Take a bow, mighty conservative Britain, the workhouses are back

So if you did 13 weeks and got a reference at the end and updated your CV don't you think you would be in a better position that you are now?

I don't think so, no. The reason I can't get a job in IT is because I haven't had a job in IT. A secretarial job won't help that.
 
So if you did 13 weeks and got a reference at the end and updated your CV don't you think you would be in a better position that you are now?

I don't think a reference to 13 weeks of forced pound land JSA work is going to make much of a difference in him finding a full time job.. He'd be as well doing a paper round.
 
I don't think a reference to 13 weeks of forced pound land JSA work is going to make much of a difference in him finding a full time job.. He'd be as well doing a paper round.

His own words was that you need experience to get such jobs. He's being offered said experience. So it's far more useful that paper round. Read what he wrote.
 
His own words was that you need experience to get such jobs. He's being offered said experience. So it's far more useful that paper round. Read what he wrote.

No. It's not a reference that I need. I'm looking to get into IT so I need experience in IT. If they offered me work experience doing the job I'm looking for (Tech Support) then I'd be all for it.

Poundland, though? No way. If I wanted to work in a shop I would've left school at 16.
 
I don't think so, no. The reason I can't get a job in IT is because I haven't had a job in IT. A secretarial job won't help that.

So you'll only accept an IT job. That's a surprise and shows why such schemes are needed. Does working in a shop suddenly force you to stop applying for IT jobs.
However have you ever thought of offering your services for nothing, to get some experience and prove yourself?
Much like graphic designers, web designers and photographers do. Do lots of free work or work of their own back to get a portfolio together.
 
I don't think so, no. The reason I can't get a job in IT is because I haven't had a job in IT. A secretarial job won't help that.

I don't think a reference to 13 weeks of forced pound land JSA work is going to make much of a difference in him finding a full time job.. He'd be as well doing a paper round.

Not saying your views are wrong however this is how i see it:

Any job reference which can show your willingness to work is of great advantage, anything you can get over the competition when your CV goes in is a positive, a reference for 13 weeks of unpaid work will work in your favor big time.

Now for my point of reference: Whilst at uni my sister did all sorts of unpaid work in her own time / during summer etc, in the hugely competitive market of Law it worked massively in her favor and she ended up being top of the pile and got the job she wanted 3 months ago.
 
So you'll only accept an IT job. That's a surprise and shows why such schemes are needed. Does working in a shop suddenly force you to stop applying for IT jobs.
However have you ever thought of offering your services for nothing, to get some experience and prove yourself?
Much like graphic designers, web designers and photographers do. Do lots of free work or work of their own back to get a portfolio together.

I've been looking at getting work experience.
I have actually been turned down by a couple of companies I offered to do work experience for. Something to do with insurance. Does working in a shop force me to stop applying for IT jobs? No, of course not. I don't want to work in a shop, though.


Now for my point of reference: Whilst at uni my sister did all sorts of unpaid work in her own time / during summer etc, in the hugely competitive market of Law it worked massively in her favor and she ended up being top of the pile and got the job she wanted 3 months ago.

I couldn't afford to work for nothing during university.
 
No I expect to work in a field that I've invested 3-5 years studying towards, accruing tens of thousands of pounds of student debt. You see that's the whole point of further education.. That's the reason why universities operate, the reason why people take out massive loans, spend years studying etc. That's how it works. I wouldn't take for granted the fact that a degree = a job. But it should certainly result in a job worthy of the time/financial investment.

Just because you studied something at degree level doesn't mean you will get a job doing it.

Looks like you fell for the labour timebomb like so many others. "ooo look I can go to uni and then get a better than average job at the end of it"
Problem was even in a high tech, high added value, profession based / high skill economy there has to be a balance. Those of us who have been around for a few years ;) spotted the obvious flaw years ago. It was Labours way to keep the unemployed youngsters down, get them to spend more years in education. Waaay to many degrees were done so only the cream typically get good jobs at the end.

I worked at one of the top FS companies in the UK, when I started people with A levels got good jobs, decent amount of O levels got okish jobs those with a few CSEs or so got the bottom jobs. People with degrees and prof quals got the best jobs or management positions. By the time I left they were asking for degrees for the jobs you used to get with good O levels, why? because it secured them the same level of people they used to get with just O levels. It was obvious it was broken (and remains so) when they started having to give degree holding people basic numeracy and literacy tests as part of employment because they were getting burned by the assumption that non one with a degree could have possibly got it without these skills.

Personally I would create two levels of job seekers, the same basic current one and a slightly enhanced one, to get the enhanced you simply need to agree to do block placements doing work. Would be very interesting to see those who wouldn't do the enhanced.

And as many have said this is nothing new really, a few years ago at a previous company we spoke to the job centre about a similar scheme where they would continue to pay JSA and we could trial potential new employees. It wasn't just free labour and the supplied a direct contact to work with who worked in a very similar way to recruitment consultant. These jobs will not just be 8 weeks then back to the JSA for everyone, you simply would not be allowed to do that as an employer working with them. I've been there and know what we had to commit to as prospective employers.
 
I've been looking at getting work experience.
I have actually been turned down by a couple of companies I offered to do work experience for. Something to do with insurance. Does working in a shop force me to stop applying for IT jobs? No, of course not. I don't want to work in a shop, though.




I couldn't afford to work for nothing during university.

People like you are the problem, and really disgust me. Get off benefits, and go and get a bloody job. You've been offered experience, bite their hand off. It WILL help. Longer you scrounge (and he is, as he has been offered opportunities) the more likely you'll never end up getting out of the system.
There are much worse things than working in a shop, being a scrounger is one of them.
 
He's being offered said experience.


No he's not, he's being offered 8-13 weeks of JSA shelf stacking. What's that any experience in?. And how much credence is a potential employer going to give to a few lines of nonsense (if he's extreeeemly lucky) written on a piece of paper by a poundland shift manager who's just been blessed with a free workforce? (and who most likely is contractually obliged to give a default review). This whole thing is ridiculous, for Christs sake.


Now for my point of reference: Whilst at uni my sister did all sorts of unpaid work in her own time / during summer etc, in the hugely competitive market of Law it worked massively in her favor and she ended up being top of the pile and got the job she wanted 3 months ago.


I can see where you're coming from chap, but there's a world of difference between voluntary office placement for law firms and shelf stacking on JSA forced labour. But, fair enough..


What's it got to do with Cameron. I've been saying it for over a decade, well before I knew who Cameron was.
Oh that's right it's a political party argument, oh wait perhaps it not.

Calm down dear. It's not a political argument; it's simply an argument against taking ridiculous knee jerk measures that are designed not to solve a problem, but to placate people like you. You see, I do want to see the problem solved, and I don't want to see a bunch of inflammatory headlines and propositions/schemes/implementations that solve nothing in the long run. Schemes that do nothing but hurt the people that really do, in the most part, need this crutch.

I've repeatedly said I don't think it's everyone or that there's enough jobs for everyone. However there's still hundreds of thousands of jobs out there.

Well, I suppose ultimately, you're not going to get every single person into work, regardless. As to whether there are 'hundreds of thousands' of suitable jobs out there, I don't know, I haven't seen any data to support that.

And unfortunately you represent the people who do a degree and expect the world.

Err, no, I don't. I didn't even say that I had a degree, afaik?. Nor that I was looking for work?. ;)

The world does owe me a living though, imo.
 
Calm down dear. It's not a political argument; it's simply an argument against taking ridiculous knee jerk measures that are designed not to solve a problem, but to placate people like you. You see, I do want to see the problem solved, and I don't want to see a bunch of inflammatory headlines and propositions/schemes/implementations that solve nothing in the long run. Schemes that do nothing but hurt the people that really do, in the most part, need this crutch.
.

Knee Jerk reaction? The scheme is old, it isn't knew. Who said I didn't want to solve the problem. And of course you were aging politically, otherwise you wouldn't of included so much anti Cameron bile in.
 
People like you are the problem, and really disgust me. Get off benefits, and go and get a bloody job. You've been offered experience, bite their hand off. It WILL help. Longer you scrounge (and he is, as he has been offered opportunities) the more likely you'll never end up getting out of the system.
There are much worse things than working in a shop, being a scrounger is one of them.

The only benefit I get is JSA. If I need to travel down to London for an interview that's my 2 weeks JSA all but gone. I've done a degree and I'm still applying for jobs and occasionally getting interviews. I'm not someone who claims loads of benefits and just wants to stay on benefits without ever getting a job. That IS a problem. The government could surely get me work experience doing something better than poundland. If they're that bothered why not get people who are qualified into jobs that benefit them?
 
I don't think so, no. The reason I can't get a job in IT is because I haven't had a job in IT. A secretarial job won't help that.

True, but a foot in the door is better than both outside.

Having worked for some large employers I can tell you temps often get permie jobs doing things other than they came in to do originally. They often get to see any jobs advertised internally before they go outside.

You go in, you make friends, you find out who manages the department who you would ultimately want to be your boss, you make contact and you MAY get something out of it. You have lost nothing but potentially gained everything.
 
lol

Shame 17 years of labour government produced a generation of media studies graduates. engineering not media studies and you be able to find a job.
 
Yeah you're a real Mother Theresa. What a supercilious thing to suggest, that because the product your employer produces is a generic medicine you personally are contributing to society.

are you an idiot ?

I wasn't saying me personally, I was saying as a private company they contribute to society, if you can;t work that out then you really are putz
 
The only benefit I get is JSA. If I need to travel down to London for an interview that's my 2 weeks JSA all but gone. I've done a degree and I'm still applying for jobs and occasionally getting interviews. I'm not someone who claims loads of benefits and just wants to stay on benefits without ever getting a job. That IS a problem. The government could surely get me work experience doing something better than poundland. If they're that bothered why not get people who are qualified into jobs that benefit them?

What big employers do you have nearby?

You lack experience so try to get some directly yourself. The Job centre will help you I am sure, basically you want to ask to maybe work for a couple of weeks helping out in the IT department.
I assume you already have IT skills so you can add some value, imaging machines, doing some simple fixes etc.

The problem everyone has at the moment is too few vacancies that they want. There are so many applicants that if you haven't got good experience in the field your almost certain to not get anywhere. Thats the way it is not anyones fault. So try to get yourself that experience by hook or crook.

I am not sure I agree with the its easier to get a job when you have a job, but I would certainly say its easier to get a job when you have had a job, and its a lot less demotivating looking for a job when you have decent money coming in.
 
for all the good that this will do, theres a hardcore underclass that simply refuse to work.

believe me i meet many of them on my daily travels. the usual conversation goes something like this

punter:oh this economy is terrible they took all our jobs 1111!!!1111
me: well so and so are recruiting atm have you tried there
punter: oh no wouldnt want to work there it seems pants:

add into that the junkies the drunkards and those who feel they are owed a living from the state and i would hazard a guess that only half of those who are unemployed really want to find a job. in regards to Tesco they seem to be a very popular employer. my wife works for them and they recently advertised for new staff. they had on average 100 applications for every vacancy that was available. then i've known employers that have searched for weeks to find any suitable applicants for a no skill position
 
Just because you studied something at degree level doesn't mean you will get a job doing it.

I agree. But you would hope that it would at least give you an advantage, over say, someone who has studied or had experience in an unrelated field. And I'm sure you can understand why people might feel the urge to hold out for a career related to the career they had spent a long time working towards.


Looks like you fell for the labour timebomb like so many others. "ooo look I can go to uni and then get a better than average job at the end of it"

No, not at all. I did something that I was interested in studying, with no real intention to make a career of it :]. And I think for most of the people who did 'real' courses, they might be right in expecting a 'better than average' job at the end of it, or at least a good wage. I'm not speculating that they should be walking into management positions etc, but you'd hope that 3-5 years of study and 10k+ invested would pay off in some way!.

Problem was even in a high tech, high added value, profession based / high skill economy there has to be a balance. Those of us who have been around for a few years ;) spotted the obvious flaw years ago. It was Labours way to keep the unemployed youngsters down, get them to spend more years in education. Waaay to many degrees were done so only the cream typically get good jobs at the end.

Don't be smug, it's not becoming. There's a definite truth to what you're saying. A mix of overestimating the demand for qualified workers, and yep, too many degrees, too many people walking away with degrees, given the climate/job market.

I worked at one of the top FS companies in the UK, when I started people with A levels got good jobs, decent amount of O levels got okish jobs those with a few CSEs or so got the bottom jobs. People with degrees and prof quals got the best jobs or management positions. By the time I left they were asking for degrees for the jobs you used to get with good O levels, why? because it secured them the same level of people they used to get with just O levels. It was obvious it was broken (and remains so) when they started having to give degree holding people basic numeracy and literacy tests as part of employment because they were getting burned by the assumption that non one with a degree could have possibly got it without these skills.

Yep, there's truth in that. I'll not argue. But again there's a difference in expectation between a person who's studied towards a drama degree and a person who's studied towards a physics degree, and so on.


Ultimately I'm diluting my original point, which is that forcing people to work all hours for £1.50ph, essentially, with the threat of removing their paltry safety net is nothing short of disgusting. And I can't see how it will help in any way, other than to force people off JSA, only to return weeks later, giving a good exit statistic to be printed in the newspapers.. It will be interesting to see how many people do actually (or have actually) wound up right back on JSA a few weeks/months later.
 
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lol

Shame 17 years of labour government produced a generation of media studies graduates. engineering not media studies and you be able to find a job.

English, and not whatever you studied, and you might have been able to form a cogent sentence.. Smarty pants.
 
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