On the journey:
On training:
To be fair, I've edited these conversations down quite a bit, and of course the voices have been hilariously munchkinised for everyone's protection! However there isn't much that can really be argued to be out of context. I was asked about what my long term goal was and, unfortunately, didn't really argue my case very well in saying I was interested in writing. That was because of the nature of the situation and the fact that I don't really trust or like the adviser well enough to confide anything.
The nub of the issue is that these people come to you with severe expectations: they have a clear view of how the process should work and how you should respond. If you struggle to meet those expectations, and I did because I simply cannot function in that way - I don't think like that, then you are going to come a cropper.
it may seem reasonable to argue then that as a customer I'm being obstructive and not cooperating; certainly that's how he saw it. But in truth they offered nothing - hence the clip about training. I don't even know why I was asked about long term job goals; we spent 15 minutes arguing about writing when it was abundantly clear they had no intention of helping with that - that's why I was expected to find my own volunteer opportunities. In fact he hoped to put on the action plan (that never was) that I'd be expected to contact 6 voluntary sources about writing a week, with absolutely no help to do so. I live in a small village, not Drury Lane! The only source for volunteer work is do-it.org and they don't have lots of writing (if any) jobs at all. It might be different in a busy city.
So it's not unreasonable to ask me to look online, but to expect me to find loads of stuff, to say that charities always want writers (which he did, though how he knows this I don't know), and to offer no help, is ridiculous.
Ultimately he just wants to tick boxes. Saying I have a long term goal is just cosmetic. He wanted me to agree to jump through hoops and hand over my CV so his people, his 'Employment Engagement Coordinators' can apply for jobs (ostensibly - god knows where my cv would end up, just take a look at the nonsense on Universal Jobmatch!) without my knowledge. Given that he's happy to ignore the problems I have how can anyone think that's a recipe for success.
Or am I wrong? What do you think?
These snippets show just how useless the system and those working within the provider network are. The Advisor would do well to attend a "Listening Skills" course. From the first set, on the previous post, the advisor's sneering tone when he mentioned your aspiration to be a writer was totally unwarranted and unprofessional.
ReplyDeleteI think your advisor recognised he was in a corner and resorted to bullying as he simply doesn't have the skills (or integrity) to do anything else. His tool box is empty.
He clearly has had no mental health training, the course is only three days long and he badly needs to attend. I know of people who would have attacked him physically for his constant interruptions, his aggressive tone and rudeness because they simply could not cope with such a barrage due to their mental health problems. The clips show him to be deliberately antagonistic. One day, he will come seriously unstuck.
The lack of privacy during your interview is in conflict with the disability discrimination laws - watered down and totally unpoliced as they are.
If I am ever asked to speak about my issues in a public space to one of these idiots, I might just do so, loudly and in graphic detail, just to clear the office and gain me some privacy.
Lucy
He admitted he has no expertise in mental health from day 1. Right form the off he insisted that people have support workers implying that was the norm. Of course the reason he insists on this is so it takes the pressure and responsibility off him. With a support worker present anything the adviser says that might be problematic the SW will intervene (he hopes). In that way he isn't responsible for any problems that arise.
DeleteIt's a script and not a very good one.
It's obvious from your blog you're a talented writer, so I wonder have you even been given the opportunity to demonstrate your skills to your advisor/s? I suppose they've given you the usual about taking a job in a shop or on a building site (for example) and told you "this is a way to get into jobs closer to what you'd like to do", but surely they've at least given you some chance to show where your strengths are, to at least try and tailor such help they do give you a little more effectively. For them to fail to do that shows a shocking level of disinterest in their customers.
ReplyDeleteThat's kind of you to say, but no. I tried to explain to the adviser I was interested in writing when talking about job goals but I didn't do a very good job (couldn't exactly show him this blog either), and he seized on my indecision (I was very stressed). Becuse I didn't give him a clear and suitable answer along the lines of "i am interested in writing precisely X and have done Y to achieve this" and presented him with an appropriate paper trail he dismissed it out of hand claiming that writing "wasn't for me", not that he had an alternative. That made me rather angry.
DeleteClearly this is all a pipe dream to him; he had no intention of respecting or even helping with my interest in writing. He offered nothing whatsoever (of any kind, in fact) and just regarded it was my 'long term job goal' which is their code for pipe dream. They have no interest in long term goals, it's just another process to them in 'the journey'. IN fact it's all really patronising.
Instead they care more about the 'short term job goal' which is shorthand for 'we only care what's on your Jobseeker Agreement'. In fact they won't consider anything that isn't on that - even if it means foregoing help at all. Apparently that's the rules. It's counter productive, to put it mildly. I suspect that, were they to know of any writing opportunities, they'd still ignore them and just spam my cv to Primark or Tesco or Poundland. That seems to be what they want to do. They can't offer much more - unless you want an agency seminar or need help filling in application forms.
it's a very basic and limited service, which is fine if those are your needs (and they willbe for some, though who knows what quality even those services will be). Beyond that, forget it. Just prepare to be treated like crap!