My appointment was at 9.10am. The JobCentre is only a couple of minutes’ walk from my home, but I arrived at 8.55am to make sure I wouldn’t be late.
As the Centre opens at 9am, there was a small queue of people clutching their grey “sign-on books” at the front door.
The sight of the local jobseekers made me shudder. Gathered in a small mass like that, they were like a visual representation of the common people’s mood in the current economy (something like the images in the poster below).
This is the one day I become a character in a Charles Dickens’ novel.
Long-term unemployment is a slow-killing cancer on the spirit – and it shows on how you look. You stop caring what time you get up, what time you go to bed, what you wear for the day. You are not going anywhere or see anyone, why bother?
I just hoped I didn’t look as dreary as some of them did. I had pledged myself I would stay upbeat this time and have a positive attitude throughout. I made a mental check that I had washed my hair and put some lipstick on before I left home.
At 9 o’clock doors opened and the small crowd of six or seven people streamed in. T., who always stands at reception, was directing each one to the first floor. When my turn came, I put on the most friendly smile I could muster and said to T. I had a 9.10am.
His response stunned me: “Is it sign on?” He rolled his eyes and shifted on his feet. ” Could you NOT queue at 9.00am please?”
Me: “Erm…Why?”
T.: “Because it’s busy and I’ve got to get these people through first; people coming at 9 get in the way. So could you go back out and come back later?”
It was cold and drizzly outside. I wasn’t going to literally leave the premises, so I stepped aside and hung around behind T., trying to look as inconspicuous as possible, not understanding why I felt I had to be inconspicuous.
There was an empty sofa behind T., but he had not told me to take a seat. I didn’t want to risk another telling-off.
T. shepherded the last of the 9 o’clockers upstairs, then turned to me again and said he was sorry but I really should not come at 9 o’clock. Had he not finished ranting yet? My emotions swung back and forth from shock to sadness, from outrage to compassion.
Yes, compassion. Had T. had a bad morning? Had one of his colleagues been taken ill and he had to do their job today? Had his wife left him? Was he having PMT? I don’t mean to sound sexist, but his behaviour reminded him of when we ladies are having hormonally challenging days.
Attending the JobCentre feels like a prisoner on bail having to report to the police at fixed days and times. Not that I have ever been in prison, but unemployment is, at any rate, a lonely cage of despair. Why a modicum of respect and dignity cannot be spared to jobseekers is beyond my powers of human comprehension.
T. suggested I go do a job search on the JobCentre’s job-search machine “for five minutes”. I was obviously still in his way. Obediently, I walked to the job machine and clicked on “Local Jobs” trying to ignore the fact that “Avon lady”, ”Sales assistant – energy” and “Judo teacher” were not exactly my cuppa tea.
At 9.10am, I was finally waved upstairs to go see my adviser. This was my first sign-0n day this “season”. I said good morning to the adviser with my professional saleswoman smile on and proudly handed in my grey book, in which I had listed the six actions I had taken in the past fortnight to find a job, including one interview.
I am not sure if any of the information on the book gets entered anywhere but the motions are the same with every jobseeker. This is how it usually goes (every fortnight):
Adviser: “Let’s see if we can find you a job. Is it still publisher, sales manager and journalist you are looking for?
Me (Hmm. Publisher is the place I want to work at, not the profession but never mind): “Yes. [smile]“
A: “How far are you willing to travel? I don’t think there will be anything for you in this area.”
Me: “London?”
A.: “No, there’s nothing in Sussex…and there’s nothing in London either. Any questions?”
Me: “No.”
A.: “See you in two weeks.”
Me: “Yes.”
On the way out, I smiled and said good bye to the security guard but tried not to make eye contact with T.
I had exhausted my smiling quota for the day.
ROFL, Chie! And I’m not laughing *at* you!
The JobCentre is such a toilet. It doesn’t matter which one you go to, what time you go, which day your signing-on day is, whatever, it’s still a toilet. There’s always the token drunk, the token homeless person waiting on his homeless mate and the stressed out mother with 4 kids under 5 around her ankles wondering why-oh-why they drag her arse in there every 3 months ‘cos how in the hell is she going to find a job suitable for her circumstances anyway? Oh, and T. is a clone. Straight up! It’s compulsory for every JobCentre to have their very own T. At ours, he’s a 4ft-nothing-was-old-even-when-God-was-a-teenager kinda guy. He LOVES his job. He loves telling people to wait outside, or directing them towards the stairs, and you can see him almost positively burst with excitement when someone actually needs to use the lift!
I *do* feel bad that you have to do that nonsense every two weeks. When I was on I/S I had to go for my work focused interview every 3 months. It went something like this:
Personal Advisor: “Hi, anything changed?”
Me: “No”
Personal Advisor: “Ok. See you in three months”
Me: *Eye roll* (Cue mumbling about wasting my precious time)
Now I’m on ESA and it ain’t no better…. My point being… You’re not alone hun. It’s miserable and depressing, time consuming and disheartening, but I’m convinced that something will turn up for you. Keep your head up, and keep that smile going! And in the mean time… When you dropping off my Avon order? =P
Thank you for this, Lacii. I love your analogy of “toilets”…. Yup, it’s one we can’t avoid. Just hold your breath while you’re in there and come out as quickly as possible before the stink starts clinging to you…
I will FOREVER be a fan of your writing!! You are AWESOME. As you continue to battle through, please continue to write, because God As My Witness, THIS will be your saving grace. The fact that you like *my* writing really humbles me, because you are so damn good…
I am flattered, Tango. Thank you so much. *blushes*
I totally agree with this article.
“Signing on” is an old technique deemed that
a) a person must sign for payment (instead of electronic or assumed unless told otherwise – it adds like a contractual element to it although its statutory law) and
b) a person is only available for work when s/he can make a sign on appointment once every 2 weeks. If you are late etc. you are treated as having a job and sanctioned because of it (seriously though, what difference does the odd 5 minutes make? Like you say though, you can be “too early” this is just to make you come on time, i.e. make it more likely you to arrive late. Its either 15 minutes early or 5 minutes late with most public transport so people opt to be early to safeguard their benefits.)
Over the years, a Jobcentre Plus was created… people are now branded “customers” instead of claimants, many Employment Officers are branded as Customer Service advisers, ever increasing security, the support job search every 2 weeks is just to force sanctions on people* and not to help you secure employment, certain time in your claim it becomes weekly signing on (to help with the previous point and to make sure you aren’t working on the side) and jobseekers are treated like shit (and even advised) to sign off if they don’t like it. Any sarcasm, back chat or sticking up for yourself becomes deemed as an “assault”** – I would say its like being treated as at school, but my vague memories are of it not being quite as bad.
* Concept of employment services delivered by DWP: http://intensiveactivity.wordpress.com/2011/01/28/dwp-corruption-lms-directgov-jobs-ripped-apart/ and http://www.workprogramme.org.uk/201101271091/directgov-job-search-under-spotlight.html
** They fill in a form reporting verbal and physical (including throwing pens etc.) “incidents” which become consolidated down as assaults – although most relate to verbal, and majority of the time physical incidents are limited to slamming doors and kicking chairs – not exactly an assault either. http://www.workprogramme.org.uk/20090714160/jobcentre-plus-security-and-assaults.html
Hope this helps
Thank you for your comment and all these useful links. The list of what is deemed “physical abuse” by the DWP made me laugh out loud. Is all this information based on a reliable source?
If security guards are employed at Job Centres to safeguard staff against (accidental) spitting and door slamming, I can imagine it would make a good Daily Mail article: “Is taxpayers’ money being used to protect JobCentres from saliva?”…
I also found it interesting what you say about the DirectGov website not being search engine friendly. No wonder nothing came up when I searched for any free telephone numbers for JobCentres. Maybe it’s time for them to hire an SEO expert? Hmmm…I feel another blog post coming up….
Its directly from JCP policy and their form they use. Actually that would be a great blog post from someone who likes writing satire blogs as well as the Daily Mail.
DirectGov is dreadful concept. The whole structure for it is wrong. Instead of the session based system something more like ‘/jobs/ABC12345/ASDA_Shelf_filler’ (haha) that you can add to favourites and visit another time without having to search again. Also, if the job has since closed (but you have already applied for it) the job advert is still relevant for you if you want to review it (you would just remove page from search).
I am not an SEO expert… but I would volunteer lol
After graduating from university in 2009 I struggled to find any sort of job. When I started signing on, the adviser at the job centre said that I had to choose 3 different types of job to search for. As I had no experience, the only thing I was anywhere near qualified for was admin or secretarial work but because I had to choose a third job type I ended up just saying retail too. This resulted in being constantly bombarded with print outs of various retail jobs which I had no experience in, which I did actually apply to even though I knew it was pointless. I did bring it up with the adviser on several occassions but I was just told that I had to apply for a certain amount of jobs each week, seemingly whether I had a cat in hells chance of getting it or not!
The three month interview was much the same as how you explained. For some reason I had to start signing on at a different job centre at this time but it was all much the same thing of unsuitable jobs being printed off for the sake of it. There was also a space of time in which if the adviser printed off the job I absolutley HAD to apply for it otherwise they could stop my allowance apparently. I was already applying to anything and everything so this didn’t bother me as such but I did feel a bit bullied.
So it came to six glorious months of unemployment and I was sent on a god awful two week course especially for 18 -25 year olds which comprised of the usual team building crap of what would you take with you on a desert island etc. Jobs were hardly spoken about and there were 8 computers between the 24 people in my group for which we were supposed to use to job search. Many of the members of the group were particularly loud and uninterested in what was being said and I found the whole thing extremely intimidating.
I finally got a 6 month temporary job about a month after the awful course which I loved. Everything about it was perfect but there was no funding to keep me on so now i’m back on benefits. My contract ended in January but I only started my claim yesterday via the internet due to absolute terror. It sounds stupid but I am petrified even thinking about having to go back into the job centre and the thought of going on that course again is unbearable. I’m now on the edge of my seat waiting for an adviser to call to arrange the first signing on session.
I’m so glad I found your site because it’s made me feel that much better but even just driving past the job centre sends a shiver down my spine because of past experience. Oh and also, I don’t know about being too early for an appointment but once I was about 2 minutes late, no exaggeration, and I was made to wait near enough 45 minutes before I saw anyone. I suppose it’s just one of those grin and bear it situations…
Hi Bambi. Your comment made me smile. I am so glad you found this blog useful. Yes, being a jobseeker registered with the JobCentre is a truly unpleasant experience.
You shouldn’t actually have been forced to put down three fields to look for jobs in. They should be able to accept two, but I get the impression you came across to them as being young and un-confident, and they tricked you into thinking you had to accept retail jobs too. Next time put your foot down!
You say you have a university degree. Well, then, you shouldn’t feel like the only jobs you can do are secretarial, and retail is probably fine for temp jobs but do you see yourself working in retail permanently? Lots of companies’ senior executives never went to university; they got to where they got through sheer perseverance.
I don’t know what you studied at uni, but could you be trying an entry position in that area? Have you done any work experience while studying? If you did, and they liked you, they might be happy to offer you some part-time or temp work, so do contact them. Don’t be afraid to write speculative letters too, instead of waiting for job ads to come up. A great number of companies never advertise their vacancies. If it’s a company you did some work experience in or you admire, write to them saying how much you liked the experience/admire their work, highlight your education, skills (voluntary work, temp work…everything counts when you don’t have a career yet), and your qualities as a person. If you think a job will require good prioritisation of tasks, for instance, give them examples of when you had to multi-task…even if it was just to organise a birthday party.
You’ve only just finished uni. You can’t be expected to have a three-page career list, and employers do know that. Be more confident of the contribution you can make to society, even without a massive career history.
I wish you the best of luck and please do keep checking in here to share your experiences. I greatly value and appreciate every single comment people leave.
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This is the stupidest thing I’ve ever read, your crying because he asked you to come in at your sign time and not early, grow up you turnip
You completely missed the point of this blog post, I’m afraid. And I did not cry – please don’t distort my words.
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