Is it worth applying for Jobseekers Allowance?
Hi all,
I graduated last summer from one of the Russell Group unis with a 2:1 in Geography. I managed to find an office job for nearly half a year but unfortunately I was made redundant in December.
I have had a lot of trouble finding work. I even got rejected for a low skilled call centre job at Waitrose despite having worked in customer service before. There were plenty of foreign workers at the assessment centre so they probably recruited them instead.
I signed up to a number of recruitment agencies in order to find some work just to get me back on my feet. However, they have few short term bookings and have put me forward for a cleaning job at a company which designs aircraft interiors on minimum wage. The company is not that easy to get to and the train there and back costs £9 a day. So £45 a week. I am wondering whether you would accept that job (if offered) or just apply for jobseekers?
I have no money to fall back on at all. I also feel embarrassed that I have a good honours degree from a good university in a respected subject, yet I have gone from an office job to a cleaners job on minimum wage.
I am thinking of signing on instead. But I wanted to ask what you all felt if you were in my situation? I am in a bit of a dilemma because I want to go travelling in the next 12 months and teach English as a foreign language in another country for a while but jobseekers does not give me enough to do that. In fact it just about would give me enough to live. I also don't think I want this cleaning job because I get no skills doing it. In total I have applied for about 150 jobs since graduating and had 6 interviews. One was for my dream job which is Transport Planning. This was for the local council but I cocked up on some assessment tests. These jobs are scarce and many require a masters so I don't know what to do.
I graduated last summer from one of the Russell Group unis with a 2:1 in Geography. I managed to find an office job for nearly half a year but unfortunately I was made redundant in December.
I have had a lot of trouble finding work. I even got rejected for a low skilled call centre job at Waitrose despite having worked in customer service before. There were plenty of foreign workers at the assessment centre so they probably recruited them instead.
I signed up to a number of recruitment agencies in order to find some work just to get me back on my feet. However, they have few short term bookings and have put me forward for a cleaning job at a company which designs aircraft interiors on minimum wage. The company is not that easy to get to and the train there and back costs £9 a day. So £45 a week. I am wondering whether you would accept that job (if offered) or just apply for jobseekers?
I have no money to fall back on at all. I also feel embarrassed that I have a good honours degree from a good university in a respected subject, yet I have gone from an office job to a cleaners job on minimum wage.
I am thinking of signing on instead. But I wanted to ask what you all felt if you were in my situation? I am in a bit of a dilemma because I want to go travelling in the next 12 months and teach English as a foreign language in another country for a while but jobseekers does not give me enough to do that. In fact it just about would give me enough to live. I also don't think I want this cleaning job because I get no skills doing it. In total I have applied for about 150 jobs since graduating and had 6 interviews. One was for my dream job which is Transport Planning. This was for the local council but I cocked up on some assessment tests. These jobs are scarce and many require a masters so I don't know what to do.
I graduated summer 2013 as well with my law degree from a top 20 university so not quite as good but still very accomplished. I am currently on job seekers for the last 2 weeks. I stayed behind after university till January as I had a contract on a house and carried on my basic customer service job until then.
My advice would be apply to job seekers. They give just over £50 a week and they pay for transport to interviews. I have an interview in the head office of a company in a few weeks and the train is £25 which they are willing to pay. This way you have more time to apply for jobs and can look further afield.
The job centre will give a lot of help in looking for a job. I personally have refused to do any cleaning jobs or night work and the job centre have said that is okay.
I have had a total of 3 interviews for graduate jobs since graduating and 2 interviews coming up this month. The problem I found between June and January when I had a minimum wage job is that I never had to motivation to apply for any jobs after work because I was always to tired and I became stuck in a rut just working in a crappy job. I probably applied for only a handful of jobs in 6 months and I am now applying for 10 or 15 a week in a variety of different fields.
Do not take a minimum wage job that will take up all of your time and energy and will stop you applying for other jobs. The job centre will give you jobs that do not require a degree but ones that are far more respected such as office and receptionist work. It only becomes an issue after 6 or more months, when they will start sending you on unpaid work experience and basic maths and English courses.
My advice would be apply to job seekers. They give just over £50 a week and they pay for transport to interviews. I have an interview in the head office of a company in a few weeks and the train is £25 which they are willing to pay. This way you have more time to apply for jobs and can look further afield.
The job centre will give a lot of help in looking for a job. I personally have refused to do any cleaning jobs or night work and the job centre have said that is okay.
I have had a total of 3 interviews for graduate jobs since graduating and 2 interviews coming up this month. The problem I found between June and January when I had a minimum wage job is that I never had to motivation to apply for any jobs after work because I was always to tired and I became stuck in a rut just working in a crappy job. I probably applied for only a handful of jobs in 6 months and I am now applying for 10 or 15 a week in a variety of different fields.
Do not take a minimum wage job that will take up all of your time and energy and will stop you applying for other jobs. The job centre will give you jobs that do not require a degree but ones that are far more respected such as office and receptionist work. It only becomes an issue after 6 or more months, when they will start sending you on unpaid work experience and basic maths and English courses.
I would take cleaning job because it's still experience and money. So what that you have a degree? I have a degree in Business English and many others have degrees. Nowadays, degree doesn't mean you are much better than someone without a degree.
Yes, you have to work your way up, so that you could do something you like to do. Don't underestimate cleaning jobs because they teach you a lot of things and you get some transferable skills.
Yes, you have to work your way up, so that you could do something you like to do. Don't underestimate cleaning jobs because they teach you a lot of things and you get some transferable skills.
I think I will apply for Jobseekers Allowance today. However, my best friend signed on at my local Jobcentre Plus and he told me some horrible experiences. They made him apply for jobs in warehouse when he wanted something in accountancy or they would stop his benefit. Again I respect people who work in warehouses, but again thats just not my thing. I did not go to university to end up working in a warehouse on night shifts! I temped in one for a couple months and I felt ever so depressed, full of guys in their low 20s with children and I had no social life at all paying just £6.50 an hour! I have applied for many graduate schemes, sadly had only one interview so far which I fluffed on a maths test!!
I did not know your travel expenses to interviews are reimbursed! That certainly makes me more inclined to apply for work further afield. I want to work in either transport planning or environmental consultancy. I have no work experience in these areas and it is hard getting any. Especially when most opportunities that I can find are away from the South East and London which is not practical. My concern is the jobcentre will not give me any helpful advice applying for these areas. I may volunteer at a primary school who have said to me that they are happy for me to work there for one day a week. Gets me out of the house and if I am signed on for a while then at least I have that experience before I am asked to work in a charity shop like my friend has! I will also see if teaching is something id like to do with my life.
I did not know your travel expenses to interviews are reimbursed! That certainly makes me more inclined to apply for work further afield. I want to work in either transport planning or environmental consultancy. I have no work experience in these areas and it is hard getting any. Especially when most opportunities that I can find are away from the South East and London which is not practical. My concern is the jobcentre will not give me any helpful advice applying for these areas. I may volunteer at a primary school who have said to me that they are happy for me to work there for one day a week. Gets me out of the house and if I am signed on for a while then at least I have that experience before I am asked to work in a charity shop like my friend has! I will also see if teaching is something id like to do with my life.
If you claim Jobseekers Allowance you will get your NI credits, which is important for building up your entitlement to a basic state pension.
Just a note on this, the travel cost fund is discretionary. Not all jobcentres/advisers will refund costs, If they do it might just be a one off.
Original post by vicks1234
I have an interview in the head office of a company in a few weeks and the train is £25 which they are willing to pay.
Original post by Jimmi_Royal
I did not know your travel expenses to interviews are r
eimbursed.
I did not know your travel expenses to interviews are r
eimbursed.
Just a note on this, the travel cost fund is discretionary. Not all jobcentres/advisers will refund costs, If they do it might just be a one off.
Read my experience here:
http://misskyokokasamatsu.wordpress.com/2014/02/19/job-snobbery/
Don't be afraid to sign on but yes jobcentres aren't the friendliest places and they will try to make you take a warehouse job, unpaid work experience. If you want to get travel reimbursed, make sure you ask before you go to the interview, they won't reimburse you after you've gone.
http://misskyokokasamatsu.wordpress.com/2014/02/19/job-snobbery/
Don't be afraid to sign on but yes jobcentres aren't the friendliest places and they will try to make you take a warehouse job, unpaid work experience. If you want to get travel reimbursed, make sure you ask before you go to the interview, they won't reimburse you after you've gone.
Original post by Ay_ya_ya
Read my experience here:
http://misskyokokasamatsu.wordpress.com/2014/02/19/job-snobbery/
Don't be afraid to sign on but yes jobcentres aren't the friendliest places and they will try to make you take a warehouse job, unpaid work experience. If you want to get travel reimbursed, make sure you ask before you go to the interview, they won't reimburse you after you've gone.
http://misskyokokasamatsu.wordpress.com/2014/02/19/job-snobbery/
Don't be afraid to sign on but yes jobcentres aren't the friendliest places and they will try to make you take a warehouse job, unpaid work experience. If you want to get travel reimbursed, make sure you ask before you go to the interview, they won't reimburse you after you've gone.
While I appreciate that jobcentres aren't the friendliest places, and some staff are complete ****s, you also seem to have a bit of an attitude.
There's a reason why your online application is reviewed in person and questions such as the reason why you left your last job are asked (as if you leave a job voluntarily you are not normally entitled to JSA).
The mandatory work activity is controversial, admittedly, but you can avoid this by arranging your own voluntary work. You say that "working for free in a call centre" won't help you find the job you want to find (this is debateable), what's wrong with volunteering for a local charity in some sort of an admin position even for just a few hours a week? This way you're getting further experience, actually doing something besides "just" applying for jobs, and it might lead to paid employment. It will also usually get the jobcentre off your back and mean you don't need to do mandatory work activity.
As for getting a warehouse job, ultimately you are obliged to take any job you are capable of doing. I really, really don't understand what is wrong with this? Perhaps in the first six months it's fine to just apply for what you want to do, but after this time period you really need to start looking further afield. The government shouldn't, and won't, subsidise someone's lifestyle just because they feel that applying for certain jobs is beneath them.
You even admit yourself that you're lacking experience. Why not go out there and get some?
Original post by River85
While I appreciate that jobcentres aren't the friendliest places, and some staff are complete ****s, you also seem to have a bit of an attitude.
There's a reason why your online application is reviewed in person and questions such as the reason why you left your last job are asked (as if you leave a job voluntarily you are not normally entitled to JSA).
The mandatory work activity is controversial, admittedly, but you can avoid this by arranging your own voluntary work. You say that "working for free in a call centre" won't help you find the job you want to find (this is debateable), what's wrong with volunteering for a local charity in some sort of an admin position even for just a few hours a week? This way you're getting further experience, actually doing something besides "just" applying for jobs, and it might lead to paid employment. It will also usually get the jobcentre off your back and mean you don't need to do mandatory work activity.
As for getting a warehouse job, ultimately you are obliged to take any job you are capable of doing. I really, really don't understand what is wrong with this? Perhaps in the first six months it's fine to just apply for what you want to do, but after this time period you really need to start looking further afield. The government shouldn't, and won't, subsidise someone's lifestyle just because they feel that applying for certain jobs is beneath them.
You even admit yourself that you're lacking experience. Why not go out there and get some?
There's a reason why your online application is reviewed in person and questions such as the reason why you left your last job are asked (as if you leave a job voluntarily you are not normally entitled to JSA).
The mandatory work activity is controversial, admittedly, but you can avoid this by arranging your own voluntary work. You say that "working for free in a call centre" won't help you find the job you want to find (this is debateable), what's wrong with volunteering for a local charity in some sort of an admin position even for just a few hours a week? This way you're getting further experience, actually doing something besides "just" applying for jobs, and it might lead to paid employment. It will also usually get the jobcentre off your back and mean you don't need to do mandatory work activity.
As for getting a warehouse job, ultimately you are obliged to take any job you are capable of doing. I really, really don't understand what is wrong with this? Perhaps in the first six months it's fine to just apply for what you want to do, but after this time period you really need to start looking further afield. The government shouldn't, and won't, subsidise someone's lifestyle just because they feel that applying for certain jobs is beneath them.
You even admit yourself that you're lacking experience. Why not go out there and get some?
Urgh, I didn't say there was anything wrong with volunteering and that's an option that I'm considering to get more experience. All the jobs that I am applying for require absolutely no experience at all and I'm not getting any interviews for them or I am being asked by the actual employer why I am applying for the job when I seem over-qualified - their words not mine. P.S I've been looking for a month so its hardly a "lifestyle". I was merely making a point that people shouldn't give up so easily on what they want to do, but that is not to say that they shouldn't accept work proposed. However, doing work experience in a call centre for free, when they wouldn't hire me when I went for an interview because I was "over-qualified" seems ridiculous. You are quite quick to judge.
(edited 10 years ago)
Original post by Ay_ya_ya
Urgh, I didn't say there was anything wrong with volunteering and that's an option that I'm considering to get more experience. All the jobs that I am applying for require absolutely no experience at all and I'm not getting any interviews for them or I am being asked by the actual employer why I am applying for the job when I seem over-qualified - their words not mine. P.S I've been looking for a month so its hardly a "lifestyle". I was merely making a point that people shouldn't give up so easily on what they want to do, but that is not to say that they shouldn't accept work proposed. However, doing work experience in a call centre for free, when they wouldn't hire me when I went for an interview because I was "over-qualified" seems ridiculous. You are quite quick to judge.
OK. I wasn't meaning to say you do have an attitude. Just that's what I picked up from the small part of the blog I read. Perhaps it's just frustration. But you do need to understand that the jobcentre ask the questions they do for a reason.
But, yes, find some voluntary work. I think spending 35 hours+ a week searching for, and applying for, jobs is often time wasted and easily gets you down. I probably only spend three hours a day searching and applying for jobs. The rest of my time is spent doing a range of voluntary work. This voluntary work, which still counts as work-related activity, kept my mind on other things - other people mainly, and increases confidence. It also gives the opportunity to meet new people and to network. Much of my success in recent years hasn't come from jobs I've found and applied for. It's come from networking through voluntary work and family, as well as employers contacting me after noticing my CV on sites such as CV Library and Third Sector.
Original post by River85
While I appreciate that jobcentres aren't the friendliest places, and some staff are complete ****s, you also seem to have a bit of an attitude.
There's a reason why your online application is reviewed in person and questions such as the reason why you left your last job are asked (as if you leave a job voluntarily you are not normally entitled to JSA).
The mandatory work activity is controversial, admittedly, but you can avoid this by arranging your own voluntary work. You say that "working for free in a call centre" won't help you find the job you want to find (this is debateable), what's wrong with volunteering for a local charity in some sort of an admin position even for just a few hours a week? This way you're getting further experience, actually doing something besides "just" applying for jobs, and it might lead to paid employment. It will also usually get the jobcentre off your back and mean you don't need to do mandatory work activity.
As for getting a warehouse job, ultimately you are obliged to take any job you are capable of doing. I really, really don't understand what is wrong with this? Perhaps in the first six months it's fine to just apply for what you want to do, but after this time period you really need to start looking further afield. The government shouldn't, and won't, subsidise someone's lifestyle just because they feel that applying for certain jobs is beneath them.
You even admit yourself that you're lacking experience. Why not go out there and get some?
There's a reason why your online application is reviewed in person and questions such as the reason why you left your last job are asked (as if you leave a job voluntarily you are not normally entitled to JSA).
The mandatory work activity is controversial, admittedly, but you can avoid this by arranging your own voluntary work. You say that "working for free in a call centre" won't help you find the job you want to find (this is debateable), what's wrong with volunteering for a local charity in some sort of an admin position even for just a few hours a week? This way you're getting further experience, actually doing something besides "just" applying for jobs, and it might lead to paid employment. It will also usually get the jobcentre off your back and mean you don't need to do mandatory work activity.
As for getting a warehouse job, ultimately you are obliged to take any job you are capable of doing. I really, really don't understand what is wrong with this? Perhaps in the first six months it's fine to just apply for what you want to do, but after this time period you really need to start looking further afield. The government shouldn't, and won't, subsidise someone's lifestyle just because they feel that applying for certain jobs is beneath them.
You even admit yourself that you're lacking experience. Why not go out there and get some?
I am already looking to get unpaid work experience in a school for one day a week once I have a CRB check. I am not sure if teaching is particularly my thing, but I do like kids and it would give me other skills. I am doing all I can to find some work experience to get me out of the house. I have work experience in an office and a warehouse, not a lot but I still have more than none. I also have 2 years work experience in customer service so I would say I have quite a bit of experience, just not in a more senior role.
Regarding unskilled work, after my first appointment the jobcentre have not told me to apply for any sorts of jobs as such. If they ask me to apply for jobs like that including warehouse then I will just apply for them. I just don't want to do something I am overqualified to do. I am very clever, I do not want my talent to be utilised to some extent even if I do something I am overqualified to do in an office like my previous job.
Original post by Ay_ya_ya
Urgh, I didn't say there was anything wrong with volunteering and that's an option that I'm considering to get more experience. All the jobs that I am applying for require absolutely no experience at all and I'm not getting any interviews for them or I am being asked by the actual employer why I am applying for the job when I seem over-qualified - their words not mine. P.S I've been looking for a month so its hardly a "lifestyle". I was merely making a point that people shouldn't give up so easily on what they want to do, but that is not to say that they shouldn't accept work proposed. However, doing work experience in a call centre for free, when they wouldn't hire me when I went for an interview because I was "over-qualified" seems ridiculous. You are quite quick to judge.
I feel exactly that same way. I have been out of work for about 6 weeks and I would like the chance to do what I wish to do and not 'settle' for something unskilled because there is more work in those areas than in the sectors I would like to work in. I must admit I may go travelling at the end of the year. Its something I have wanted to do for a long time and if I have to take something basic then so be it.
You must remember to keep in mind that once you are in a job its not easy to leave. I could easily do picking/packing, get trained and gain a forklift licence and end up stuck in a role like that for a long time. I would never get a good salary, I would never pay off any university debt nor do a job I feel happy in and where my talents are utilised. My brother works in an office, he acts like the team leader yet they do not give him this job title. He wants to leave and move to another company but he does not want to leave and end up on jobseekers like me as he may not find another job for years. He is almost stuck in his job until a better opportunity comes for him. He isnt paid a lot, and he often ends up working for an hour longer than everyone else without being paid for it.
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