I'm in the unfortunate position of being jobless and seeking employment: not good when you won't see fifty again. But it's made worse by the uselessness of those who are supposed to assist you.
(1) Jobsites: one in particular (Careerbuilder) is a waste of cyberspace, because it does not seem to take account of the contents of one's cv, and sends posts for which you are neither qualified nor suitable.Direct.gov.uk is not a great deal better, I've deleted several saved searches because they threw up places I could not work, or general retail posts when I specifically stated booksellers. Gumtree is not a lot of cop either, very few of the advertisers seem to be genuine, or at least look dodgy, or fail to respond.
(2) Is there any wonder that there is a shortage of skilled tradesmen, when it is so hard to get the necessary training? Train4trades is a total waste of time and space: I booked an appointment months ago which was not kept, and no substitute was offered, and there is no way on the website to make a complaint: I suspect they are only in it for the money. OLCI is a lot better, as I made an appointment for Wednesday for 3 pm, and had a phone message on Tuesday asking to change it from 1 pm to 11 am. I would never have made an appointment for 1 pm, because I sign on at 12.20pm, and could not get home in time. However, I made the 11 am appointment, and when he arrived, the representative suggested that I go to the training centre one day next week to have a look - a lot more positive!
(3) The Jobcentre - they are at least apparently trained in customer service now, unlike in 2005, but their information needs upgrading and updating: an example being that Selly Oak JCP did not know in June 2010 that the LearnDirect centre at Bournville college had closed in July 2009, another being the suggestion that one uses the Birmingham Mail as a resource. The jobs published there on a Thursday have been on jobs-midlands.com since at least Monday midday, so are well stale: if one can find anything worth doing on that site. I never can.
(4) One bonus has been stopdodo.com, which lists environmental jobs: I have found a surprising number there to apply to, including two in Brussels.
But the search goes on - and on - and on!
