Posted here because posterous are encountering technical problems.

Most of my jobseeking rants can also be found on linkedin:

http://uk.linkedin.com/in/rarblaster

Connect to me if you wish and have a look at some of the groups I’m a member of. My biggest rant as is most unemployed people’s are is the way the JCP (Job Centre Plus) operates.

The way I read the TIS scheme (Travel to Interview Scheme) works is:

1. The company that has invited you for an interview has to be further than 1 hours travelling distance. Meetings with an RA (Recruitment Agency) don’t count.

2. You have to provide proof (most cases it’ll be an email or letter) before the date of interview, if however you have a last minute interview, you chance it and go to the interview with the slim hope you are going to get your travel costs re-imbursed.

Going back to point no 1. How the JCP define what is 1 hours travelling distance?

Does that include the time walking from home to the train station/bus stop, then waiting for the train or bus to arrive, or is it actual time spent on public transport?

Travelling by car is simple, it’s the time you put the pedal to the metal.

So you don’t qualify under the TIS and bus and train is your only hope. It’s still going to cost you at least £4 on either mode of public transport, so you have interviews on different days of the week, you buy yourself a 10 journey ticket or a weeks pass, you’re still going to be out of pocket by at least £10.

What if you live further than walking distance to a bus stop or train station and there is no one to take you. It’s taxi time and we all know how expensive they can be.

So do the maths out of the £65.45 you receive per week on JSA (Job Seekers Allowance), how much are you going to have left to live on?

Is it our fault that some less than scrupulous individuals have abused the TIS system? So now under budget cuts those of us genuinely looking for work are going to have to sit at home because we cannot afford to get to interviews?

Solution a paid work placement, so I could turn up to a place on Monday Morning guaranteed that I’m going to get paid the following week without having to travel to an interview which can be a lottery and coming back empty handed after putting £10 worth of fuel in my car, thus nothing to show for it.

Finally got my pension forecast through from the Pension service. According to their records up to April 2009 I have 18 qualifying years of National Insurance.

So by the time I rech 48, I shouldn’t have to worry whether I’ll get a full state pension or not. Coupled with a pension from when I worked in the rail industry there will be some money coming in, not a great deal though.

Also paying class 2 NIs as self-employed will help as well.

I have set up a new posterous blog, chronicling my daily job hunt. I hope you find it interesting you can find it at:

The Diary of a Professional Jobseeker

Okay avid readers or passers-by. Can you recommend me a good recruitment agency in the UK? Ones that don’t just put up a job advert to farm for CVs. Don’t rag on me, I know how some agencies work, put up a fake job advert to get CVs on the books, with promises of work coming up for nothing to materialise.

Just give me a list and I’ll filter out the ones that offer jobs closest to my skill set.

Word of warning to Agency owners/branch managers, do not spam me with links to your own agency, I will thoroughly research all agencies even those that don’t make my shortlist.

Is there any such thing as a “job for life”? Or is it that your boss is thinking you are comfortable in your role and basically “forgets” that you are there and never offers you promotion.

I could never spend more than 5 years in a company whether I’m promoted or not. I start to get itchy feet after a couple of years or I’d rather become my own boss and do something that I really enjoy or can easily diversify into where ever my interest takes me.

As promised an update to my appointment this morning.

I was there with three other people. It was basically an induction. Introducing us to PeopleServe , how long were going to be on the flexible new deal and how many weeks we will be at their office.

So twenty weeks at their office and in total fifty-two weeks on Stage 1 of the Flexible New Deal. Hopefully I won’t have too long to wait before a job comes along.

My next appointment is on Thursday 29th April at 12.30.

If you don’t already know, I’ve been unemployed for over a year now, which means that I have reached Stage 4 at the Job Centre, which basically means they bring in an external agency to help with my job search.

I have my first appointment this morning with a company called “PeopleServe”, quite handy as they’re almost on the doorstep. I will let you know how I get on.

Shall I just start with a blank canvas and pretend that I haven’t worked for the past 19 years and I’ve been at school all of this time? A 35 year old trapped in the body of a 16 year old.

When you get older the job hunt gets harder. Ah well, onwards and upwards.

I seem to love going to Birmingham and the surrounding towns.

I have an appointment with a recruitment agency based in Sutton Coldfield. I have applied for a Data Entry position, because there are so many applicants for this position, by the time I come to register the position may have been filled.

However they are optomistic they can find me other work. I told the agency on the phone that I’d be willing to work within a 30 mile radius of Stafford, so that will take in all of the major towns/cities in the area.

Wish me luck

Had a bit of a busy day yesterday, went for a job interview, will hear back soon how it went. I can’t wait to start working again, it’ll mean I’ll be able to save for a laptop with a webcam and will able to start videoblogging.