The Job Club
Unemployment's falling, so they tell us, but getting back into work is still not easy, as anyone at Hanley Job Club will tell you "Finding a job is a job in itself"......
I'm not much of a fan when it comes to this government's ideas for solving the 'Unemployment Problem' but I have to admit the Job Club is one of their better ones. Or rather, one of the better ones Margaret Thatcher imported from America -- for that's where it came from.
This being the case, of course, it's not exactly an altruristic one. Devised by an occupational psychologist, the idea behind the Job Club was not only to give proverty stricken job seekers the stamps and stuff they need to do an intensive job search, but also to distract attention away from the government's failure to create the right climate for job creation by making the job seeker feel responsible for their predicament.
However, the Job Club is entirely voluntary, and the atmospher at the ones I've known (two in Hanley, one in Longton) so informal that it's hard to get really worked up about this bit of sneakiness. And now that the onus to prove you're trying to get back into work has been put on the unemployed person (part of the same U.S. plot?), it's a great help when it comes to meeting your fortnightly quota set out in the "Back to Work Plan" every new claimant has to agree to.
So just how does the Job Club help you?
It all starts with a two week induction, where you get to know the Job Club Leader, your fellow new members (the new "intake"), told about the idea of Job Club (though not the U.S. Plot bit), and then are taken through the basics of searching for work.
Job Club, you're told, is entirely volunttary, so if you got the impression that you had to join it or lose your benefit, now's the time to mention it, and feel free to leave if it isn't what you want. Refuse any 'help' at all from the Employment Service though and you may find yourself in another room, with another 'intake', listening to the same stuff, but without the choice to leave. That scheme is called "Options", you have the option to go on it, or lose your benefit -- who says the Dept of Employment hasn't got a sense of humour?
A large but unknown percentage of jobs are never advertised anywhere, we're told. They go through word of mouth, so let your friends know you're looking for work. Or indeed anyone who'll listen and may give you a 'lead' to where some jobs may be going.
Indeed, these 'job leads' can be almost anything. Want a job in a supermarket? Then the list of local stores listed in Yellow Pages is a job lead, just let your fingers do the walking.Read about a business expanding in the Sentinel? They might need more staff. That's another lead, and a letter written to them 'on spec' might land you a job. Radio Stoke's Job Spot, weekday mornings, about 9:45 and 10:45 is a more obvious lead, as well as the 'Sits Vac' columns in the papers and trade mags.
All this cost the job seeker money, of course, and that's where the Job Club can be of the greatest help. Envelopes and paper is provided free of charge, stamps too. Yellow Pages, the Thomson Directory, and the ordinary Phonebook, plus some business directories, are all there to be consulted. Specialist trade magazines may be ordered too, if you need them. Hand-writing of letters, to make them more personal, is encouraged, but a typewriter is also available for those who want to use it. A telephone to ring for those application forms, or just ring round firms on spec to ask if they have any vacancies. And finally, a photocopier to produce as many copies of your C.V. as you could need.
C.V.'s are yet another thing we find out about during those first two weeks inducttion. You can be the class smart alec by telling them you know it stands for "curriculum vitae", Latin for 'life plan', and it's an outline of all your relevant skills, qualifications, work experience, and leisure activities. If you can't think what to put down, plenty of help is on hand from the Job Club Leader, and once complete it's sent to an admin assistant to be typed up (or occasionally by idiots like me who admit they can type!), and then all you have to do is phottocopy it to send out with your letters.
Officially, you have to attend the Job Club four mornings a week (Hanley it's Tues to Fri 9:30 to 12:30noon), until you find a job. Unofficially, it's less formal with the hours being closer to two, the odd missed day or three ignored, and because of the numbers applying to go onto Job Club, the length of your stay may be limited to six months maximum. The really good news though is that you even have your bus fares (or a car allowance) paid for you so you aren't out of pocket, and your signing time can be made flexible if it clashes with a Job Club day.
What sort of people are you likely
to meet on Job Club?All sorts! Labourers, drivers, warehousemen, to more exotic types like a photographer, wouldbe pub manager, and even an actress! Some of those from the same intake as me are already on the "Roll of Honour". This being a poster sized list, on the Job Club wall, of everyone they have have helped back into work. Sometimes though, it can be disheartening reading. The photographer is there because he got a temporary job over Christmas, only to return. The actress is on there because she landed herself a part in a nationwide touring play, and we all know acting is always temporary. One guy is there who kept the job for just four day because the D.S.S. told him he couldn't claim any money to get him through the month-in-hand he was expected to work before getting a salary (only to tell him he could have afterall, on he gave it up!!). And no doubt some have just gone onto other employment schemes, like Training for Work.
Some of the vacancies that come into the Club can be disheartening too. "Shop Assistant Wanted, 3 hours a week", "Security Guard, 60 hours, £2.50 a hour", some are not jobs at all but Training for Work vacancies (the new name for E.T.), and around half of all the vacancies are only part-time hours -- no use to a sole or main breadwinner. But the Job Club Leader's there to see we don't get too depressed, and sometimes we get to put our gripes and queries directly to a Real Live Personnel Officer, who visit to give us some 'tricks of the trade', like asking for the job when you end an interview! When they ask you if you've any questions for them, just say something like "Well, I was sure I wanted this job when I came to the interview and nothing you're said has changed my mind. Tell me, do you think I'm the right man for the job?"
Don't know if it works yet though, as since being told this tip, I've yet to get an interview to try it out at!
Copyright The Bentilean 1999
NB The Job Club has since been replaced by the Programme Centre.Back to: The Contents Page | The Archive | The Bentilean Main Page