Finding work while on "New deal"
Job search sessions
What makes New Deal even more ridiculous is the so-called job search session that we are expected to attend, which lasts for two or three hours each week. In Leicester, the job search room has several computers that can be used to search for jobs, together with a limited selection of newspapers. Leicester public library had a much better selection of newspapers (albeit distribution problems mean that sometimes they aren't all available) prior to the temporary closure of one building for major refurbishment, including the Birmingham Mail, Coventry Telegraph, Derby Telegraph, Leicester Mercury, Nottingham Evening Post and Northampton Chronicle and Echo. I've used all of them when not on New Deal, but apart from the Leicester Mercury, they're not available in the job search room. However, because the job search room imprisons us, I cannot use the job search time to go to Leicester public library and if I'm on a placement, I don't have the time to look them up otherwise as a lot of other things have to be squeezed into the time not taken up by the placement.
Many of the jobs in those newspapers can be found on the newspaper websites, but it's not the same as being able to browse a newspaper and in any case I didn't have access to the internet from home the last time that I was on New Deal. Meanwhile, some unemployed people are not computer literate so they are limited to the poor choice of newspapers available in the job search room, which comprise the Leicester Mercury, Loughborough Echo and Jobs Midlands. There's also a list of vacancies from the local jobcentre where we normally sign on for jobseeker's allowance.
E-mail restrictions
The job search computers come with severe restrictions because the placement agency doesn't trust unemployed people. A very silly aspect of the job search session is that it's in in our contract that we can't use e-mail except with permission. I was told that I could get special dispensation but I don't want that so I declined. Later, I was told that anybody who asks for permission gets it, which confirms that the contract clause is ludicrous. If they want to allow us to use e-mail, remove the offending clause from the contract. Treat people like human beings instead of like criminals. Even those who are criminals are there as part of their rehabilitation, which is hardly likely to succeed if they're treated the same way as they were when in prison (although there are some things like shredders that these people should not be allowed near). As it is, I write down the e-mail addresses and send the actual e-mails from Leicester public library or from my home at my own convenience.
Sites blocked
Some sites that might provide jobs are blocked while there are other sites that one fears looking up in case suspicions are aroused. I don't just want to look at lists of vacancies; I also want to look up the employer's websites and that's when suspicions might be aroused, depending on the type of business the employer is in. No, if I'm going to do serious job searching, I don't want to be restricted. In any case, the idea that an intensive once-a week session is the way to do it is frankly ludicrous. It is convenient for administrators but tedious for job seekers. I like to do bits here and there - a lot of sprints rather than a marathon. Maybe other job seekers feel differently, but when I've been on a three-hour session, I notice that most people give up looking for jobs long before the end. Even within a two-hour session, I see lots of people reading newspapers for other than just job-hunting.
Silly man
The man responsible for placements in Leicester showed just how silly the system is when I told him that I didn't want to move from the waste-recycling centre in Leicester to its replacement in a former farm near Ragdale some miles away. I explained that this would create serious difficulties for me in checking my e-mail. His response was that he doesn't care about my e-mail because that's what the job search session is all about. So, leaving aside that we're not officially allowed to do e-mail in job search sessions, how useful would it be if I couldn't check my e-mail every day? If I apply for a job on Tuesday (my job search day) and an employer responds positively the next day, it's not going to be any use if I can't see the response till the following Tuesday, is it? Actually, I could see it in my own time at the weekend but that wouldn't be much better. No, I have to be able to check my e-mail every weekday even though I'm not expecting positive responses to come very often. Indeed, the rarity of such responses means that I need to respond quickly when they happen. Now that I'm online from home again, this problem won't be as serious for me in the future, but that's not really the point, is it? Even now, I can only respond to e-mails in the evening if I'm on New Deal. Remember what I said in my page Time required to look for jobs.
Telephone calls
A particular problem on my waste-recycling placement was that I could not easily be contacted by a potential employer. At least while I was in Leicester, I was near a telephone that I was allowed to use to make calls, so if an employer called me at home or sent me an e-mail, I could call back the next day, which is far from ideal but just about acceptable. It was much worse in the cowshed on the farm near Ragdale, where there was no nearby telephone. There is a telephone in a cabin some distance from the sheds, but if an employer were to contact me there, it would take about a quarter of an hour for the person answering the call to fetch me. This would hardly impress a potential employer. Meanwhile, I'm not sure if I was allowed to make outgoing calls (and I very much doubt that I'd have been allowed to call Dublin, that being an international call). I therefore give employers only my home number (which has an answering machine) and my e-mail address, both of which I can access only in the evenings and at weekends while I'm on a placement. If I were to call the employer back the next day from the farm, it would be tricky if the employer were not immediately able to take the call, even assuming that I were allowed to use the telephone.
The silliness of this policy showed when I received an e-mail from a recruitment agency in Dublin one Thursday, asking me to contact them. I had to take the Friday off to make the call, whereupon I was told that the job was actually in Donegal and I later identified it as being in Letterkenny. During that day, I also received a call from an employer about a possible job in Birmingham. I spent most of the day (and some of the weekend) on the internet providing these people with the extra information they required. The situation became even more ridiculous when the Birmingham employer tried to telephone me on the following Tuesday. If they'd tried to contact me on any other day, I would have been stuck in the cowshed on the former farm near Ragdale, but as it was my job search day and we weren't expected to go there on such a day because nobody could drive us to or from Leicester at lunch time (depending on whether we had a morning or afternoon job search), I had the morning off. The employer missed me anyway because I was in Leicester public library (fair enough) so I returned the call but had to leave a message. When the time was due to go for my job search, I called again, leaving a message to call me in the job search room. Guess what? The placement agency could not (or would not) put the call through to the job search room. I was later told that re-organization within the placement agency may have been the reason for the employer not being able to get through to me, but that's no excuse. Given that the whole purpose of the exercise is supposed to be helping people get back to work, the re-organization should have been carried out in such away that it didn't prevent employers making contact with potential candidates. This really is indicative of the government's (and the agencies it uses) muddled thinking on policies towards unemployed people, but if I ever secure employment again, we can all have a good laugh about the things I've been through and how government policies are sometimes an obstacle to finding work.
If unemployed people are to be forced to work for their benefits, is it too much to ask that we are allowed to telephone employers - and receive calls from them - at whatever time is necessary? After all, we are supposed to be available for work at all times. We can't be available if we can't be contacted. Mobile phones would provide an answer but I'm not going to buy one because I don't need one outside placements and I can't imagine the government supplying mobile phones for people on placements.
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