Flexible New Deal Scandal:
Flexible New Deal

Flexible New Deal scandal has published 10 tips for Jobseekers to help them succeed. These tips are focused on the UK and assuming the jobseeker is receiving Jobseekers Allowance.

10 Jobseeker Tips

1. The Labour Market System (LMS) isn’t the be all or end all to find employment

The Jobcentre’s Labour Market System (LMS) is a requirement to Jobseekers Allowance (JSA) when you have been submitted to jobs through a Jobseeker Direction (JSD) and for steps you have agreed on your Jobseeker’s Agreement (JSAg). My advice would be, apart from when referred to by an adviser; avoid the LMS system. It is full of spoof jobs, agency jobs etc. and the genuine jobs are submitted to circa 150-299 people as Jobseeker Directions and of course many more apply directly from the website.

You are unlikely to secure a sustainable job through this system and searching it a few times a week will just get depressing and waste your resources. Statistically long-term unemployed people (although have looked elsewhere too) have made the mistake by focusing on this system as their primary source – the irony is – it is what probably makes them long term unemployed.

2. Focus on greater mediums (such as the job paper)

So, if you have been searching for jobs apart from them who advertise both in other mediums and the Labour Market System (LMS); it can say a lot about an employer whether they wish to put the money where their mouth is and get a newspaper advertisement or whether a free advert on the Labour Market System (LMS) is sufficient.
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What is with the unemployment system?

“Assaults” on staff are to be dealt with by benefit sanctions and not by police.

Awkward customers are to be removed from the Jobcentre Plus office by police after being held by security.

Assaults are crimes, it is a police matter.  Exceeding your time slot or talking back to staff isn’t!

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I can’t stress enough how great it is to have a job which is permanent and secured

Tonight I wish to raise the major unemployment issue: the System’s  Cherry Pick or Park approach.

Regardless of being in a recession or not, there are two distinct groups of unemployed people that are jobseekers who are on benefits:

1) The Lucky.

The lucky group will only be unemployed for a short period typically between 2 weeks and six months and head back into sustainable long term fulltime employment. This employment is likely to be secured by knowing friends and family, and even keeping in the loop of internal job vacancies from previous employers rather than the overcrowded application processes.

and

2)   The Unlucky.

The unlucky group is destined to remain longterm unemployed with the occassional unsustainable short jobs (Agency, temporary etc.) from anything between several hours a week here and there, and 4-9 months. The unlucky ones are forced to register for agencies who are only usually interested in promoting very casual work – which obviously are unsustainable, inadequate to live on, and without much notice (a phone call on the day to work is common) – and requires either signing off for the period (then signing back on afterwards) or going down to sign on and declare work resulting in no payment and probably a staff member reporting you to the fraud squad.

Wonder why there are so many agency jobs advertised at the Jobcentre?

89% of the recuitment industry in the UK is for temporary jobs.  The Government is supporting this multi-billion pound industry and sticking the economy before people as usual (apart from with the banks of course). Putting it another way; the industry’s combined turnover for permanent jobs and normal non-permanent contract jobs make up only around one tenth (11%) of their annual income.

The rest is made up of short term casual short notice jobs. Do you want to be rung up at 7:30am asking if you can start work at 8am for 4 hours at minimum wage?

Employers prefer someone who has stuck at their job for long periods of time

No employer likes candidates who have worked on several different jobs in one year.

Jobseekers Allowance terminated

The jobcentre has for a while allowed jobseekers to be more choosey for jobs they apply for. Generally, if you aren’t better off working than receiving Jobseekers you don’t have to apply. Agency work on the other hand, is an exception to this rule – if you declined the above offer for example – you would likely receive a sanction for it.

New Deal

New Deal is infamous for “Cherry Picking” and “Parking”…

This has to stop!

It actually is a human right for self-progression etc. it is not right for people to just be parked (like a car?) in the car park of unemployment waiting for petrol. Then someone comes along and hand washes the car. The car needs petrol! It doesn’t matter if the car looks brand new, still needs petrol to get anywhere! (don’t ask lol)

Unemployed? What category have you fallen in to?

I don’t believe that the “clever” ones get the jobs and the “dumb” ones don’t. This is why I called the groups “lucky” and “unlucky”. Luck has a part in all this too. Feel free to leave a comment, if you are unemployed, stick which group you think you fall in to, looking back at past events and the current circumstances.