When I claimed my Job Seekers' Allowance last week I was told to apply for a job working during the night as a shelf stacker in a discount store. I told the clerk that I don't want to work during the night, and that I don't believe that people should work nights unless it is absolutely necessary.
Anyway he gave me contact details for the store. I wrote to the address given and said that the Job Centre had told me about the job and asked if they want me to complete an application form. On Thursday I received an application form, which asked why I want to work for that company. As I don't want the job I am not going to return the form.
The store is one to two miles from my house, and I have a general idea where it is, though it is in a part of town I rarely go to. I am certainly not going to totally upset my life and ruin my health by working during the night. Also I am opposed to night work which is exploitative to low paid workers.
I would be very cautious as they could stop your benefits.
A lot of people do have to work nights, and most dont like it, but its essential.
Their taxes pay for peoples benefit payments and the government wants everyone off benefits who can possibly work, as you know.
One man refused to work in a butchers, and his benefit was stopped, he was vegetarian, and had to appeal. I think he lost his case, if I remember rightly.
You should seriously think about filling in the form and waiting to see if you get an interview, if you do get an interview, you could tell them you are being honest and find it very hard to stay awake at night and you really worry how you would manage if you were given the job. They are very unlikely to offer the job to someone who says that, and if you are being honest I don't see how the benefits agency could complain.
You must
appear to go along with it, or, as Amy says, they may very well stop benefit.
A supportive GP can also be very helpful.
Woodpeace, have you ever had a sleep disorder or sleeping problems that you saw your doctor about?
Is the job all through the night, or until 1am or so?
Amy, I do not have a sleep disorder for which I have seen my doctor. The job hours are 10pm to 6am for a 38 hour week.
I have not finally decided if I will complete and return the application form. There isn't a deadline for the job.
An example of essential nght work is working in a hospital casuality department, not working as a shelf stacker for Makro (the company concerned). I don't know how their day time and night time rates of pay compare; but I don't expect that the night rate is four times the day rate. If it were, I'm sure that Makro would then find a way of getting their shelves filled during the day.
I remember Early Closing Days when the shops in a particular district, such as town or suburb, closed for one afternoon durng the week, usually on Wednesdays or Thursdays, and they didn't open on Sundays. But that couldn't happen in the prevailing long hours, low pay working culture.
Are there many jobs available in your area? If so, I would look for a daytime job, and keep copies of application forms/cover letters to show to the jobcentre as proof.
I work full time (during the day) and I'm happy, but I don't think anyone should be forced to go to work against their will. It is important for your spiritual wellbeing that you do a job that you enjoy. Life is too precious to be in a job you hate.
There are some advantages to night shifts: usually it is quiet and not many people are around making less contact with other people. Some jobs also pay more for night shift.
I applied for a night call center job even though I am not so good at talking to people on the phone. In a ten hour shift, on average, there was a expected 10-12 calls. A large screen tv and computer/internet was provided as well as microwave etc. The building was locked and patrolled by security guards. They hired someone within the company that did not need to be trained.
Job placement does not care if you like the job or not. All they want to do is get people off benefits. You can still apply to job you do not want or can not do. If you do get an interview you can tell them that you do not think that you would be good at that job. Mostly likely they will not hire you unless the government is giving them money to hire unemployed people. Anyway some work experience is good. You would need to provide a doctor's certificate to say this work was not acceptable but mostly likely the doctor would not provide it.
I used to apply to hundreds of jobs and very very few even called me. -Even for jobs that I wanted. Some jobs seemed great until I went there and tried them. Others did not look good but I changed my mind when I went for the interview. But I still have to look like I was trying to look for work. I had a notebook with all the places I applied for jobs and the dates in a chard. Then I would also write in if they called, if I called them etc. I keep all copies of letters and faxes too or any mail I received about rejections etc. I kept this to prove that I was looking for work.
There are several pages of jobs advertised in my local paper each week. I do not know if the people at my local Job Centre will think I'm lazy if I do not apply for jobs. They know that I do voluntary work for about 30 hours each week.
Don't you have to agree to look for jobs when you are in receipt of jobseekers allowance? I would be cautious about letting the job centre know if you aren't looking for jobs. They could stop your money.
For Canadian "employment insurance benefits" for unemployed people. We were only allowed to do volunteer work for up to 15 hours per week. One woman was cut off benefits because she travelled out of the province for her volunteer job. You are not allowed to "go on vacation". You have to look for work and are not allowed to reject any job offer. You have to be available to work anytime: day, night, weekend. People will young children have to prove they have a babysitter or daycare (really stupid because if they are not working how can they afford to pay for daycare or babysitter in most cases). You must be actively looking for work and keep records. AND THEY DO NOT HELP YOU FIND A JOB. They just help you lose your benefits. There is a rule book, only you have to ask for it when you first apply. They often require people to come in for an "information" session after 6 weeks and ask many questions. By then, most people have broken alot of rules because they did not know about them.
So you had best get the rules.
It is a condition of receiving job seekers' allowance that you agree to look for jobs.
"It is a condition of receiving job seekers' allowance that you agree to look for jobs."
So just do a reasonable amount of job searching every week and record it. I think it was recommended to write ten letters per week or twenty telephone inquiries. - A problem when you have no phone or no money to buy stationary or postage. The latest trend in Canada is for fax or e-mail only applications. I guess how and where you apply for work depends on your location and financial means as present.
What kind of volunteer job do you have? You might ask them if there is any chance of getting a paid job there. You could tell them that job seeking office is getting on your case and you will have to reduce your volunteer time there. I think some volunteer jobs are the most exploitive.
I have two volunteer jobs. One job is working in an Oxfam shop. The other is working in the Resource Centre of the Lancashire Global Education Centre (LGEC) -
http://www.lgec.org.uk.
The only paid member of the staff at the Oxfam shop is the manager. There are paid staff at the LGEC, but none of the job vacancies which have arisen there have been suitable for me, except for one 12 years ago.
M said "So just do a reasonable amount of job searching every week and record it. I think it was recommended to write ten letters per week or twenty telephone inquiries."
I think that's good advice. Then you can always show that you are being co-operative and making an effort. Also keep any rejection letters too, to show them.
As far as I knew there was a limit on how much volunteer work that you could do as during that time you could be looking for work or attending interviews.
On the other hand, volunteer work is giving you experience in the work force, and looks good on a CV.
As long as they are fully aware of the amount of hours you are doing and are happy with that, it shouldn't be a problem.
You could always ask to have something in writing from them to confirm that the volunteer work is ok, as in the past I have found that one person can tell you something and later claim that they never.
I would always say something like "they can make me apply for jobs, but they can not make people hire me." But not of course to job office people. Of course the job office people will always criticize your job search or cv. They will tell you to network or follow up applications with telephone or in-person inquiries or that your cv needs to be changed. - Like networking? is useful for me? Ask my friends or former co-workers to help me find a job? - I have no friends and most people who have worked with me hate me. Though some have said they would give me references, although I found out later they gave me poor references.
The reason why people do not hire me is not because I do not have experience, education, training etc. It is because they think there is "something off about me". -So I have been told. Some people will not accept diversity.
How some volunteer jobs exploit people. I think this is something we should discuss.