As I mentioned previously in my C.V. Course aka Gateway post there is a television in a room on the wall in the People1st building in Letterkenny. When I did the C.V. course they had the television tuned into RTE news before the course started which was then hooked up to a laptop to show the slides they had to show. Now most weeks when I walk past the room where the television is when I have to job search the television is turned on and tuned into RTE news when the room is not being used for "Gateway".
Do People1st have a TV licence?
On the AnPost website it says the following under TV Licence General FAQ.
Do you have a television set in your office or business premises?
If you have a television set at your business premises it is your legal obligation to have a valid TV Licence. There is no requirement to have a TV Licence for each set as one TV Licence covers all TV sets at a single premises.You must also have a valid TV Licence even if the television set is just being used for meetings or for training purposes.
http://www.anpost.ie/AnPost/TVLicence/TVLicenceStandard.aspx?NRMODE=Published&NRNODEGUID=%7b0C160E7A-4F62-4357-BC21-7FB999396792%7d&NRORIGINALURL=%2fAnPost%2fMainContent%2fPersonal%2bCustomers%2fMore%2bfrom%2bAn%2bPost%2fTV%2bLicence%2fGeneral%2bTV%2bLicence%2bFAQs%2ehtm&NRCACHEHINT=Guest#busprem
Regardless of whether People1st in Letterkenny have or don't have a TV Licence more importantly do they have an IMRO Dual Music Licence?
Since the 13th of March 2017 there has been a radio sitting on the floor in the People1st building in Letterkenny turned up really loud. There is only one reason I can think of why it is there and why it is on switched on everyday.
This is an attempt to prevent other people from over hearing personal information being given out by either the unemployed people or the job advisers when in actual fact it does the opposite as the job advisers now talk even louder than ever before as they can't hear themselves other wise.
Do People1st/Seetec have an IMRO Dual Music Licence for these public performances?
Some of the radio stations that they have tuned into so far include, Today FM, 2FM and one of the worst radios stations in Ireland, iRadio. As I write this its tuned into Al Porter on Today FM who's as funny as a toothache.
I have posted below some of the faqs that are on the imro website site along with a link to their site.
https://www.imro.ie/faqs/
It’s only staff that listen to the radio / watch TV in the workplace, the general public don’t have access to the business premises so why do I still have to pay for an IMRO Dual Music Licence?
It is irrelevant who in your organisation has access to copyright music via the TV/radio. What is relevant is that the use of music in the workplace is in public and is considered a public performance of the copyright work, because the performance / music use is taking place outside of the domestic environment.
Do I need a licence? All I use is a TV / radio!
Yes you do. All TV and radio broadcasts contain copyright music, hence an IMRO Dual Music Licence is required.. Holding an IMRO Dual Music Licence is a legal requirement if you are using IMRO controlled copyright music in any business or workplace in the Republic of Ireland, including the use of music via TV’s, radios, music systems, PC’s, music in presentations, music on hold, live music, discos, karaoke, etc.
What is meant by “public performance”?
A public performance of copyright music takes place when that music is used anywhere outside of the domestic environment.
The staff bring in their own radio, it doesn’t belong to the company.
Under Sec 37 (2) of the Copyright and Related Rights Act 2000 ‘the copyright in a work is infringed by a person who without the licence of the copyright owner undertakes, or authorises another to undertake’, the public performance of the work. Therefore in effect by allowing staff use their own radio in the workplace, you are, as their employer, authorising the use of music on your premises and you must hold an IMRO Dual Music Licence to allow you and them to do so.
https://www.imro.ie/music-users/which-licence-suits-my-business/factories-offices/
A Dual Music Licence from IMRO is required if you use copyright music as a background to work, meals, breaks, exercise and recreation at workplaces such as offices, factories, canteens or restrooms. A Dual Music Licence applies to performances of copyright music within the repertoire controlled by IMRO & PPI.
This blog is having some sort of effect as not only have they now got a radio on the floor turned up loud to try and give people some kind of privacy but they also since the start of January 2017 have A4 printed sheets on ALL the job advisers desks that read the following "Private room available on upon request"
Obviously People1st/Seetec/ are in a quandary as to how to keep things private concerning people giving out personal information in an open public space, hence the radio playing and A4 sheets on desks informing about a private room.
But the question still reminds, do People1st/Seetec have an IMRO Dual Music Licence?
Friday 21 April 2017
Thursday 23 March 2017
Job Searching Every Week Is A Pointless Exercise
Job searching is a pointless exercise as its the same jobs week in week out that are advertised bar about ten new ones. Some of the jobs are over 29 days old and were ones me and other job seekers would have looked at the week before as well as the month before. Type "jobs Ireland" into google and you will get a list of websites that advertise jobs in Ireland, here are some:
www.jobsireland.ie
www.jobs.ie
www.irishjobs.ie/
ie.indeed.com
www.monster.ie
Now go into any of those sites and type in Donegal or any other part of Ireland you live in and you will see the jobs that are advertised, go into the same sites next week and you will only see about ten new jobs advertised and the rest are all ones you looked at the week before therefore rendering job searching every week for Jobpath a pointless exercise.
Then there is travelling. If an unemployed person lives near their nearest People1st center then they might be able to walk to their nearest center, yet there are others who don't live near their nearest center and have to travel and pay to travel out of their own pocket to job search every week at their nearest People1st building.
Some one living in Lifford their nearest People1st center is Letterkenny
Some one living in Moville their nearest People1st center is Buncrana
Some one living in Gortahork their nearest People1st center is Dungloe
An unemployed person only gets travelling expenses if they have to see their job adviser for a review or if its for the Gateway CV course they have to attend which is compulsory for everyone that is put on jobpath, they don't get travelling expenses when they have to go and job search every week so if they travel from say Lifford then they would have to pay the bus fair themselves every week out of their dole and will only get travelling expenses for the day they see their job adviser. They don't tell you this at the Group session the only thing they do tell you is you will get reimbursed if you drive or if you travel by bus and it has to be a public bus not a private one.
So for the week an unemployed person has to travel to Letterkenny or Buncrana or Dungloe or which ever center is nearest to where they live they have to pay out of their dole the bus fair or fuel for their car if they drive. An unemployed person in receipt of jobseekers allowance or benefit and not on Jobpath (yet) has to sign on every 4 weeks, if the unemployed person lives more then 10 miles from the nearest social welfare office they don't have to travel there every 4 weeks to sign on, If they live over 10 miles from the nearest social welfare local office they only sign on every 12 weeks.
Yet anyone on Jobpath that doesn't live near a People1st center has to travel and pay a bus fair every week or pay for the price of putting extra fuel into a car just to go into a building every week to sit and look at the same jobs that were advertised the week before bar about six to ten new ones.
An unemployed person only gets paid travelling expenses when they have a "review" with their job adviser, so the day they have to see their job adviser they would get reimbursed either their bus fair or if they drive they get a few extra euro. They don't get travelling expenses if they use a private bus or a taxi only if its a public bus or they drive their own car.
I have spoken with other job seekers and they have also told me that they have to pay the bus fair out of their own dole every week and they only get their bus fair paid the day they have to see their job adviser. I know one man who has to drive to his nearest People1st building to job search every week which is 18 miles from where he lives and 18 miles back home again that's 36 miles every week, all he gets is 12 euro towards his fuel and that is only paid if its a day he has to see his job adviser, every week when he has to go into the People1st building to job search he has to pay for the fuel himself, its hard enough for people to run a car in Ireland but to have to drive 36 miles every week to look at the same jobs being advertised is nothing but a disgrace. People1st/Seetec calculate the mileage from google maps. Someone driving a 1 liter car is going to use less miles per gallon than someone driving a 2 liter car yet both get paid the same amount of money for travelling the same distance.
Take for example someone who lives in Lifford, their nearest Jobpath People1st center is Letterkenny which means two things. They take the bus or if they have a car then they drive. If they take a bus but don't live near the bus stop then not only have they to take the bus but might also have to get a taxi to the bus stop which they are not reimbursed for. They are only reimbursed travel expenses if its for a "review" and if they take a public bus or drive. Getting from Lifford to Letterkenny takes about 20 to 30 minutes in a car depending on traffic and slightly longer on a bus.
Therefore with the bus taking about half hour to forty minutes to get to Letterkenny then the person walking from the bus station at the Station roundabout in Letterkeny to the People1st building on Main Street they have wasted about an hour or more just to get there. Then once there they have to spend an hour and a half looking at jobs on a computer before having to make the journey back home again which could take about an hour after leaving the center, that's about an hour just to get there and back then an hour and half job searching which by the way is always the same jobs advertised week in week out bar maybe ten new job adverts so about three hours of wasted time, time that could have been spent looking for real jobs instead of sitting on a bus and sitting there for an half hour or more then having to "job search" an hour and half looking at the same jobs.
As there are so few new jobs being advertised each week it can be very onerous not only in job searching but also applying for jobs as once you apply for a job you can't apply again for the same job and with so few new jobs being advertised it is an arduous activity.
If driving from say Lifford to Letterkenny after getting into the town and hoping there is no traffic jams a person then has to find a parking space. The job searching is for an hour and a half so that rules out the parking spaces on the Main Street as they are only free for a half hour after that its 1 euro per hour so unless a person who drives wants to go out and keep putting money into a parking meter which by the way costs money and for which Jobpath don't reimburse then a driver needs to find a car parking space that will allowed him or her to park for more then an hour.
If a person has their review and lives far away then they might want to do their job searching before or after their review so either way your talking an hour and half then anything from a half hour to 40 minutes for the review so again that's nearly two hours a person is going to spend in the People1st building at any given time.
Jobpath is a bit like giving 20 people €10 and telling them to go into the bookies every week and place bets on horses, after a while one or two people out of that 20 might win something. Jobpath is the same its all about sending C.V.s and spamming employers with said C.V.s and job applications every week in the hope that out of all the C.V.s sent and jobs applied for an employer might give someone a job.
Nothing more then a pointless exercise.
www.jobsireland.ie
www.jobs.ie
www.irishjobs.ie/
ie.indeed.com
www.monster.ie
Now go into any of those sites and type in Donegal or any other part of Ireland you live in and you will see the jobs that are advertised, go into the same sites next week and you will only see about ten new jobs advertised and the rest are all ones you looked at the week before therefore rendering job searching every week for Jobpath a pointless exercise.
Then there is travelling. If an unemployed person lives near their nearest People1st center then they might be able to walk to their nearest center, yet there are others who don't live near their nearest center and have to travel and pay to travel out of their own pocket to job search every week at their nearest People1st building.
Some one living in Lifford their nearest People1st center is Letterkenny
Some one living in Moville their nearest People1st center is Buncrana
Some one living in Gortahork their nearest People1st center is Dungloe
An unemployed person only gets travelling expenses if they have to see their job adviser for a review or if its for the Gateway CV course they have to attend which is compulsory for everyone that is put on jobpath, they don't get travelling expenses when they have to go and job search every week so if they travel from say Lifford then they would have to pay the bus fair themselves every week out of their dole and will only get travelling expenses for the day they see their job adviser. They don't tell you this at the Group session the only thing they do tell you is you will get reimbursed if you drive or if you travel by bus and it has to be a public bus not a private one.
So for the week an unemployed person has to travel to Letterkenny or Buncrana or Dungloe or which ever center is nearest to where they live they have to pay out of their dole the bus fair or fuel for their car if they drive. An unemployed person in receipt of jobseekers allowance or benefit and not on Jobpath (yet) has to sign on every 4 weeks, if the unemployed person lives more then 10 miles from the nearest social welfare office they don't have to travel there every 4 weeks to sign on, If they live over 10 miles from the nearest social welfare local office they only sign on every 12 weeks.
Yet anyone on Jobpath that doesn't live near a People1st center has to travel and pay a bus fair every week or pay for the price of putting extra fuel into a car just to go into a building every week to sit and look at the same jobs that were advertised the week before bar about six to ten new ones.
An unemployed person only gets paid travelling expenses when they have a "review" with their job adviser, so the day they have to see their job adviser they would get reimbursed either their bus fair or if they drive they get a few extra euro. They don't get travelling expenses if they use a private bus or a taxi only if its a public bus or they drive their own car.
I have spoken with other job seekers and they have also told me that they have to pay the bus fair out of their own dole every week and they only get their bus fair paid the day they have to see their job adviser. I know one man who has to drive to his nearest People1st building to job search every week which is 18 miles from where he lives and 18 miles back home again that's 36 miles every week, all he gets is 12 euro towards his fuel and that is only paid if its a day he has to see his job adviser, every week when he has to go into the People1st building to job search he has to pay for the fuel himself, its hard enough for people to run a car in Ireland but to have to drive 36 miles every week to look at the same jobs being advertised is nothing but a disgrace. People1st/Seetec calculate the mileage from google maps. Someone driving a 1 liter car is going to use less miles per gallon than someone driving a 2 liter car yet both get paid the same amount of money for travelling the same distance.
Take for example someone who lives in Lifford, their nearest Jobpath People1st center is Letterkenny which means two things. They take the bus or if they have a car then they drive. If they take a bus but don't live near the bus stop then not only have they to take the bus but might also have to get a taxi to the bus stop which they are not reimbursed for. They are only reimbursed travel expenses if its for a "review" and if they take a public bus or drive. Getting from Lifford to Letterkenny takes about 20 to 30 minutes in a car depending on traffic and slightly longer on a bus.
Therefore with the bus taking about half hour to forty minutes to get to Letterkenny then the person walking from the bus station at the Station roundabout in Letterkeny to the People1st building on Main Street they have wasted about an hour or more just to get there. Then once there they have to spend an hour and a half looking at jobs on a computer before having to make the journey back home again which could take about an hour after leaving the center, that's about an hour just to get there and back then an hour and half job searching which by the way is always the same jobs advertised week in week out bar maybe ten new job adverts so about three hours of wasted time, time that could have been spent looking for real jobs instead of sitting on a bus and sitting there for an half hour or more then having to "job search" an hour and half looking at the same jobs.
As there are so few new jobs being advertised each week it can be very onerous not only in job searching but also applying for jobs as once you apply for a job you can't apply again for the same job and with so few new jobs being advertised it is an arduous activity.
If driving from say Lifford to Letterkenny after getting into the town and hoping there is no traffic jams a person then has to find a parking space. The job searching is for an hour and a half so that rules out the parking spaces on the Main Street as they are only free for a half hour after that its 1 euro per hour so unless a person who drives wants to go out and keep putting money into a parking meter which by the way costs money and for which Jobpath don't reimburse then a driver needs to find a car parking space that will allowed him or her to park for more then an hour.
If a person has their review and lives far away then they might want to do their job searching before or after their review so either way your talking an hour and half then anything from a half hour to 40 minutes for the review so again that's nearly two hours a person is going to spend in the People1st building at any given time.
Jobpath is a bit like giving 20 people €10 and telling them to go into the bookies every week and place bets on horses, after a while one or two people out of that 20 might win something. Jobpath is the same its all about sending C.V.s and spamming employers with said C.V.s and job applications every week in the hope that out of all the C.V.s sent and jobs applied for an employer might give someone a job.
Nothing more then a pointless exercise.
Tuesday 7 March 2017
Seventh Review
For my seventh review my job adviser had told me that she had gotten word back from the place where she had sent my C.V. and told me that they are not looking for anyone at this time but if any positions came up either she or they would contact me as they have my details and C.V.
She told me that she had also contacted the other place where I am interested in working to see if she can get me work experience and that she spoke to the same person I had spoken to who told my job adviser that at the minute they can't take on any more people for work experience but that my name was on the list and as soon as an opening came up she would let me know. My job adviser told me it could be around or after Easter before I could get the call for work experience but that I was on the list so there was nothing more to do but wait.
I told my job adviser about another job I was interested in doing and she had a look to see if she could help get me a job in that area. She had a look at the website for the job I was interested in and sent me the link to my email address and told me to contact them to ask if there were looking for any workers and to send my C.V. to them. She also said she would contact them herself to ask if there were any job vacancies available and to see what she could do to help in that regards.
She told me it I was 26 weeks on Jobpath and that I would need to take the online skills assessment survey again. As I have mentioned before this it is a Likery scale which is a psychometric scale that is a psychological measurement. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Likert_scale
This involves multiple choice questions and you tick one of the boxes that say, strongly agree, agree, disagree, strongly disagree before moving onto the next question, there are five questions per page and after you answered the questions on the page you were on you click save before then clicking next and moving onto the next set of questions. The survey is only about 5 minutes long and there is about 20 questions.
After I had finished she had a look on her computer to compare the survey I had done the first day I started Jobpath as well as the last survey I did to see if there was any difference in the results.
She then typed up my review and then digitally signed her initials on my review on her computer and I had to do the same by moving the computer mouse and signing my initials on screen after which she then printed out my review and handed me a copy to take with me.
Before it was time to go she made another appointment for my next review and give me her card with the time and date of my next review and we said out goodbyes and I left.
This Likery scale survey takes place on the first day an unemployed person starts Jobpath, the surveys then takes place at 13 weeks, 26, weeks, 39 weeks and 52 weeks.
Below is copied and pasted from the Kildarestreet.com link at bottom of page.
JobPath is a “payment by results” model. An initial fee will be paid on the production of a personal progression plan for each client; subsequent "sustainment" payments, which will make up about 90% of the total fees for any individual client, will only be made where a person completes 13, 26, 39 and 52 weeks of sustained employment. The fees paid to contractors are tiered based on unemployment durations such that contractors are incentivised to provide an equal level of service to all clients rather than focus their attentions on the clients who are easier to place. In addition, contractors will be required, under contract, to commit to a specific level of progression to employment across all clients. Fees paid to contractors are also subject to a number of controls, including retention fees and automatic price discounts. Retention fees, which reduce the level of payments to contractors, apply if contractors fail to meet contractual performance commitments and-or if they do not deliver a satisfactory level of customer service as measured by the Department in independent customer surveys.
https://www.kildarestreet.com/committees/?id=2014-10-15a.5
She told me that she had also contacted the other place where I am interested in working to see if she can get me work experience and that she spoke to the same person I had spoken to who told my job adviser that at the minute they can't take on any more people for work experience but that my name was on the list and as soon as an opening came up she would let me know. My job adviser told me it could be around or after Easter before I could get the call for work experience but that I was on the list so there was nothing more to do but wait.
I told my job adviser about another job I was interested in doing and she had a look to see if she could help get me a job in that area. She had a look at the website for the job I was interested in and sent me the link to my email address and told me to contact them to ask if there were looking for any workers and to send my C.V. to them. She also said she would contact them herself to ask if there were any job vacancies available and to see what she could do to help in that regards.
She told me it I was 26 weeks on Jobpath and that I would need to take the online skills assessment survey again. As I have mentioned before this it is a Likery scale which is a psychometric scale that is a psychological measurement. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Likert_scale
This involves multiple choice questions and you tick one of the boxes that say, strongly agree, agree, disagree, strongly disagree before moving onto the next question, there are five questions per page and after you answered the questions on the page you were on you click save before then clicking next and moving onto the next set of questions. The survey is only about 5 minutes long and there is about 20 questions.
After I had finished she had a look on her computer to compare the survey I had done the first day I started Jobpath as well as the last survey I did to see if there was any difference in the results.
She then typed up my review and then digitally signed her initials on my review on her computer and I had to do the same by moving the computer mouse and signing my initials on screen after which she then printed out my review and handed me a copy to take with me.
Before it was time to go she made another appointment for my next review and give me her card with the time and date of my next review and we said out goodbyes and I left.
This Likery scale survey takes place on the first day an unemployed person starts Jobpath, the surveys then takes place at 13 weeks, 26, weeks, 39 weeks and 52 weeks.
Below is copied and pasted from the Kildarestreet.com link at bottom of page.
JobPath is a “payment by results” model. An initial fee will be paid on the production of a personal progression plan for each client; subsequent "sustainment" payments, which will make up about 90% of the total fees for any individual client, will only be made where a person completes 13, 26, 39 and 52 weeks of sustained employment. The fees paid to contractors are tiered based on unemployment durations such that contractors are incentivised to provide an equal level of service to all clients rather than focus their attentions on the clients who are easier to place. In addition, contractors will be required, under contract, to commit to a specific level of progression to employment across all clients. Fees paid to contractors are also subject to a number of controls, including retention fees and automatic price discounts. Retention fees, which reduce the level of payments to contractors, apply if contractors fail to meet contractual performance commitments and-or if they do not deliver a satisfactory level of customer service as measured by the Department in independent customer surveys.
https://www.kildarestreet.com/committees/?id=2014-10-15a.5
Friday 24 February 2017
Tuesday 21 February 2017
Sixth Review
My sixth review was my first review for 2017 and a rather short one. After wishing my a Happy New Year, my job adviser told me that she had contacted the place where she had sent my C.V. and that she had contacted them again and was waiting on a reply back from them. She also said she would contact the other place I wanted to work at to see if she could get me work experience in that area. She made another appointment for my next review and give me her card with the next time and date of my next review and we said our goodbyes once more and I walked to the reception and signed out before walking down the stairs of the tower of misery.
Wednesday 1 February 2017
Seetec Job Adviser Jobs Advertised €27,000.00 to €32,000.00 per year
There were job adviser jobs advertised for Letterkenny, Galway and Dundalk to name but a few.
As I said many times before on this blog the job advisers that work in Jobpath are nothing more than sales people. Some of the key responsibilities that were advertised in these jobs were.
In the Galway ad for an Employment Advisor, "Experience of working in a target orientated environment with a demonstrable track record of achieving and beating targets." In the Letterkenny ad is says "Experience of working in a target orientated environment with a demonstrable track record of achieving targets." That says it all really. It also says "Minimum of one-year experience in a recruitment, sales, training and or/customer facing role."
As a mater of fact the job advertisement in Galway for an "Irish Employment Adviser" had the following highlighted in black.
Minimum of one-year experience in a recruitment, sales, training and /or customer facing role and experience of working in a target orientated environment with a demonstrable track record of achieving and beating targets.
Note it says "track record of achieving and beating targets."
Screen shot of the Galway ad here & link to the job advert. https://ie.indeed.com/cmp/CPL-Galway/jobs/Irish-Employment-Advisor-28c44f685e498b0e?q=Employment+Advisor
It also says Salary €27,000.00 to €32,000.00 /year that works out about €600 a week for a 40 hour week!! The job advisers only work Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm but yet the unemployed are being forced into low paid minimum wage jobs that only pay about €330 after tax and most are more than 40 hours a week and even then a person would not even get €400 a week.
If the job advisers are getting this kind of money then what kind of money are the managers on and who seem do nothing besides walk from one room to the next and stand here and stand there talking to people. A bit like the Richie Kavanagh song Up The Road where he sings about the Council men in their vans "They go up the road and down the road over the road and back the road An never touch no part of the road at all"
The fact that Seetec are looking for people that have experience of working in a target orientated environment with a demonstrable track record of achieving targets does not surprise me one bit as most of the people that work for Jobpath worked as managers or in sales in their previous jobs and some even worked both as a manager and in sales.
If you go into Linkedin https://ie.linkedin.com/ and type into the search box, People1st, Seetec, or Tuus, Jobpath, you will see a lot of the people who now work for Jobpath, that in their previous jobs that most have worked in either sales or were a manager and that some even worked in both sales and managing and now they are working for Jobpath. You can also register for free on the Linkedin website and browse if you so wish. All this information is there in the public domain and can be viewed by anyone.
Why do these job adviser jobs being advertised need people to have experience in sales and meeting targets?
Screen shots of the job adviser adverts and any still active links.
Letterkenny job adviser job. https://ie.indeed.com/cmp/People-1st-Employment-and-Skills/jobs/Employment-Advisor-53a2c307dba28dc7
Laois
Dundalk
In the ad above its says "Seetec is an equal opportunities employer and positively encourages applications from suitably qualified and eligible candidates regardless of sex, race, disability, age, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, religion or belief, marital status, or pregnancy and maternity."
It's a pity its not an equal opportunities employer when it comes to the treatment of the unemployed!! Again the Salary for this one is the same as the Galway ad at €27,200 - 32,000 pa.
I notice in the job advert description it doesn't mention anything about having a lack of empathy
Wicklow https://www.recruitireland.com/job/personal-advisers-wicklow-town/15190980/
Cork https://www.recruitireland.com/job/personal-advisers-west-cork-various/15190684/
Ennis Co. Claire https://www.recruitireland.com/job/personal-advisers-ennis/15186275/
As I said many times before on this blog the job advisers that work in Jobpath are nothing more than sales people. Some of the key responsibilities that were advertised in these jobs were.
- Manage a caseload of clients, reviewing their progress towards employment and maintaining engagement in order to achieve personal and team targets.
- Minimum of one-year experience in a recruitment, sales, training and /or customer facing role
- Experience of working in a target orientated environment with a demonstrable track record of achieving targets.
In the Galway ad for an Employment Advisor, "Experience of working in a target orientated environment with a demonstrable track record of achieving and beating targets." In the Letterkenny ad is says "Experience of working in a target orientated environment with a demonstrable track record of achieving targets." That says it all really. It also says "Minimum of one-year experience in a recruitment, sales, training and or/customer facing role."
As a mater of fact the job advertisement in Galway for an "Irish Employment Adviser" had the following highlighted in black.
Minimum of one-year experience in a recruitment, sales, training and /or customer facing role and experience of working in a target orientated environment with a demonstrable track record of achieving and beating targets.
Note it says "track record of achieving and beating targets."
Screen shot of the Galway ad here & link to the job advert. https://ie.indeed.com/cmp/CPL-Galway/jobs/Irish-Employment-Advisor-28c44f685e498b0e?q=Employment+Advisor
It also says Salary €27,000.00 to €32,000.00 /year that works out about €600 a week for a 40 hour week!! The job advisers only work Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm but yet the unemployed are being forced into low paid minimum wage jobs that only pay about €330 after tax and most are more than 40 hours a week and even then a person would not even get €400 a week.
If the job advisers are getting this kind of money then what kind of money are the managers on and who seem do nothing besides walk from one room to the next and stand here and stand there talking to people. A bit like the Richie Kavanagh song Up The Road where he sings about the Council men in their vans "They go up the road and down the road over the road and back the road An never touch no part of the road at all"
The fact that Seetec are looking for people that have experience of working in a target orientated environment with a demonstrable track record of achieving targets does not surprise me one bit as most of the people that work for Jobpath worked as managers or in sales in their previous jobs and some even worked both as a manager and in sales.
If you go into Linkedin https://ie.linkedin.com/ and type into the search box, People1st, Seetec, or Tuus, Jobpath, you will see a lot of the people who now work for Jobpath, that in their previous jobs that most have worked in either sales or were a manager and that some even worked in both sales and managing and now they are working for Jobpath. You can also register for free on the Linkedin website and browse if you so wish. All this information is there in the public domain and can be viewed by anyone.
Why do these job adviser jobs being advertised need people to have experience in sales and meeting targets?
Screen shots of the job adviser adverts and any still active links.
Letterkenny job adviser job. https://ie.indeed.com/cmp/People-1st-Employment-and-Skills/jobs/Employment-Advisor-53a2c307dba28dc7
Laois
Dundalk
It's a pity its not an equal opportunities employer when it comes to the treatment of the unemployed!! Again the Salary for this one is the same as the Galway ad at €27,200 - 32,000 pa.
I notice in the job advert description it doesn't mention anything about having a lack of empathy
Wicklow https://www.recruitireland.com/job/personal-advisers-wicklow-town/15190980/
Cork https://www.recruitireland.com/job/personal-advisers-west-cork-various/15190684/
Ennis Co. Claire https://www.recruitireland.com/job/personal-advisers-ennis/15186275/
Monday 16 January 2017
Fifth Review
I had my fifth review the week coming up to Christmas.
After I had signed my name in the tower of misery sign in book I made my way to my job advisers desk. She checked my C.V. on the C.V. builder to make sure I had updated it. She asked me if there were any jobs during my job searching that I had found interesting, I was very tempted to tell her about how there was a job advertised for a job adviser in the Letterkenny People1st building, which I will write about next month. In the end I told her there wasn't any jobs advertised that suited me which was true. All there seemed to be were manager type jobs, or nursing and the like.
She told me how in the job where she had sent my C.V. that they might be looking for workers but it would be after Christmas and that she would contact them again to see if there were any further updates on the job front.
She asked again about the other type of job that I was interested in and I told her that I didn't think I would get work in that area and that I should just look for a normal job. She was very helpful in trying to get me work experience in what I wanted to work at and said that she would contact them again after the New Year to see if she could get me work experience in that area and also the other job I was interested in doing that she had sent my C.V. to and would contact them also again in the New Year.
I got another appointment for the New Year and we wished each other a Happy Christmas and New Year and I make my way out of the tower of misery glad that I wouldn't have to set foot in it again for over two weeks.
After I had signed my name in the tower of misery sign in book I made my way to my job advisers desk. She checked my C.V. on the C.V. builder to make sure I had updated it. She asked me if there were any jobs during my job searching that I had found interesting, I was very tempted to tell her about how there was a job advertised for a job adviser in the Letterkenny People1st building, which I will write about next month. In the end I told her there wasn't any jobs advertised that suited me which was true. All there seemed to be were manager type jobs, or nursing and the like.
She told me how in the job where she had sent my C.V. that they might be looking for workers but it would be after Christmas and that she would contact them again to see if there were any further updates on the job front.
She asked again about the other type of job that I was interested in and I told her that I didn't think I would get work in that area and that I should just look for a normal job. She was very helpful in trying to get me work experience in what I wanted to work at and said that she would contact them again after the New Year to see if she could get me work experience in that area and also the other job I was interested in doing that she had sent my C.V. to and would contact them also again in the New Year.
I got another appointment for the New Year and we wished each other a Happy Christmas and New Year and I make my way out of the tower of misery glad that I wouldn't have to set foot in it again for over two weeks.
Tuesday 10 January 2017
Man On Jobpath Got His Dole Cut Two Weeks Before Christmas
I was speaking to a man who is also on Jobpath and he was telling me about another man he knows who got his dole cut. I will tell you what he told me.
An unemployed man on Jobpath in Letterkenny said he wanted a painting job as he is a painter by trade. His job adviser in People1st rang him up one day and told him there was a painting job in Omagh Northern Ireland and could she send in his C.V. He said yes as he thought he wasn't going to get the job so what was the harm in sending in his C.V. A day of two later she rang him back up and told him that he had got the job, he asked her how could he have gotten the job when he never even had an interview and that it would not pay him to go to Omagh everyday from Letterkenny, that he was not refusing a job but that he wanted one within 10 miles of Letterkeny. His job adviser never said anything to him and when he went to get his dole at the Post Office the following week he found that his dole was cut. He never so much as got a letter to say his dole was being cut, the first he knew about it was when he went to collect his dole at the Post Office. This was two weeks before Christmas and a man that has a wife and children.
When he went to the Social Welfare Office they told him his money was cut as he refused to take a job that his job adviser on Jobpath had got him. The person in the Social Welfare Office told him he would have to appeal the decision and to give his version of events. The person also asked him if he had got his Christmas bonus and he told her he had got it the week before and the person in the Social Welfare Office told him "That will keep you going until you appeal this outcome" it would be funny if it wasn't true. I think someone should make an Irish version of the British film I, Daniel Blake
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5168192/
Letterkenny to Omagh is a over an hours drive, an unemployed person would need to be getting about €600 a week the same as a job adviser gets after tax for the job to pay and be better off. A job at the minimum wage traveling that sort of distance every day would not take an unemployed person above the poverty line, not to mention paying taxes in Northern Ireland which is the UK and with the Brexit coming up there could be job losses in Northern Ireland. To work in Northern Ireland you also need to have a National Insurance (NI) number to work.
Also if you live in the Republic and work in Northern Ireland and you loss your job there are special rules for frontier/cross border workers with regards to claiming Jobseeker Benefits. http://borderpeople.info/a-z/jobseeker-benefits.html
When the man was finished in the Social Welfare Office filling in the form giving his version of events, he then went to the local Community Social Welfare Officer that week to see if he could get money so that he could feed his family a week before Christmas.
All this was done so that the job adviser at People1st working on behalf of Seetec can meet targets which they have to meet or else they don't get their bonus so forced the man into a job that was over an hours drive and expected him to drive there and back every day. When he refused the job on the grounds that it would not pay for him to travel there and back everyday, she reported him to Social Welfare who then cut his dole two weeks before Christmas. As I said before to be a job adviser you to have a lack of empathy and a black soul with a narcissistic personality and by doing the above only further proves that statement. How these people can sleep at night is a mystery.
http://www.peoplebeforeprofit.ie/2016/05/fit-for-work-targets-sick-and-disabled/
It looks like Seetec are doing the same here in Ireland as they already do in the UK https://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/nov/05/work-programme-adviser-box-ticking-sanctioning-sick-people and that is cut jobseekers money for jobs that are either too far way to travel to or jobs the jobseeker knows they would not be suitable for but their job adviser thinks they are suitable for as they have targets that have to be met and any job will do the jobseeker which defeats the whole propose of trying to get a long time jobseeker into a suitable job and making sure its suitable and is something the jobseeker wants to do so that they stay in that job as other wise its just a waste of time and the jobseeker will end up unemployed again which is what mostly happens in the UK, that is if they can even get them a job. UK back to work programmes had found jobs for only about one in nine (11 per cent) claimants of the out-of-work disability benefit, employment and support allowance (ESA), compared to its original “expectation” of 22 per cent
http://www.disabledgo.com/blog/2014/11/work-programme-failure-to-help-disabled-people-is-a-scandal/
Any unemployed person that is on Jobpath has more experience then all of these job advisers and managers at being unemployed How many job advisers and managers that work for Seetec/Turas Nua/People1st have been unemployed?
So a job adviser gets a unemployed person a job without getting an interview for said job.
The unemployed person isn't told the hours, pay, or how many days they would have to work yet are expected to take the job and if not they get their dole cut. Its just like Velma* said at "Gateway" if we get you a job and you don't take it then..."
The employer doesn't interview the jobseeker so how do they know the person is suitable for the job, its OK for the job adviser to say they are suitable as they are nothing more than a sales person and most don't care if the jobseeker is suitable for the job or not they just care about meeting their targets.
Any employer who takes on a jobseeker without even interviewing them is in my opinion an employer who does not care about their employees and will employ anyone and everyone regardless if they are suitable for the job or not.
I know some job advisers are telling employers about Jobplus which is where the employer gets €10,000 euro from the Irish Government for taking on a long term unemployed person and €7,500 if the person has been unemployed for more than 12 but less than 24 months not to mention the job adviser getting their bonus.
The Department of Social Protection pays the incentive to the employer monthly in arrears over a 2-year period. It provides 2 levels of regular cash payments:
A payment of €7,500 for each person recruited who has been unemployed for more than 12 but less than 24 months.
A payment of €10,000 for each person recruited who has been unemployed for more than 24 months or more.
See link for JobsPlus below
http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/employment/unemployment_and_redundancy/employment_support_schemes/jobsplus.html
The only thing that matters is that targets have to be met and unemployment figures have to be massaged by putting unemployed people on Jobpath.
Not their real names*
An unemployed man on Jobpath in Letterkenny said he wanted a painting job as he is a painter by trade. His job adviser in People1st rang him up one day and told him there was a painting job in Omagh Northern Ireland and could she send in his C.V. He said yes as he thought he wasn't going to get the job so what was the harm in sending in his C.V. A day of two later she rang him back up and told him that he had got the job, he asked her how could he have gotten the job when he never even had an interview and that it would not pay him to go to Omagh everyday from Letterkenny, that he was not refusing a job but that he wanted one within 10 miles of Letterkeny. His job adviser never said anything to him and when he went to get his dole at the Post Office the following week he found that his dole was cut. He never so much as got a letter to say his dole was being cut, the first he knew about it was when he went to collect his dole at the Post Office. This was two weeks before Christmas and a man that has a wife and children.
When he went to the Social Welfare Office they told him his money was cut as he refused to take a job that his job adviser on Jobpath had got him. The person in the Social Welfare Office told him he would have to appeal the decision and to give his version of events. The person also asked him if he had got his Christmas bonus and he told her he had got it the week before and the person in the Social Welfare Office told him "That will keep you going until you appeal this outcome" it would be funny if it wasn't true. I think someone should make an Irish version of the British film I, Daniel Blake
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5168192/
Letterkenny to Omagh is a over an hours drive, an unemployed person would need to be getting about €600 a week the same as a job adviser gets after tax for the job to pay and be better off. A job at the minimum wage traveling that sort of distance every day would not take an unemployed person above the poverty line, not to mention paying taxes in Northern Ireland which is the UK and with the Brexit coming up there could be job losses in Northern Ireland. To work in Northern Ireland you also need to have a National Insurance (NI) number to work.
Also if you live in the Republic and work in Northern Ireland and you loss your job there are special rules for frontier/cross border workers with regards to claiming Jobseeker Benefits. http://borderpeople.info/a-z/jobseeker-benefits.html
When the man was finished in the Social Welfare Office filling in the form giving his version of events, he then went to the local Community Social Welfare Officer that week to see if he could get money so that he could feed his family a week before Christmas.
All this was done so that the job adviser at People1st working on behalf of Seetec can meet targets which they have to meet or else they don't get their bonus so forced the man into a job that was over an hours drive and expected him to drive there and back every day. When he refused the job on the grounds that it would not pay for him to travel there and back everyday, she reported him to Social Welfare who then cut his dole two weeks before Christmas. As I said before to be a job adviser you to have a lack of empathy and a black soul with a narcissistic personality and by doing the above only further proves that statement. How these people can sleep at night is a mystery.
http://www.peoplebeforeprofit.ie/2016/05/fit-for-work-targets-sick-and-disabled/
It looks like Seetec are doing the same here in Ireland as they already do in the UK https://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/nov/05/work-programme-adviser-box-ticking-sanctioning-sick-people and that is cut jobseekers money for jobs that are either too far way to travel to or jobs the jobseeker knows they would not be suitable for but their job adviser thinks they are suitable for as they have targets that have to be met and any job will do the jobseeker which defeats the whole propose of trying to get a long time jobseeker into a suitable job and making sure its suitable and is something the jobseeker wants to do so that they stay in that job as other wise its just a waste of time and the jobseeker will end up unemployed again which is what mostly happens in the UK, that is if they can even get them a job. UK back to work programmes had found jobs for only about one in nine (11 per cent) claimants of the out-of-work disability benefit, employment and support allowance (ESA), compared to its original “expectation” of 22 per cent
http://www.disabledgo.com/blog/2014/11/work-programme-failure-to-help-disabled-people-is-a-scandal/
Any unemployed person that is on Jobpath has more experience then all of these job advisers and managers at being unemployed How many job advisers and managers that work for Seetec/Turas Nua/People1st have been unemployed?
So a job adviser gets a unemployed person a job without getting an interview for said job.
The unemployed person isn't told the hours, pay, or how many days they would have to work yet are expected to take the job and if not they get their dole cut. Its just like Velma* said at "Gateway" if we get you a job and you don't take it then..."
The employer doesn't interview the jobseeker so how do they know the person is suitable for the job, its OK for the job adviser to say they are suitable as they are nothing more than a sales person and most don't care if the jobseeker is suitable for the job or not they just care about meeting their targets.
Any employer who takes on a jobseeker without even interviewing them is in my opinion an employer who does not care about their employees and will employ anyone and everyone regardless if they are suitable for the job or not.
I know some job advisers are telling employers about Jobplus which is where the employer gets €10,000 euro from the Irish Government for taking on a long term unemployed person and €7,500 if the person has been unemployed for more than 12 but less than 24 months not to mention the job adviser getting their bonus.
The Department of Social Protection pays the incentive to the employer monthly in arrears over a 2-year period. It provides 2 levels of regular cash payments:
A payment of €7,500 for each person recruited who has been unemployed for more than 12 but less than 24 months.
A payment of €10,000 for each person recruited who has been unemployed for more than 24 months or more.
See link for JobsPlus below
http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/employment/unemployment_and_redundancy/employment_support_schemes/jobsplus.html
The only thing that matters is that targets have to be met and unemployment figures have to be massaged by putting unemployed people on Jobpath.
Not their real names*
Fourth Review
Once I had signed in I waited a minute or two then I was greeted by my job adviser and we walked to her desk. I sat down and she then asked for my login number and date of birth and then logged into my profile on her computer.
She then checked to make sure I had updated my C.V. on the C.V. builder. She told me to amend my C.V. for the type of work I'm interested in doing and do have a normal C.V. for sending to jobs so in effect I would have two C.V.s. One for the type of work I'm interested in and the other for everyday type of jobs.
I was asked what else I wanted to work at, I told her and said she would see if she could get me a job at the other thing I was interested in. Told to keep up my job searching and got another appointment for three weeks time and then it was time to go.
She then checked to make sure I had updated my C.V. on the C.V. builder. She told me to amend my C.V. for the type of work I'm interested in doing and do have a normal C.V. for sending to jobs so in effect I would have two C.V.s. One for the type of work I'm interested in and the other for everyday type of jobs.
I was asked what else I wanted to work at, I told her and said she would see if she could get me a job at the other thing I was interested in. Told to keep up my job searching and got another appointment for three weeks time and then it was time to go.
Monday 9 January 2017
Third Review
I walked up the flights of stairs to the top of the tower of misery for my third review. After signing into the tower of misery sign in book I took a seat and waited for my job adviser. After a few minutes of waiting she greeted me with a hello and a smile and we walked to her desk. Once there she looked up my profile on her computer to check how I was getting on.
She told me it was my quarter review and that I would need to take the online skills assessment survey again. As I have mentioned before this it is a Likery scale which is a psychometric scale that is a psychological measurement. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Likert_scale
This involves multiple choice questions and you tick one of the boxes that say, strongly agree, agree, disagree, strongly disagree before moving onto the next question, there are five questions per page and after you answered the questions on the page you were on you click save before then clicking next and moving onto the next set of questions. The survey is only about 5 minutes long and there is about 20 questions.
After I had finished she had a look on her computer to compare the survey I had done the first day I started Jobpath to see if there was any difference, there was seeing as I clicked strongly disagree on only one question and clicked agree on all the rest. As I said before the survey is nothing more than a tick boxing exercise.
She then typed up my review and then digitally signed her initials on my review on her computer and I had to do the same by moving the computer mouse and signing my initials on screen after which she then printed out my review and handed me a copy to take with me.
She told me to I had to update my C.V. in the Seetec C.V. builder for the next time. I then got the time and date for my next review and we said our goodbyes until the next review.
She told me it was my quarter review and that I would need to take the online skills assessment survey again. As I have mentioned before this it is a Likery scale which is a psychometric scale that is a psychological measurement. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Likert_scale
This involves multiple choice questions and you tick one of the boxes that say, strongly agree, agree, disagree, strongly disagree before moving onto the next question, there are five questions per page and after you answered the questions on the page you were on you click save before then clicking next and moving onto the next set of questions. The survey is only about 5 minutes long and there is about 20 questions.
After I had finished she had a look on her computer to compare the survey I had done the first day I started Jobpath to see if there was any difference, there was seeing as I clicked strongly disagree on only one question and clicked agree on all the rest. As I said before the survey is nothing more than a tick boxing exercise.
She then typed up my review and then digitally signed her initials on my review on her computer and I had to do the same by moving the computer mouse and signing my initials on screen after which she then printed out my review and handed me a copy to take with me.
She told me to I had to update my C.V. in the Seetec C.V. builder for the next time. I then got the time and date for my next review and we said our goodbyes until the next review.
Wanted: Job advisers, manager or sales experince an advantage, apply within.
If there is one thing I have noticed since I started Jobpath is how target driven Jobpath is.
Most of the job advisers, actually about 99% of them, have had jobs as managers or sales experience in their previous jobs and most have had both a manager type role and worked in sales, so I ask the question what would they know about being unemployed or the needs of unemployed people? All the unemployed people are to these job advisers are just another number and potential sales target.
Have any of these job advisers any experience at being unemployed? If not then that makes their "clients" as they call them, more experienced at their job than they are. Of course the job advisers would disagree with this statement as they are after all sales people that think they can and will meet these so called targets.
They are deluding themselves if they think they can make that a reality. Panic, fear, anxiety, dread, trepidation, distress, despair, breaking out in a cold sweat are all words and feelings a job adviser feels when one of their "clients" fails to gain employment. The only advice as an unemployed person I can give the job advisers is get used to these feelings.
The one thing all these job advisers fail to recognize is that its the unemployed people that is keeping them in jobs. If there were no unemployed people these job advisers would not have a job working for a private company that is government funded and contracted to exploit unemployed people. Most of the job advisers working for Jobpath/Seetec/People1st have no empathy what so ever and I wouldn't be surprised if they had black souls to match their lack of empathy.
The unspoken needs of many outweigh the needs of the few. The many being the unemployed and the few being Jobpath.
Most of the job advisers, actually about 99% of them, have had jobs as managers or sales experience in their previous jobs and most have had both a manager type role and worked in sales, so I ask the question what would they know about being unemployed or the needs of unemployed people? All the unemployed people are to these job advisers are just another number and potential sales target.
Have any of these job advisers any experience at being unemployed? If not then that makes their "clients" as they call them, more experienced at their job than they are. Of course the job advisers would disagree with this statement as they are after all sales people that think they can and will meet these so called targets.
They are deluding themselves if they think they can make that a reality. Panic, fear, anxiety, dread, trepidation, distress, despair, breaking out in a cold sweat are all words and feelings a job adviser feels when one of their "clients" fails to gain employment. The only advice as an unemployed person I can give the job advisers is get used to these feelings.
The one thing all these job advisers fail to recognize is that its the unemployed people that is keeping them in jobs. If there were no unemployed people these job advisers would not have a job working for a private company that is government funded and contracted to exploit unemployed people. Most of the job advisers working for Jobpath/Seetec/People1st have no empathy what so ever and I wouldn't be surprised if they had black souls to match their lack of empathy.
The unspoken needs of many outweigh the needs of the few. The many being the unemployed and the few being Jobpath.
Thursday 5 January 2017
Second Review
I had my second review. It was more or less the same as the first review. My job adviser asked how my job searching was going and did I look into getting work experience in the type of work I wanted to do. I told my job adviser I had asked for work experience in the business establishment that specializes in the type of work that I am interested in doing and they said to me they are not taking on anyone for work experience at the minute but they would keep me in mind and I also told my job adviser the name of the person I spoke to if she wanted to check. She updated what I had told her into her computer. She then looked up on her computer the type of work I was looking for and sent a few links to my email address to check out.
She asked me if there was anything else I wanted to work at as what I wanted to work at it was not going to be easy to get a job in that type of work and I had to be realistic about looking for other types of jobs. She told me "Your on the programme now 8 weeks" Its actually 7 weeks I'm on it, and that my next review will be my quarter. She told me to keep up my job searching and made another appointment for my next review and to check out the links she sent to my email address. We said our good byes and I made my way out of the tower of misery and back out into the lovely fresh cool air and enjoyed my freedom once more until the following week when it would be time for job searching once again.
One thing I have noticed so far while on Jobpath is that it seems to be mostly older people on Jobpath. People in their 30s, 40s, and 50s, there are more people in their 50's than any other age group on Jobpath in Letterkenny. I have seen one man who didn't look too far off the age of 60, can I ask who is going to give him a job at his age? You can be put on Jobpath up to age 61.
Yet this is what Jobpath are targeting, people who are basically unemployable, but so long as it makes the live register figures lower that is all that matters. Another thing I have noticed is that there are no Travellers on Jobpath, not one have I yet to see on it but for some strange reason they seem to be exempt from being put on Jobpath.
The unemployment figures will just keep on dropping the more people they put on Jobpath and half of Letterkenny's unemployed people who are on jobseekers benefit or jobseekers allowance are already on Jobpath and anyone who is not its just a matter of time before they are put on it, except of course if your Traveller in which case they won't bother about you!
She asked me if there was anything else I wanted to work at as what I wanted to work at it was not going to be easy to get a job in that type of work and I had to be realistic about looking for other types of jobs. She told me "Your on the programme now 8 weeks" Its actually 7 weeks I'm on it, and that my next review will be my quarter. She told me to keep up my job searching and made another appointment for my next review and to check out the links she sent to my email address. We said our good byes and I made my way out of the tower of misery and back out into the lovely fresh cool air and enjoyed my freedom once more until the following week when it would be time for job searching once again.
One thing I have noticed so far while on Jobpath is that it seems to be mostly older people on Jobpath. People in their 30s, 40s, and 50s, there are more people in their 50's than any other age group on Jobpath in Letterkenny. I have seen one man who didn't look too far off the age of 60, can I ask who is going to give him a job at his age? You can be put on Jobpath up to age 61.
Yet this is what Jobpath are targeting, people who are basically unemployable, but so long as it makes the live register figures lower that is all that matters. Another thing I have noticed is that there are no Travellers on Jobpath, not one have I yet to see on it but for some strange reason they seem to be exempt from being put on Jobpath.
The unemployment figures will just keep on dropping the more people they put on Jobpath and half of Letterkenny's unemployed people who are on jobseekers benefit or jobseekers allowance are already on Jobpath and anyone who is not its just a matter of time before they are put on it, except of course if your Traveller in which case they won't bother about you!
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