Jobs Simply

Does anyone else find it dispiriting having to sign on at the local job centre?

A recent graduate who can't find work in his field thanks to the credit crunch, I find the job center quite a depressing place to be! Anyone else feel the same?

Public Comments

1. i wish i knew what dispiriting meant- lol and i actually have a job oh the shame
2. yeah I'm currently putting that off, you just gotta accept that your degree was probably a waste of time and money and your now on the same level as the scumbags that hang around jobcentres...only with more debt. Not that I'm bitter :)
3. Yes, not a single phone call from employment agency I'm registered with 4 different agencies and I'm looking any kind of job over year now.
4. i signed up a few weeks ago and they were a nightmare i hated going in the place as all the rough you mums and chavs were outside the doors like it was some cool hang out i was so happy to sign off only one week later i guess it makes you hurry up and find any kinda of income when you look at the people and think mannn i hope i dont look like one of theses :)
5. off course they do My husband was made redundant in October at the age of 53, and many in his age group, will struggle to work again Think how useless they also feel, when they have a wealth of experience and have literally been thrown on the scrap heap due to the recession
6. All the answers above are so true, im 25 and have signed on once. It was the worst couple of weeks ever. At first I Took it as abit of fun tryin to recoup some of the tax ive paid over the years. I feel sorry for the real people who are on the breadline. It took about 3-4 weeks to get a measly £60. Its a good job I have family and friends to support me. If I had been a loner id of starved by the time it took to get anything out of them. Plus i spent an hour filling out forms and leaflets only to get a call a week later asking me again as they had lost them. Halfwits! The few times I did sign on I found the staff to be utterly slow, arrogant and missing the common sense even a monkey would have. I just wish I was a 14 year old girl with a kid id be set up for life in this country lol okay rant over sorry for wasting your time
7. I thought this until I got sent on an Employment Zone programme which was much worse. You get signed off by the Jobcentre and you sign on for a while with one of the private companies running the scheme such as Reed in Partnership, Working Links, Work Directions. Then you have an interview with your personal advisor everytime you sign on and you have to fill out patronising action plans, very galling if there aren't actually any suitable jobs to apply for. Only some parts of the country are Employment Zones, usually where there is higher unemployment, and claimants get sent on them after that have been signing on at the Jobcentre for a certain length of time. You can check if you are in one from the link below. Hopefully you will find something soon but if you do get sent on a EZ scheme it is better to be forewarned, and you won't mind the Jobcentre as much, trust me!
8. I hope things have changed since my dealings with the job-centre staff. Some were nice, but many were abrupt and insulting. At the time I could not believe that these people were allowed to work in a setting where they came into contact with people whose self-esteem could be low. II could go on and on and have sometimes thought about writing a book about my experiences. So, yes, I did find it dispiriting.