Job Centre Work Programme

[iB CoMpL3XiTy]

I know a few people that have been forced to work at a local charity shop for 6 months, nothing wrong with helping the community in a charity shop but when I've spoken to them they've said they have nothing to do all day (plenty of staff there already).

Obviously there won't be a paid job at the end of it and the experience they gain is pretty useless, I think they would have managed to take cloths out of bin bags and say hello to customers just fine before they started "working" at a charity shop, it isn't like they've developed new skills, seems like a waste of time to me.

I've also been on a work programme where I was working at the local JC, they sold it as I.T related work but in reality it was just sorting out the post and answering the phones, and no job prospects at the end of it.

If the work does actually help the community and there is the possibility for a job offer at the end of it or it allows you to gain exp and new skills in the field your interested in then I can see the benefits but a lot of the time it's just unpaid work in a field your not interested in with no job offer at the end.

 

[Skillmister]

Back in 2008 the Job Centre made me go on a 3 week course/work experience at the local hospital and 5 years later I'm still there in a good job.
Worked for me.

Good job you didn't just relate to something completely different!

 

[beamer]

I can see that some people would benefit considerably from being forced into a schedule again - getting up to be in a workplace for 9am - there till 5pm ...

I struggle to relate to people that can do nothing for months on end.

However, forcing the people who are fully motivated to find work (or worse already doing great work in the voluntary sector already) to go depress the wages of the current employees of Poundland, for example, below the minimum wage - is not something our society should be condoning or doing.

It is pretty easy to identify which of those groups a given claimant falls in. Those in the former should be given productive and useful public sector work to do, at an hourly rate which matches the minimum wage.

The elephant in the room is that automation has caused a massive fall in demand for unskilled labour throughout the world and is steadily eating up the skill chain. The only sustainable long term solution is a deflation of the working week for everyone, government enforced if need be, coupled with growth in wage rate.

How the "elites" deal with a population with growing leisure time and probably likely better politically informed and politically active, will be entertaining. I suspect they will fall back on the old tried and tested method of a world war - only problem is that the population that survives that are military trained and will demand a lot more of the wealth the "elites" have taken.

I know a few people that have been forced to work at a local charity shop for 6 months, nothing wrong with helping the community in a charity shop but when I've spoken to them they've said they have nothing to do all day (plenty of staff there already).

Obviously there won't be a paid job at the end of it and the experience they gain is pretty useless, I think they would have managed to take cloths out of bin bags and say hello to customers just fine before they started "working" at a charity shop, it isn't like they've developed new skills, seems like a waste of time to me.

I've also been on a work programme where I was working at the local JC, they sold it as I.T related work but in reality it was just sorting out the post and answering the phones, and no job prospects at the end of it.

If the work does actually help the community and there is the possibility for a job offer at the end of it or it allows you to gain exp and new skills in the field your interested in then I can see the benefits but a lot of the time it's just unpaid work in a field your not interested in with no job offer at the end.

 

[Name]

Back in 2008.

Key words right there.

Meanwhile in 2013....AFTER the economy collapsed.

People were much more willing to take on 5 years ago.

 

[arknor]

never said the work program was great, just that it does what the jobcentre should be doing in the first place.

iv been on the work program for nearly a year now and had no interviews via it, hell from august to december last year they where promising me work at a brand new business park doing security work. by december i knew more about the jobs than the adviser at the work program, got to feel sorry for them as the ones iv been dealing with genuinely seem to help get you sorted but get sod all back up what so ever.

I know a guy whos around 37 and never jad a job in his life and the work programme managed to get him a job sorting mail for royal mail :O

sounded like it was pretty decent money for someone who's got no work experience at al and he binned it after 2 days.....


signed back on JSA no problem! WTF is that **** they really need to clamp down on the work shy

 

[Wizzfizz]

Back in 2008 the Job Centre made me go on a 3 week course/work experience at the local hospital and 5 years later I'm still there in a good job.
Worked for me.

Key words right there.

Meanwhile in 2013....AFTER the economy collapsed.

People were much more willing to take on 5 years ago.

 

[Diagro]

Someone who I used to volunteer with has to write a 200 word essay about why they want to return to work through one of these initiatives the job centre has.

200 word essay?

Oh dear.. 200 words wouldn't cover 30% of one my my essays Introductions o.O

 

[synaptik]

I know a guy whos around 37 and never jad a job in his life and the work programme managed to get him a job sorting mail for royal mail :O

sounded like it was pretty decent money for someone who's got no work experience at al and he binned it after 2 days.....


signed back on JSA no problem! WTF is that **** they really need to clamp down on the work shy

Worse than this there is an undercurrent in the 16 to 30 plus generation who won't work or sign on. The hand it to me on a plate generation who spend 16 hours a day plus on their pc or playstation.

 

[GAC]

I know a guy whos around 37 and never jad a job in his life and the work programme managed to get him a job sorting mail for royal mail :O

sounded like it was pretty decent money for someone who's got no work experience at al and he binned it after 2 days.....


signed back on JSA no problem! WTF is that **** they really need to clamp down on the work shy

yeah if he was my mate id punch him, he's been given a good job and binned it, he shouldnt be able to sign on at all either so somethings not right.

 

[synaptik]

I know a guy whos around 37 and never jad a job in his life and the work programme managed to get him a job sorting mail for royal mail :O

sounded like it was pretty decent money for someone who's got no work experience at al and he binned it after 2 days.....


signed back on JSA no problem! WTF is that **** they really need to clamp down on the work shy

Worse than this there is an undercurrent in the 16 to 30 plus generation who won't work or sign on. The hand it to me on a plate generation who spend 16 hours a day plus on their pc or playstation.

 

[MikeTheNative]

My best advice, is to show them that you really want a job and they will do a lot more for you. I organised my own work experience, turned up early for appointments and filled in the stupid job diary thing comprehensively. With in 5 weeks they got me a job, didn't even need an interview and started in 3 weeks, I still have the job after 7 months. The downsides are the "courses" they give you, I had a 5 hour course on how to find a job. I learned that you should wash before interviews and don't apply for jobs that I clearly can't get, yes it was that embarrassing.

 

[G J]

Worse than this there is an undercurrent in the 16 to 30 plus generation who won't work or sign on. The hand it to me on a plate generation who spend 16 hours a day plus on their pc or playstation.

I've heard from friend's and my own exp in some cases that some employer's follow the same mantra and want the employee to have everything under the sun, cert's/degree's/ year's of experience and ready trained. All the while companies refusing any type pre-training/investment or experience and these are min wage jobs.

Also the new jobcentre website is absolutely atrocious and seems to get worse each time they change it.

 

[demonix]

The work program is the same as the new deal program the previous government implemented, and is just as useless as I'm about at the end of my two years and thus far I've had zero job interviews and no help in trying to get a job beyond just sitting at a computer and going through the job sites which is something I can do at home.

 

[jakspyder]

I had an embarrassing "class" on interview skills with the work program. I was the only person there whose struggle to find a job wasn't due to a heroin addiction. One guy started a fight in the first 2 minuets and was thrown out. Another one took his methadone when the supervisor left for a few minutes. Was possibly the most embarrassing thing I've ever done. Apparently, turning up on time clean and smart and doing a little bit of research on the company are good things to do before interviews. Who woulda thunk it

 

[GAC]

I had an embarrassing "class" on interview skills with the work program. I was the only person there whose struggle to find a job wasn't due to a heroin addiction. One guy started a fight in the first 2 minuets and was thrown out. Another one took his methadone when the supervisor left for a few minutes. Was possibly the most embarrassing thing I've ever done. Apparently, turning up on time clean and smart and doing a little bit of research on the company are good things to do before interviews. Who woulda thunk it

i had something similar when i was asked to attend a CV session, was a total waste of time but thankfully no more silly classes as they even admitted i shouldnt have been in it anyways.

 

[G-Man]

Job Centre = Are you still seeking work? Ok.. sign here.. see you in two weeks
Work Program = Got any interview lately? want a mock interview? feel free to use our antiquated computers and phones, or how about a 2 hour class about 'healthy living'? oh, and see you in a month.

Both as useless as each other.

Based on my experience of Working Links before giving up and going back to college this post says it all really.
Although eventually after months "attending" Working Links they eventually sorted a training course of sorts on how do decent applications.

The people working in these places generally have no qualifications or anything remotely recognised as certifying them as the experts they are implied to be.
They appear to be at least slightly useful if you have no qualifications or experience and after certain types of work but just aren't getting anywhere (due to quality of applications or the likes).
However if you have some qualifications and/or experience in a more specialised area (say I.T. support) they are basically clueless and have no idea how to help you.

Back in 2008 the Job Centre made me go on a 3 week course/work experience at the local hospital and 5 years later I'm still there in a good job.
Worked for me.

Back in 2008 it was still the original New Deal program which generally included (where possible) relevant work placements for JSA + a small amount extra and travel expenses and oddly enough also responsible for getting me my last job.
Sadly the Work Program just seems to be a way to shift the job the Job Centre should be doing onto the private profit making companies at the taxpayers expense.