| Part 3 of my jobsite list. Please note that once again WildeHeads takes no responsibility whatsoever for the conduct of other companies and organisations. There would have been more of these (100 in fact) but I gave up the will to live searching for them as recruitment agencies in my experience are an extremely mixed bag indeed. None will side with the employee if payment is not made by a big employer on their books and all would prefer it if you only used them and not other recruitment agencies. That rather flies in the face of what the Department of Work and Pensions insist that you do if ever you are unemployed, which I am myself now due to hopefully short-term but nonetheless a severe episode of ill health. The solution to problems with recruitment agencies is simple... try another and report them to HMRC where at least you should be able to get tax credits. In theory you should be able to report all illegal working practices to the Police at any point as such employers are breaking the Employment Law if not the Equality Act. Then there's always ACAS for employers which dismiss you unfairly. It is sad to note that while many Human Resource departments want to, many Chief Executives think they are entitled to ignore all the laws of this land not to behave. My advice is use the law to give them every opportunity to behave! If you need legal advice do a search for services (both free and 'no win no fee) for them. There are as many of those about as there are naughty employers and well... it keeps people and the money moving which can only help in a recession! Good luck on YOUR journey to the right career for you. The General Job Search Websites |
|
| All major national and local papers and trade magazines publish vacancies | |
| Name | Website Links |
| 1 Job | www.1job.co.uk |
| 1 Stop 4 Jobs | www.1stop4jobs.com |
| 360 Resourcing | http://www.360resourcing.co.uk |
| Adecco | http://www.adecco.co.uk |
| Agency Central | http://www.agencycentral.co.uk |
| ATA Recruitment | http://www.ata-recruitment.co.uk |
| Bis-Henderson | http://www.bis-henderson.com |
| Blue Arrow | http://www.bluearrow.co.uk |
| British Jobs | http://www.britishjobs.net |
| Brook Street | http://www.brookstreet.co.uk |
| Career Builder | http://www.careerbuilder.co.uk |
| Career Jet | http://www.careerjet.co.uk |
| Career Recruit | http://www.careerrecruit.co.uk |
| CBS Butler | http://www.cbsbutler.com |
| CG Consultants | http://www.cgconsultants.com |
| Chisholm And Moore | http://www.chisholmandmoore.co.uk |
| City Jobs | http://www.cityjobs.com |
| Eden Brown | http://www.edenbrown.com |
| Euro Jobs | http://www.eurojobs.com |
| Europa | http://ec.europa.eu/eures/home.jsp |
| Experteer | https://www.experteer.co.uk |
| Fircroft | http://www.fircroft.com |
| First Recruitment Group | http://www.firstrecruitmentgroup.com |
| Fish for Jobs | http://www.fishforjobs.co.uk |
| Free Recruitment | http://www.freerecruitment.co.uk |
| Ganymede Solutions | http://www.ganymedesolutions.co.uk |
| Hays | http://www.hays.co.uk |
| Hot Recruit | http://www.hotrecruit.com |
| ICAEW Jobs | http://www.icaewjobs.com |
| Indeed | http://www.indeed.co.uk |
| Independent | http://ijobs.independent.co.uk |
| Industry Recruit | http://www.industryrecruit.co.uk |
| Jam Recruitment | http://www.jamrecruitment.co.uk |
| Job Mart | http://www.jobmart.co.uk |
| Job Max | http://www.jobmax.co.uk |
| Job Opps | http://www.job-opps.co.uk |
| Job Zone UK | http://www.jobzoneuk.co.uk |
| Jobrapido | http://uk.jobrapido.com |
| Jobs 24 | http://www.jobs24.co.uk |
| Jobs and Training | http://www.jobsandtraining.co.uk |
| Jobs Go Public | http://www.jobsgopublic.com |
| Jobs group | http://www.jobsgroup.net |
| Jobs Trovit | http://jobs.trovit.co.uk |
| Jobs Wales | http://www.jobswales.co.uk |
| Jobs Zoo | http://www.jobszoo.com |
| Jobsearch | http://www.jobsearch.co.uk |
| Jobseeker Direct | http://jobseeker.direct.gov.uk. |
| Jobserve | http://www.jobserve.com |
| Jobserve Live | http://www.jobservelive.com |
| Jobsite | http://www.jobsite.co.uk |
| Just London Jobs | http://www.justlondonjobs.co.uk |
| Killer Start ups | http://www.killerstartups.com |
| Kinetic Jobs | http://www.kinetic-jobs.co.uk |
| Kings UK Group | http://www.kingsukgroup.com |
| Local Jobs | http://www.localjobs.co.uk |
| Local Jobsearch | http://www.localjobsearch.co.uk |
| London Jobs | http://www.londonjobs.co.uk |
| Manpower | http://www.manpower.com |
| Michael Page | http://www.michaelpage.co.uk |
| Monster | http://www.monster.co.uk |
| Moore Jobs | http://www.moorejobs.co.uk |
| N Jobs UK | http://www.njobsuk.com |
| Nine O Clock | http://www.nineoclock.co.uk |
| Overseas Jobs | http://www.overseasjobs.com |
| Pinks Recruitment | http://www.pinksrecruitment.com |
| PWC | http://www.pwc.co.uk |
| Recruitment Searcher | http://www.recruitmentsearcher.co.uk |
| Red Gold Fish | http://www.redgoldfish.co.uk |
| Reed | http://www.reed.co.uk |
| Regan And Dean | http://www.regananddean.co.uk |
| RICS Recruit | http://www.ricsrecruit.com |
| S1 Jobs | http://www.s1jobs.com |
| Scottish Jobs | http://www.scottishjobs.com |
| Solutions Recruitment | http://solutionsinrecruitment.com |
| Spectrum Consultancy | http://www.spectrumconsultancy.co.uk |
| Spectrum Recruitment | http://www.spectrumrecruit.co.uk |
| Staffline | http://www.staffline.co.uk |
| Task Force Recruitment | http://www.taskforcerecruitment.co.uk |
| Telegraph | www.jobs.telegraph.co.uk |
| The Guardian | http://jobs.guardian.co.uk |
| The Times | http://jobs.thetimes.co.uk |
| Tip Top Jobs | http://www.tiptopjob.com |
| TMDR | http://www.tmdr.com |
| Total Jobs | http://www.totaljobs.com |
| UK Temps | http://www.uktemps.co.uk |
| Veredus | http://www.veredus.co.uk/Jobs |
| Work Thing | http://www.workthing.com |
| Workhound | http://www.workhound.co.uk |
Showing posts with label recruitment. Show all posts
Showing posts with label recruitment. Show all posts
Wednesday, 17 July 2013
Research Files: Part 3 - Jobsites of Recruitment Agencies
Wednesday, 26 June 2013
Research File: Part 2 - Jobsites for the Disadvantaged
Huge apology: to all those who have been waiting for this list and most of
all to the followers who I just haven’t got the time and energy left to list. By 'followers' I mean those I have followed on Twitter regardless of whether or not they have reciprocated.
That to me is irrelevant so long as everyone is helping the most disadvantaged
in as many legal, ethical, caring, compassionate, efficient and above all, safe ways as possible.
A warning about campaigning for rights
I have been doing my
best to fight for the rights of the most vulnerable for a long time now – let my
recent health problems serve as a warning to all. Never attempt to fight for
rights on your own even when you have powerful connections. Those connections
will never come out in the open when the world is this hostile if it
jeopardises in any way whatsoever their own sterling efforts elsewhere which are usually far better established and therefore already recognised. Better to never ask them than risk losing their efforts too.
As before, I take no responsibility for how good or bad these services are; much depends on how receptive people are to accepting help and how good individual members of staff are. When it comes to staff though, it is ENTIRELY the employers responsibility to train employees properly and support not only their learning but, to do all they can to avert stress to ensure they can continue to be brilliant staff. Pressure, in my honest opinion, is a good thing as from it we exceed our own expectations and perceived limitations. Stress is very bad as it is a sign of overloading and target driven peformance and is therefore often not a good idea when it comes to the well being and welfare of others. Health before wealth is never more important than when it comes to empowering the disadvantaged.
When it comes to the disadvantaged though it gets rather
complicated to legislate and be fair precisely because everyone is different and
therefore everyone has very particular, individual and bespoke needs. Smaller
organisations (staff wise), in my experience tend to fair better on delivery for
this reason as the more personal the service is, the more bespoke it becomes
and the higher the rate of success. It explains why smaller care facilities housing smaller groups of people have steadily emerged and grown in popularity. When it comes the housing the most in need that's perfect, but as to other services...
As stated in a tweet, not everyone who is disadvantaged wants to use the support services on offer simply because they do not ever wish to be seen as victims or as being in anyway vulnerable. Name me someone who isn’t vulnerable, disabled or not? This is why Part 1 of these Jobsite lists was for everyone. 'Disabled' is a word I detest with a purple passion when it comes to people – far better it was only used for inanimate things. I loathe it being used for people as it instantly puts others in the wrong frame of mind with regard to viewing their fellow humans simply for being different from ourselves. The word implies limits. Again, name me someone who hasn’t got them!
As stated in a tweet, not everyone who is disadvantaged wants to use the support services on offer simply because they do not ever wish to be seen as victims or as being in anyway vulnerable. Name me someone who isn’t vulnerable, disabled or not? This is why Part 1 of these Jobsite lists was for everyone. 'Disabled' is a word I detest with a purple passion when it comes to people – far better it was only used for inanimate things. I loathe it being used for people as it instantly puts others in the wrong frame of mind with regard to viewing their fellow humans simply for being different from ourselves. The word implies limits. Again, name me someone who hasn’t got them!
Being flat footed I doubt I would ever have made a
world class footballer, although that is more to do with my lack of interest
than what is possible as last year’s Paralympics more than amply demonstrated. This time last year most of us able-bodied Brits were wondering whether it would even be worth watching and were quite prepared to laugh at what we saw as well as cringe. Have we changed as a result of what we saw? I did... I thought I had respect for the 'disabled' before... now I am just blown away by them. What to me remains sad about the Paralympics is that while great strides (pardon the pun),
have been made to aid paraplegics, the blind, the deaf etc a huge barriers to accessing these wonderful resources persist and that barrier is extremely complex; doubly so if we think of it in psychological terms as well.
Top of the list of impediments to progress is finance of course. We are living in dark times financially
and in a world where people are still commonly perceived to be unable to
contribute through work due to health reasons, people don’t want to spend the
time and money to empower them to be able to. Am I wrong? Bizarre when one thinks that if
no one had we would not have the likes of Stephen Hawkings or the benefit of
his brain power to unlock many a scientific mystery and it is after all science we rely on most to help solve health problems of all kinds, right? Therefore it is illogical and unethical in the extreme not to help all the disadvantaged find their of communicating and contributing to our world, which includes the homeless, the mentally ill and many others that you never noticed at the Paralympics. How many great talents have we missed due to such ‘retarded’ thinking throughout all history so far? How many are we missing right now that could sort out the economic crisis in a minute or global warming or... who knows? We DO NOT know unless WE try harder to help them share what they know.
I am disgusted that despite my own best efforts this list is so woefully short. Quite frankly it shouldn’t be. Therein lies the real crux of the problem – prejudice, fear of the unknown and stigma of all kinds has to stop as it costs nations so much money to maintain for it only ever serves to escalate and self-perpetuate problems. Remember that this is all for the lack of wit for the investment required.
Do we prefer negative equity situation and bottomless financial pit OR do we prefer a positive profit situation where everyone can contribute in some way for the good of the economy and of its nation’s health. IF we can get it right then that really would be a win/win situation as people want to feel valued and want to feel needed regardless of how many limbs they have, learning difficulties, mentally illness, blindness, deafness, homelessness, addiction problem or being mute etc. THIS IS A UNIVERSAL FACT - so please world... let’s help all can we and stop wasting any more time over it.
Oh... I went of topic again... I can't think why. Maybe it's because I am not convinced that enough people are smart enough yet to recognised the wisdom of supporting the most in need. Back to why people choose different methods and routes of support, (as it if shouldn't already be obvious)!
Do we prefer negative equity situation and bottomless financial pit OR do we prefer a positive profit situation where everyone can contribute in some way for the good of the economy and of its nation’s health. IF we can get it right then that really would be a win/win situation as people want to feel valued and want to feel needed regardless of how many limbs they have, learning difficulties, mentally illness, blindness, deafness, homelessness, addiction problem or being mute etc. THIS IS A UNIVERSAL FACT - so please world... let’s help all can we and stop wasting any more time over it.
Oh... I went of topic again... I can't think why. Maybe it's because I am not convinced that enough people are smart enough yet to recognised the wisdom of supporting the most in need. Back to why people choose different methods and routes of support, (as it if shouldn't already be obvious)!
Some disadvantaged people prefer dedicated employment services tailored to their disadvantages to empower them, hence this list. Phew
THE LIST - PLEASE BUILD IT!
By far the best general source of information I found was BASE; hence it’s top of the list, whether it’s had time to update since I last looked, I simply don’t know. As before all links were working when I found them... heaven knows if they are now though. Regional services often have counterparts in other areas thanks to recent government initiatives and most work collaboratively. Be patient while you take your turn in the long queue and while they assess YOUR needs. Miracles don’t tend to happen instantaneously for the disadvantaged of any ilk. Regrettably, they are all to accustomed to having to wait their turn in such queues.BASE British Association for Supported Employment
base-uk.org/information-jobseekers
Extremely useful sources of help
Action for Blind People
www.actionforblindpeople.org.uk
Apprenticeships
Apprenticeships
www.apprenticeships.org.uk
Central London Connexions (young
people)
Clacks Supported Employment Services
(Scotland)
Crisis (for homeless people)
Ellingham (for learning disabilities)
www.ellingham.org.uk
Enterprise Lab
www.enterpriselab.co.uk
IAS Imagine, Act & Succeed
(Learning Disabilities)
Into Work (Scotland)
Jobsteps
Keysteps (mental health or learning
disabilities)
Leonard Cheshire Disability
National Autism Society
Norwood
Optalis
Princes Trust (which also helps with people over 50 wanting to start a business)
Pure Innovations Ltd
www.pureinnovations.co.uk
Queen Elizabeth's Foundation
RBLI (Armed Forces)
www.rbli.co.uk/employment_solutions
Remploy (for disabled people)
Richmond Fellowship
Royal Association for Deaf People
Scope (for disabled people)
Stepping Stones
The Shaw Trust
Turning Point
United Response
Youth Employment Network
Other Employment Adviser Services
Ah yes, other employment adviser services... what a can of
worms. While on benefits I have test driven a couple of these and while they
can and often are very good for some, again the attitude of one fix cures all
is er... less than helpful not to mention archiac. Aside from the National Skills Council,
whose website leaves a lot to be desired when I last looked at it but otherwise they were superb, I applied to most of the following companies for a job as an employment adviser. I was
rejected by all of them and not even short-listed for interview by any despite
being supported with the applications! The feedback when they bothered to give
me any was interesting...
“We don’t employ from our service users, past or present” and “we didn’t feel you had any relevant qualifications or experience.” and “You don’t have any recruitment qualifications.”
The latter is quite right, I don’t. What I have is real life experience of hiring, firing and disciplinary procedures as a manager who employed people. Evidently that is totally irrelevant to the real world of employment despite having done so as nearly my very first job. This is not to say qualifications are unnecessary (I myself have teaching, BSL and counselling qualifications to name a few - again no possible use to the unemployed needing help and to learn new skills), but... qualifications are not always necessary as I have found when I have employed people. Attitude and aptitude for me have always been far more important as an employer especially if you have to unpick bad habits from bad training. Silly me for even bothering to try to be an employment advisor – I mean it’s not as if I could come up with a more comprehensive list than any of those I test drove have to date is it?
“We don’t employ from our service users, past or present” and “we didn’t feel you had any relevant qualifications or experience.” and “You don’t have any recruitment qualifications.”
The latter is quite right, I don’t. What I have is real life experience of hiring, firing and disciplinary procedures as a manager who employed people. Evidently that is totally irrelevant to the real world of employment despite having done so as nearly my very first job. This is not to say qualifications are unnecessary (I myself have teaching, BSL and counselling qualifications to name a few - again no possible use to the unemployed needing help and to learn new skills), but... qualifications are not always necessary as I have found when I have employed people. Attitude and aptitude for me have always been far more important as an employer especially if you have to unpick bad habits from bad training. Silly me for even bothering to try to be an employment advisor – I mean it’s not as if I could come up with a more comprehensive list than any of those I test drove have to date is it?
What is even more worrying is that by rejecting candidates from their service users none of them can claim to offer a particularly good service and yet most of them are paid £14,000 per service user from the government for providing it last time I checked. They are not even trying to endorse their own services and often do not even follow their own advice with regard to providing feedback. These are facts and the thing about facts is that you can never argue with them. I sincerely hope this blog will go some way to instigate much needed reforms as I don’t know about anyone else, but I am rather weary of con-merchants giving good companies a bad name. As ever I won’t name and shame individual companies as it’s up to them to figure out solutions for their faults and as mentioned not all of them are con-merchants - they might have changed or are changing their ways already. Try them, complain if need be and move on to try another is all I can suggest.
When unemployed, you haven’t the time to campaign – except to add your name to
petitions that already exist. Only when employed, do people bother to rate you
as worthy of holding an opinion... even if you’ve been a highly successful CEO but for health or other reasons... tough you won't be heard if you're not working. So...
good luck. DO hop on a search engine for more ‘employment adviser services’ to find more links.
Top of the list this time is a government funded operation, because they do try extremely hard to help... despite appearances and many an error. No one can correct errors if they are not logically, lucidly and calmly reported. Yes, I know I am struggling with that again... I wonder why!
National Skills Service
Top of the list this time is a government funded operation, because they do try extremely hard to help... despite appearances and many an error. No one can correct errors if they are not logically, lucidly and calmly reported. Yes, I know I am struggling with that again... I wonder why!
National Skills Service
A4e Scotland
www.a4escotland.co.uk
A4e Wales
www.a4ewales.co.uk
AGAS
Bedford Training Group
Career recruit
EAS Employment Advisory Specialists
F10
Fusion People
Ingeus UK Ltd
Kennedy Scott
www.kennedyscott.co.uk
www.kennedyscott.co.uk
Learning Links
Morgan Hunt
NASES (support for students)
SEETEC
Spirit Resourcing
Spring Personnel
Student Employment Services
Workplace Options
GOOD NEWS!
Things are changing rapidly so new companies and organisations are emerging all the time among charities, social enterprises, (including CICs) and among social firms which specialise in helping every kind of disadvantaged person gain paid employment or voluntary work of some kind. There are so many of them popping up now that it is nigh on impossible to keep track of them... unless the government can help by providing us with a directory of all of them at some point. (Good luck to the admin team on that one as that’s no easy or quick undertaking!)
Things are changing rapidly so new companies and organisations are emerging all the time among charities, social enterprises, (including CICs) and among social firms which specialise in helping every kind of disadvantaged person gain paid employment or voluntary work of some kind. There are so many of them popping up now that it is nigh on impossible to keep track of them... unless the government can help by providing us with a directory of all of them at some point. (Good luck to the admin team on that one as that’s no easy or quick undertaking!)
Conclusion
As ALL unemployed people are highly intelligent I am sure that by some means or
another they will be able to find all the NEW services that are emerging that I
have spotted and started to follow on twitter. Twitter is a font of knowledge, some pleasing some alarming. Be selective in what you seek as it is the best source I know of for spotting new initiatives to continuously to those I follow almost daily. As before, this Jobsite list is only a starting point. I’ve worked
with the disadvantaged one way or another most of my life now – there’s not one
of them that cannot achieve what THEY WANT given the time and support.
Much depends on where they are on their journey as to the level of support they require as well as what exactly it is that they choose to explore or do with their lives. Same for everyone isn’t it? Well, no actually it isn’t because while all the principles and laws are there to help... access and people’s ability to function remains largely restrictive for the most vulnerable people of all. A few people make it but way too many slip through all the safety nets there are to prevent it happening. To fight for your rights from that position is arguably the MOST stressful thing anyone could ever think of trying.
Well done to those how have done so thus far. Some have died in
their attempts already. Would that we had seen the back of all that by now, but at
least we are overall, heading in the right direction at last. Delays for me
are always caused by dealing with numpties and the unenlightened. I
have a new policy for dealing with them... I have resolved to not give them my
time anymore... seems fair when they studiously avoid giving me theirs. If they don’t
like it, well... they shouldn’t dish it out! Simple as. That's how I was brought up to deal with bullies.
I can forgive mistakes when people own up to making them, but otherwise... forget it if they are that determined to repeat them ad infinitum to the detriment and suffering of others which in many cases is wholly avoidable.
I hope my meagre efforts trigger greater ones from you!
PS: Perhaps now I can get back to MY chosen creative endeavours to help people in the first instance find their voice. Updates later, after I and my family have dealt with my medical results. Hence, why I am supremely disinterested in debts, creditors, or profit and loss figures just now. Sorry and all that but deal with it... I don't have the choice.
I can forgive mistakes when people own up to making them, but otherwise... forget it if they are that determined to repeat them ad infinitum to the detriment and suffering of others which in many cases is wholly avoidable.
I hope my meagre efforts trigger greater ones from you!
PS: Perhaps now I can get back to MY chosen creative endeavours to help people in the first instance find their voice. Updates later, after I and my family have dealt with my medical results. Hence, why I am supremely disinterested in debts, creditors, or profit and loss figures just now. Sorry and all that but deal with it... I don't have the choice.
Tuesday, 26 June 2012
Research Files: Unemployment – a burden to all
Without doubt unemployment is a burden to
all as well as a frustration. With unemployment figures showing no real sign of
dropping, the prospect of higher taxes being levied to pay subsistence costs to
those not working is not a happy one - but morally we shouldn't let people
starve or go homeless. It doesn't take a genius to work out that it is always
in our interests to have as many people working as possible. The more people
work, the more money circulates as businesses have more customers.
Let’s be honest - who of us hasn’t at some
point in their lives faced the prospect of unemployment? If at no other time in
our lives, as school leavers we do. At that point we just don’t know if we will
make the grade or not. This is all the more likely when there is a national or
global economic crisis or recession. In the last two years alone I have had go
through the process of seeing through redundancies of fabulous staff in my role
as a manager and been made redundant myself. Additionally, I have heard news of
former colleagues from years ago of all ranks being made redundant too.
No one, I hope, likes redundancies – they
are not pleasant processes to have to go through whether you are a manager
implementing that painful decision, or a member of staff being made redundant.
It should be (and usually is) a business decision not a personal slight which is
of some comfort, especially when outside influences and not mismanagement has
led to it.
There are in the UK employment laws and
guidelines to follow - affected staff must be allowed time to seek alternative
work and go for interviews and you cannot then hire new staff to take their
place to do the same job. Nor are you allowed to use volunteers to do work that
would normally be covered by a paid position, but we all know it happens. The
ethics behind that I believe to be right but the realities of the working world
mean that it can be of enormous help to both parties for volunteering to cover
the essentials. In rosier times, the hope is that those volunteers,
having gained work experience, will be offered a paid position as a result of
their efforts - although not everyone wants to be paid.
There is no point talking about
unemployment though without understanding some realities the unemployed are
facing - many of whom maybe friends, relatives and former colleagues of yours
by now.
The realities of being unemployed
For those of you who have never been
through the benefit system here is a brief outline of what others may be going
through or have been through in order to secure work.
Firstly the amount you receive is
determined by National Insurance contributions for the two types of Jobseekers
Allowance. There used to be a crossover for top-ups if you had a medical
condition or disability via Incapacity Benefits. More commonly now you are
either on one or the other. Housing (Council Tax) can be covered
subject to meeting criteria and you don’t have to pay it back. It’s part of
what we pay our taxes for – to help people through hard times so that they CAN
get back on their feet and make contributions again when they secure
work. So far, so good but...
If you are a homeowner, unless you took
out insurance against unemployment only the interest of your mortgage will be
paid (up to a certain level and subject to meeting criteria) and even then it
is only for a maximum of two years. Generally speaking home buyers have made
additional contributions because they took out a mortgage, but not apparently
to receive the same level of support if they hit hard times or indeed for as
long.
However... all benefit claimants also get
assistance with free prescriptions for most medical conditions, (not all) and further
assistance is sometimes available for medical and other emergencies, even
funeral costs (subject to criteria).
What you don’t get is additional money for
utilities, food or clothing except in dire emergency. Basic benefits per week I
believe on average to be £65.00 - that is the maximum you can be paid (it does
go up by a couple of pounds after you've been deemed to be long-term unemployed
(i.e. without work for six months or more). There are variations to this amount
dependent on marital status, dependents and circumstances - hence the benefit
fraudsters we hear about who capitalise on that.
You can sometimes get assistance from the
utility companies if they run such schemes and have
money in the kitty to assist in emergencies (again dependent on criteria).
There are too emergency benefits (e.g. Crisis Loans and Social Fund). These are
usually in the form of repayable loans and payment usually starts (as far as I
can fathom) immediately and are deducted at source thereby reducing the
fortnightly sum of £130 further.
You DO NOT get additional money for
internet connection, phone bills, envelopes and paper and postage when applying
for work although there are things that help with that. The cost of running a
car is also not covered.
To their credit the Job Centre does pay
for travel expenses for interviews even retrospectively now so long as it’s
provable and so long as the interview is over 15 miles from your home. It will
also help with travel expenses all the way up to you receiving your first
payment from a new employer. I happen to think the business world should do
their bit to help the economy by paying new staff after their first week’s
work. Cash flow may prevent it in all cases but none of us want to be
paying more tax to facilitate those travel expenses do we?
Without the government's intervention though, a lot of people simply cannot
afford to even get to an interview.
A brief recap of the ethos behind welfare
support
Initially the benefits system started to
help UK citizens through times of extreme crisis to prevent starvation and
homelessness and that is all. Its origins started in 19th Century
with Victorian philanthropists not in the 20th Century as many
suppose (you could argue it was earlier than that).
In the 20th Century the
welfare system formed and has since undergone many changes and had many
restructures to government departments to run it - in my lifetime, from the
DHSS (Department of Health and Social Services) to the DWP (Department of Work
and Pensions). This latest incarnation says it all... the deal is that if you
need assistance you MUST be trying your best to seek employment no matter what
your circumstances are, regardless even of disabilities. There has
never been any significant increase in benefits to cover the costs of job
seeking or to help facilitate it except via Employment Adviser Services.
Welfare to Work Services
Welfare to Work and Employment Advice
Services are in main contracted by the DWP. Most help by providing clunky old
PCs, intermittent internet connections, a couple of phones (in usually an open
plan office), envelopes, paper and postage. They provide sterling advice
services and guidance for the unemployed to help them to get the most of job
searches, assist with CVs, cover letters, applications and interviews. All
people need to do is ask at their local job centre to access it. Each advice service is paid £14,000 per benefit claimant.
Most if not all work on a target basis set by the DWP
so have little time for morale and motivation boosting prior to job search
activities (hence additional services supplied by many charities, social
enterprises and some private companies). Some of these target based organisations
have failed during this recession because they didn't meet those targets. It
begs the question - is some help is better than none particularly when demand
for such services is, if anything, increasing according to recent reports? Is it perhaps a tad unfair to hold these service providers responsible for the
effects of a recession? Then again, the government needs to ensure every penny
it spends is spent wisely and effectively.
The poverty trap
On the thankfully few occasions I have
been on benefits I can honestly say that the vast majority of job seekers are
honest people who want to be employed and not professional fraudsters who have
no intention of securing legitimate work ever. It is therefore grossly unfair
to criminalise and stigmatise the unemployed as a whole as aside from being
extremely unhelpful – how does that solve the problem?
The most difficult issue by far is whether
or not people will be better
off for working. Often part-time work results in benefits being
deducted penny for penny after the first £5-£20 is earned (dependent on
circumstances). In most cases this meagre amount would not cover the travel
expenses to get to work. The government has introduced the Back to Work
Calculation and Tax Credits to assist, but frankly it isn’t enough. Rumour has
it that new initiatives will be brought in next year - what they will be I
haven’t a clue but I'm not hopeful.
The domino effect
In the last couple of years this economic
crisis has seen many high ranking managers, company directors and even CEOs be
made redundant; there are cases where they have become job seekers voluntarily
resigning to ensure their organisations survive the recession and to save lower paid staff their jobs. Some have gone
on to secure new positions at a lower level and at substantially reduced
salaries. The knock on effect of that is that lower ranking managers end up
taking the jobs normally taken by supervisors etc until in the end it hits the
unskilled labour level or those looking for their very first job opportunity.
Compounding that are the recruiters and HR
departments who are asking for more and more qualifications, skills and
experience to help them shortlist (aside from anything else). This domino
effect isn't unique to a recession but it certain escalates during one.
Another good initiative from the
government did come in the form of apprenticeships and some funds for training but the latest indications are that they are likely to be cut now.
Other ideas to resolve unemployment include more job-share opportunities, more
jobs at lower salaries and quite simply short-listing according to what skills
are required instead of on qualifications or even experience. I personally like
the job-share idea best and more people being employed on a contract basis. In
these uncertain times, businesses would do well not to over commit by offering
contracts for over a year - nothing to stop them being reviewed and renewed
though. With more short-term contracts the prospect of everyone getting some financially viable employment
increases in my opinion.
An appeal to the business community
My real reason for writing this article is
to inform the business community to prompt it to think about what it can do to
ease the burden of vast numbers of unemployed people, as it helps no one, (nor
the economy), to have people unemployed.
Heaven knows how complex it is for the DWP
to overhaul the current system, but it certainly needs it. What hasn’t helped
is successive governments scrapping what their predecessors have put in place
that was working. Would that they displayed a more
businesslike approach and collaborated to find the right solutions to sort this
once and for all. A joint effort from all political parties on this issue might
just achieve that, I think. Unlikely to happen though, I fear.
Finally...
If you are experiencing any difficulty at
all related to unemployment the Job Centres have information of local support
agencies which are there to help you. Failing that there are the CABs
(Citizen’s Advice Bureaus) - they are a charity and therefore reliant on
donations etc for funding. Those working could help with either donations or by
volunteering as advisers (if you have time to spare) as the CAB strives to
provide information on the professional services out there for anything people may need a hand with.
The CAB does not help with looking for
work. Instead google 'Welfare
to Work', 'Employment
Advice' and 'Careers Advice' services if ever you are stuck
or indeed if you want to change your job. Any one of them should be able to
list all local recruitment agencies as well as general and industry specific
on-line sites where you can upload your CV and get job-alerts by email. If
they don't... find another that does. That search also lists specific sources
of help if you suffer from any form of disability although the Job Centres
themselves will happily connect you to the local services they know of.
Hope it helps.
Hope it helps.
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