counter the growing number of unemployed young individuals. Ridiculously however people were clearly ending up in the wrong place. Despite the apparent obvious difference the people at the door were not informing them. This led me to be sitting upstairs across from a young guy with two children and a man with a long grey beard. Which one seems the odd one out? Surely the man at the door could have told him he was in the wrong place, thus saving him time. Instead it took until his name was called for him to be told he was on the wrong floor.

Overall the experience took 10 minutes longer than it used to. There is an oft used saying which might need to applied here: Don't fix it if it isn't broken!

Back to it

It has always been difficult finding your rhythm after the Christmas Break. The world stops, opens some presents and eats some Turkey and then there is just under a week till they stay up late, drink champagne and see in the New Year. As a student I struggled to get any meaningful amount of work done over this period, as a job hunter I didnt stand a chance.

I looked anyway, but who would post a job the week after Christmas, the answer as expected was no-one.

So now it is the 4th, normal life resumes. People go back to work, students go back to University, Kids are back at school. Jobs still have not been posted yet, it is after all for most the first day back at work although I expect a trickle to follow later in the week.

Back to the job centre tomorrow to explain why I have not applied to any jobs the last two weeks. Hopefully they will be understanding and not complain that my booklet information on the agreed applications.
Then on Thursday I have the meeting with the Wheatsheaf Trust, hopefully the turning point. For now though I do not see much I can do, and I was bought Assassins Creed 2 for Christmas!