Sick and Tired of Job Searching / Chucked in My Voluntary Work

[essexmat]

Absolutely sick and tired of getting nowhere with the fake jobs and not even getting an answer to applications when following them up. One click applications on CVL for me from now on, sick of wasting my time and continuously getting shafted when putting in effort on jobs I genuinely want.

 

In addition to this, as you know I have two voluntary roles. In one of them I have been doing a job for 6 months now and applied for a part time (18.5 hours) a week role 2 weeks ago as I knew the people, knew the job and they were happy with my work. I had no response so I called central recruitment and was told the position has now been filled - didn't even get an interview even though I was CRB checked, done the job for 6 months, knew the staff, was set up on their systems etc - not even an email from the recruiting manager to let me know so I emailed the person I know there and she apologised for not letting me know sooner. I asked why I was not even selected for interview and she just said "it was filled internally" so in other words a managers son/daughter got it.

 

Anyway, without rabbiting on I said the communication was terrible and I had to chase this myself and that I thought the position was always benchmarked for someone before the ad even went out (which they have to do legally). At this point I thanked them for letting me do some work for them and asked for an up to date reference and said I could not continue with the work I was doing voluntarily whilst someone else works on the IDENTICAL work I am doing and getting paid for it and halfing their work load (part time) whilst I do it for nothing.

 

I appreciate voluntary work but not when I have the p*ss taken out of me. Maybe I am harsh but it is the way I feel and I still have my other role.

 

I do not hold much hope at all of gaining employment that is worthwhile and have all but given up.

[citizenB]

Sorry to hear you had such a rough deal with your voluntary position. Sadly this appears to be the way of the world at the moment

 

It must be very demoralising to not receive, even a "sorry, better luck next time", letter.

[essexmat]

That is just it, simple courtesy, especially when you already know the staff and the job. By no means was I expecting just to be given the job but based on experience and doing the job at the moment the least I expected was an interview. People keep saying "keep going" but after a while seeing the same job on the same websites and getting nowehere you sort of give up and just do the bare minimum to get through JC/WP scrutiny

[pauls33]

Sorry to hear this, it seems that courtesy is a thing of the past now

 

 

I feel similar when I chase up about jobs and gets a response of 'the person dealing with it is out of the office can you call back' or ' the person dealing with it will phone you'

 

 

obviously didn't get the job as get the same response every time you try phone and they never return the call, be nice to be told things instead of having to chase them up

[boomboomboom]

sorry to hear this.

 

i would not be happy the way u got treated first in foremost they should offer the job to someone who has done voluntary work for them esp when you have done 6+months your only getting your benefit so they should be offering u it as u worked for them without them paying u and u have stuck to your voluntary as u could have easily have left but have not.

 

must say gutted for you but these days this is just normal they will take on other people even if the other person has worked for them or put in a lot of effort

[caro]

If people weren't forced to do "voluntary" work there would be more paid work, and if services were properly funded we wouldn't need so many charities and voluntary organisations. The money paid in benefits could be used towards real jobs and giving people their dignity back.

[Chester6]

Also - if companies didn't abuse the schemes then more people could be working

Contacting people who apply just seems like simple courtesy

 

I actually got told by a jobcentre staff member that voluntary is kinda useless as it isn't like a job as shops are old fashioned so I was surprised,

[Madamfluff]

Also - if companies didn't abuse the schemes then more people could be working

Contacting people who apply just seems like simple courtesy

 

I actually got told by a jobcentre staff member that voluntary is kinda useless as it isn't like a job as shops are old fashioned so I was surprised,

 

 

Sorry I totally disagree with this, after being out of work for a year I had to sign off a couple of weeks ago as despite having worked for 43 years my Husbands pension took us over the money that the law allows so I was no ,longer entitled to income based JSA.

 

 

I had more or less given up looking for work at age 59 and in an unemployment blackspot I thought I would never work again.

 

 

However I had been working as an unpaid volunteer in a charity shop and applied for a paid part time charity shop sales assistant hoping that my volunteering work would stand me in good stead, at the interview I was told there was a paid managers position in the same shop and did I want to be interviewed for that instead. Which I did.

 

 

Yesterday afternoon I was offered the managers job and start in a couple of weeks, I would not have got the job if I hadn't had charity shop experience as I had no other retail experience.

 

 

So yes volunteering can lead to paid work

[Chester6]

[/b]

 

 

Sorry I totally disagree with this, after being out of work for a year I had to sign off a couple of weeks ago as despite having worked for 43 years my Husbands pension took us over the money that the law allows so I was no ,longer entitled to income based JSA.

 

 

I had more or less given up looking for work at age 59 and in an unemployment blackspot I thought I would never work again.

 

 

However I had been working as an unpaid volunteer in a charity shop and applied for a paid part time charity shop sales assistant hoping that my volunteering work would stand me in good stead, at the interview I was told there was a paid managers position in the same shop and did I want to be interviewed for that instead. Which I did.

 

 

Yesterday afternoon I was offered the managers job and start in a couple of weeks, I would not have got the job if I hadn't had charity shop experience as I had no other retail experience.

 

 

So yes volunteering can lead to paid work

Nothing to be sorry about

It's good to hear positive experiences

It just does my head in that one minute they send you to volunteer or force you to be there and then they are effectively calling it useless

[SabreSheep]

Sucks to be treated like that.

 

First off, do not give up. First click cv hunting is a bit meh in my opinion if you are generally seeking work.

 

Volunteering helps your cv and keeps gaps down as you already know. But there is another reason for doing it. It keeps you active, It keeps you engaged with other people. It is very easy to give up, do the bare minimum and spiral into a deep depression that furthers your barriers to employment.

 

1) Would you want to work for a company that abuses people the way they have you. I wouldn't so leaving that post I agree with. Find something else, maybe something else you enjoy doing.

 

2) How about adopting some other methods of job searching. I have heard rumors that some companies do not even accept applications from agencies and job center applicants through ujm as the quality of applications is so poor in places. One example might be find a job you like on the sites like UJM and indeed but instead of applying directly through those site, approach the company direct. Sure they may direct you to their own site but in my eyes it shows extra effort over all those filling in simple applications like drones.

 

I know how easy it is to get down being unemployed. I nearly went to where you are now with the whole giving up. But my housemate has hit that point and given up and his life is a waste of time. I dont want to be that person. Luckily things are beginning to look up for me. The fact you have done 2 volonteering roles speaks volumes!!! I think that so far you are a good example to others

[Flagstaff]

That's really bad news Mr Essex. But don't give up hope. I'm sure you'll be perfect for some company that will appreciate your skills and quality. Be careful though, because from what I've read for the long-term unemployed you'll soon be back in a mandated voluntary job anyway or face sanction. It's not fair or morally right, but them's the breaks.

 

I've never understood voluntary work anyway TBH unless you're a rich pensioner wanting to give something back to society. Why would you ever want to do a job for free if you can get paid for it?

 

Probably not what you need to hear right now, but these are strange times.

[Madamfluff]

That's really bad news Mr Essex. But don't give up hope. I'm sure you'll be perfect for some company that will appreciate your skills and quality. Be careful though, because from what I've read for the long-term unemployed you'll soon be back in a mandated voluntary job anyway or face sanction. It's not fair or morally right, but them's the breaks.

I've never understood voluntary work anyway TBH unless you're a rich pensioner wanting to give something back to society. Why would you ever want to do a job for free if you can get paid for it?

Probably not what you need to hear right now, but these are strange times.

 

 

As I said upthread by working for 'free' I got myself a paid position.

 

 

I can assure you as well that the pensioners that I have worked with are not rich, many of them cant start at 9am as they cant afford to use the bus to get to the shop unless they use their bus passes that start at 9.30.

 

 

My new company does not use JSA 'conscripts' but I will be recruiting volunteers in my new shop, If I get a volunteer who is on JSA and wants to get experience to enable them to get a job, I will not be sticking them round the back, steaming clothes and sorting through bags of manky knickers, instead I will have them out the front learning till work, merchandising, health & safety, customer communication etc all the things I learned when working for 'free' that helped get me my new job.

[Flagstaff]

As I said upthread by working for 'free' I got myself a paid position.

 

 

I can assure you as well that the pensioners that I have worked with are not rich, many of them cant start at 9am as they cant afford to use the bus to get to the shop unless they use their bus passes that start at 9.30.

 

 

My new company does not use JSA 'conscripts' but I will be recruiting volunteers in my new shop, If I get a volunteer who is on JSA and wants to get experience to enable them to get a job, I will not be sticking them round the back, steaming clothes and sorting through bags of manky knickers, instead I will have them out the front learning till work, merchandising, health & safety, customer communication etc all the things I learned when working for 'free' that helped get me my new job.

 

Well done. Good for you. (Sorry, didn't mean to threaten you so much with my opinion on enforced volunteering lol)