30

we are all just ghosts in the machine.

for those of you lucky enough not to have had to sign on you'll have no understanding of just how soul destroyingly pointless it can sometimes be.

for want of a better word for it there is a contract between the signer on and the jobcentre. the signer agrees to do certain things and in return the jobcentre provides help, advice and sanctions the largesse that is the jobseekers allowance.
so far so reasonable.

the signer agrees to turn up for their signing on appointment with proof of looking for work,which takes the form of a list of jobs applied for.
it is not an onerous request.
in many ways your job search helps define what you are looking for. they are not asking you to have searched for hundreds of jobs, to be honest it is a modest number of jobs you have had to apply for. (which is lucky because it isn't like there are lots of  suitable jobs out there that you can apply for).

this has changed recently with the advent of a computerised system that allows the jobcentre to see some of the jobs you have applied for as you have to apply for some online.
it is a little bit big brotherish, it is also not necessarily the best use of resources because they are not looking at the jobs you are applying for but just the number you have applied for. my application to become a surgeon is just as valid as my one to become a playboy bunny as my one to become a clerical assistant (i didn't get any of them)..

it is a painless process that has some purpose.
or it should have a purpose if the jobcentre was there to help.
those of us who have to go to the jobcentre for any length of time quickly discover that the staff in the jobcentre have no interest in helping you they are just there to tick boxes.

on my last two visits i have had two different advisers. neither of them able to shed much light on the situation of the work programme i am supposed to be starting.
the first adviser told me that the work programme was a bit of a disaster. oh and that next time i was in the jobcentre my job search would be looked at.
when that next time came the new adviser told me that i still hadn't been booked in with the work programme (going on three months now - private companies: gotta love 'em). oh and that next time i was in the jobcentre my job search would be looked at.

my last three visits have given me no information. my job search hasn't been looked at.
i'm the first to admit that my job search isn't riveting reading - yet it should at least be providing a starting point for the jobcentre advisers to guide me. that might be the case if they cared or if they had been trained properly for the job.
they don't. they haven't.

to make matters worse i haven't read one positive thing about the private providers of work programmes and their successes.
maybe they'll check my job search when i get to report to them.