Started on Monday. Got a leaflet today when I signed on (which went smoothly, fortunately). Thankfully there was no mention of compulsion to register, though I'm sure my new best friends at the Work Programme will regard registration as part of their 'compliance'.
It's shit. The old jobcentre search site was bad: jobs were organised appallingly containing text that was cut and paste from other sites with no proper explanation. The search parameters didn't work and it was a huge chore to search for anything. This site is still badly ignored, but to get the most out of it you 'need' to register. You don't have to, according to the DWP. In fact not every advert contains contact information that is gated behind registration.
Why are we being coerced to sign? The owner is yet another private outfit, in this case Monster, so of course it's all about the continuing slow motion privatisation of the jobcentre. Sadly instead of objecting to this I get an adviser keen to hand over a leaflet telling me all about it!
Aside from their dreadful security, Monster has highly worrying privacy issues on this site. It even says that, if you are concerned, you shouldn't register. Good advice.
When I look at the site and type in my postcode to search the local vacancies within a 20 mile radius (which is as reasonable as it gets), it still comes up with vacancies at the other end of the country. The vast majority of adverts are from agencies. As well as being able to upload a CV you can even click a drop down box to tell them (ie your adviser) why you haven't applied for a job - in other words sanction suicide.
Interestingly, if your DWP/WP adviser wants you to give them access to your UJ account you could quote this:
"2.3.12 share your login credentials to the site with anyone else;"
or
"
2.3.18
send unwanted mail or email, make unwanted phone calls or send
unwanted faxes promoting and/or advertising products or services to any
person that uses the service, or contact any person that uses the
service who has asked not to be contacted by you;
"
which is from the terms and conditions of the site.
Recruiters (which may or may not include the DWP and the WP) are also subject to:
"10.4 You agree that CVs sent to you:
10.4.1 will be used and handled in accordance with privacy and data protection laws;
10.4.2 will not be used for any purpose other than as a way for you to identify potential employees or workers.
10.5 You agree not to contact jobseekers unless
it is about a job and they have indicated that they are willing to be
contacted. You agree to only contact them in the manner that they have
specified they wish to be contacted."
So no fucking spam! Best of all: just don't register your personal details!
I signed on Thursday, and there wasn't so much of a mention of UJ (Unusable Junk I think that means). There weren't even any leaflets on display, so it seems my local JC has taken the latest DWP directive to heart - thank God! And yes the site is shite, with jobs as you said arranged almost at random, with some jobs appearing under the wrong categories (leaflet distributors coming under office assistant?) and poor usability all round. It's obvious the DWP has completely fouled up giving Monster the millions to develop a site that is plainly worse than the old one, in what amounts to yet another almighty cock-up from this strangely incompetent government!
ReplyDeleteIt's a case of breaking something that needed fixing even more.
DeleteInstead of solving the problem they just privatise it. Of course the user base wasn't consulted.
Yesterday on Universal Jobmatch: three job advertisements for three work shifts doing the same job.
ReplyDeleteCute.
To be fair, that is nothing new. The DWP site always did that.
DeleteIt's all just spam. Just recruitment agency spam, or the people that run the site combing the net and just copying and pasting stuff (although that's probably not legal).
This change is horrendous. The old site was cumbersome and very poorly optimised but this new one is much worse in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteVital job information such as the code I need to note down so I can track my applications and provide proof to the WP and JC is missing. Their data protection is terrible (the bit stating they will keep all your information worried me quite a bit when you factor in the constant theft of data frm Monster) and I'm dreading my appointment tomorrow as I refused to register wth a company that has such a track record of diregrad for data protection.
I don't have your problems* but I've encountered my own examples of idiocy including an "advisor"** who bemoaned me being unemployed since I left university in 2011 then, in response to a few employers making it clear that they wouldn't employ a graduate as they correctly thought that I'd bugger off as soon as I could, told me to edit my degree out of my CV and looked perplexed when I asked how I could explain the sudden 3 year gap.
The creeping privatisation continues despite the mountains of evidence that it adds little to nothing.
Keep up the good work on a cracking blog and all apologies for the rambling nature of this comment.
*I've read quite a bit of your blog posts and I wish you all the best, you've done well to remain so calm as I'd have probably gone into ultra sarcastic and obstinate mode by now!
**A nice enough lass who's not as bad as many of either heard or read about but she obviously has no speciality or training in her current role and in 4 months of seeing her she hasn't brought a single vacancy I haven't already seen and applied for.
No rambling at all. Thanks for the kind words.
DeleteThe advisers I deal with are on the whole ok. There is one, with some seniority I believe, who is a bit of a nightmare. There's also a lot of ignorance, predictably, regarding the Work Programme and what's required of the claimant. This is not surprising given how everything has been handed over the private sector; frontline staff are in the dark and really should be as angry as as us about it. Their jobs are ultimately on the line.
I won't be editing my CV without good reason and fully expect the WP to criticise it at the first opportunity for mentioning my health issues. But I'm not going to lie about them nor brush them under the carpet for their convenience. if one can't be honest, what's the point?
Thanks again.
Even if you can be forced to register and get issued with your barcode, how can they possibly force you to accept the terrible terms & conditions, submit to have your data stored by a commercial company in America (Utah), force you to upload your CV and/or create a profile for any supposed employer to peruse, accept more than a dozen cookies, and allow any old adviser to scrutinise everything you've been up to while logged on to the site? If you can't say no why bother to ask for your consent in the first place?
ReplyDeleteWho knows. It seems to me they can do what they like. But i'm certainly not in any hurry to sign over my personal details, not to anyone. This whole thing is insane.
DeleteIsn't Utah the place with a lot of religious-right types?
ReplyDeleteThey'll just LOVE my CV...
Or I should rewrite it? "Interests: anarchism, animal rights,
green issues, equality, paganism, gay rights.."
Jobcentre and all the work programme providers keep ordering me to lie that I have no qualifications!
all i want to know is this universal jobmatch mandatory or compulsive . Because i have just recently gone on to jobseekers, and have this adviser who is a right toothache.making appoinments for me to see him every week and demanding forme to upload my c.v. . To which i just keep trying to fob him off, but is really proper putting pressure on me to get my c.v uploaded to which i am really wanting do and i refuse to so as well . ( So i am standing firm and not to go ahead with this snooping/ spying invading my privacy from the dwp . i would fully appreciate any response how to get away from this stupid site .
ReplyDeleteWell until IDS changes it, as I'm sure he'd love to, registration is not mandatory. So as long as you meet your requirements to fulfil your side of the Jobseeker Agreement you should be ok.
DeleteUnfortunately in practise these people are just tinpot dictators. If they are harassing you then the only thing you can do is make a complaint. There isn't really anything else that we can do. Until the unions and the people wake up and strike the government will hold all the cards.
This is great!
ReplyDeleteThe most specific job matching tool I found was in the premium version of Jobscan https://goo.gl/7iNX4h where they take your targeted resume skills and qualifications and match it with your preferred location. It’s really cool because it’s so specific.