Application

Was given a project officer job to apply for at UTS. I said it wasn't a suitable job as I wasn't qualified. It was a HEW5 $55-62k 6 month contract in a field, librarian, where I had no qualifications or experience what-so-ever. However, since the add didn't specifically say that my caseworker kept on hassling me. So I said I would apply but couldn't possible get it just to get them off my back.

I contacted the person listed and asked presumably "coordinate and implement" an inter-library loan system and to "train teams in all operational duties involved in the ILL process" would require some library qualifications, training, experience as well as management experience. They replied of course, but didn't figure that that needed to be listed explicitness as it was obvious.

These people have no idea what they are doing. They only see what suits them, what might help them make the KPIs and totally ignore reality. It doesn't matter what I say, what evidence I provide to support my position, what reality is, what ever I say is wrong because I am unemployed and the opposite of everything I do and say must be correct.

So I went back to applying for a bookkeeping job for which I have training and experience.

Job Interview

Was asked by my caseworker yesterday if I was interested in a bookkeeper/admin job at Norwest. I said Norwest was too hard to travel to, especially since they have demolished the bus entry ramps for the M2 widening, which they agreed to. When I got home my caseworker rang and said that they had found a bus route that would take one hour so I agreed to an interview.

The one hour route involved catching a bus to the station. Walking 441 meters in four minutes to get a second bus. Then having 2 minutes to change at an interchange to catch another bus then walking 500m. What's more the 3rd bus was the last bus of the day and got me to the interview three hours before it started. Of course in peak hour traffic the odds of those connections working were 100s to 1. So picked a safer route that got me their 20 minutes before the interview and took 2 hours but allowed me to leave several hours later.

The job was for help desk level one job logging support queries, general admin, training to work on their application, and raising the odd invoice. Why it was titled bookkeeper/admin I had no idea.

The first question asked was why did I select the job. I said I didn't my caseworker mentioned it I was asked to agree to the interview before seeing the selection criteria. The second question I was asked was how old I was. Didn't see any point in lying since they could have calculated it from my HSC anyway. The third question was my relationship status and living arrangements. Obviously I wasn't the sort of person they were looking for, someone young and tech-savy and they don't give a damn about the Anti-discrimination Act (NSW). Turns out they want a recptionist for the present, having dropped from 30 to 3 staff and then when their new version is released and they expand the person will have picked up enough knowledge to become an onsite customer support technician or a software analyst working on the version after that. If they actually sold anything, which wasn't happening at the moment, there would be the odd data entry to raise an invoice -- which is presumably the reason they wanted a bookkeeper!!

The next question was how did I get there and how long did it take. I replied bus and two hours but that in peak hour it could be as little as one hour but would realistically take about 90 minutes. They said that 90 mintues was too long, I pointed out it was pretty good for Sydney these days actually. They said that as the job may now be shared 5/5 or 6/4 days a fortnight and involve irregular hours and travelling to see clients in the future my not driving was not acceptible. I gather you don't not drive in Norwest just like in LA.

This was despite the job being advertised as permanent 37.5 hours a week, regular hours and did not specify own car required which would have saved everyone a lot of time. It seemed they were making it up as it goes along and were just too broke to hire ordinary workers so wanted someone with a wage subsidy who wouldn't cost them anything.

Any way I was offically rejected because I don't own a car. So there is $20 of my dole and a whole day wasted. Of course the promised transport assistance for interviews never eventuated.

KPIs

The SAEP Hornsby left the details of a staff meeting on the whiteboard.

Their KPI target for June was 22 placements.

With one week to go they had 11. No wonder they have stepped up their pressure on me, though they effort were totally useless and counterproductive because they are clues less and they picked jobs where the employer wanted someone younger and one I couldn't do. Still I supposes that is 2 jobs in two years they have selected for me.

They placed 1 stream one unemployed. The government doesn't pay much for stream one unemployed because they have calculated that most of them will find work anyway. This means that in tough times the stream ones remain unemployed for several months and become stream 2. They placed 10 stream 2 unemployed.

They placed no stream 3 or 4 unemployed, long-term unemployed and those with problems which the Government pays the most for.

They put no people into training. They have obviously figured that training the unemployed is a total waste of time. Where they do suggest people undergo training they try to force them onto the lower Austudy payment even when they are entitled to 12 months study leave on the dole to improve their figures.

Monthly Appointment III

They finally noticed that I didn't turn up last month and rang me last week. I explained the situation and the matter has been resolved. They scheduled an appointment for me today.

Signed a new contract. I have to apply for jobs two days a weeks, no negotiation, no transport subsidies. At least it isn't three days a week.

Month Appointment II

Got a letter this afternoon telling me that I had an appointment at 9.30am.

After last Monday they scheduled another appointment on Wednesday the 18th. However, they didn't bother to post the letter till the afternoon of Friday 20th of May. Thus ensuring that I would miss the appointment.

Will probably take a lot of effort to sort out this mess but hopefully it means I won't have to bother seeing them for another month.

Monthly Appointment

Was summoned to see my JSA last Monday. Of course the person I was supposed to see was off so I was just sent home.

Another half a day and $10 totally wasted.

Charity Group Backs Welfare Crackdown

Mission Australia has joined the rush to bash the 200,000 long-term unemployed. The other 800,000 DSP and 1,200,000 single parents who don't work and get much higher rate of benefits apparently aren't a problem in the cost blow out. Toby Hall their Chief Executive said of his clients, "The reality is when you join the workforce,[sic] you've got responsibilities. You've got to turn up at nine 0'clock and work five days a week."

Mr Hall may get a 35 hour week with a 9am start and flexi-time, lucky him. His clients won't. I can't remember the last time I applied for a job with a 9am start. Every job I apply for is either 20 hours or more than 40. You are either working 2 days or 6 or 7 days a week, with shifts anywhere between 6am and Midnight, with no holiday leave and no sick leave. Many jobs are returning to a day-labour basis. The last work I was offered was 6pm till Midnight on Good Friday in a job I was unqualified for and which unsafe. The unemployed, casual workers and contractors who make up half the labour market don't even get major public holidays anymore.

Butterworth et al. recently published a paper on the effects of work on mental health. They showed the for an unemployed person remaining unemployed reduced their mental health by one point on their 100 pt scale. Getting a low quality job reduced their mental health by 5.6 pts. Only getting a quality job that was low stress and where they felt in control of their hours and work resulted in a benefit of 3.3 pts. And with 28.3% of the HILDA sample reporting a significant mental illness sometime, and 10% reporting one currently, it would seem fairly logical that more and more people are claiming the DSP. [1]

1. The psychosocial quality of work determines whether employment has benefits for mental health: results from a longitudinal national household panel survey; P Butterworth, L S Leach, L Strazdin2, S C Olesen, B Rodgers, D H Broom; Occupational and Enviornmental Medicine (online); 14/3/11; accessed 29/4/11; http://oem.bmj.com/content/early/2011/02/26/oem.2010.059030.abstract?sid=215441b0-1ac8-4b22-8b22-f3f5df1ac232

Monthly Appointment

I am no-longer being seen by my case manager but the Senior Consultant.

He pulled up a job from the JSA website and asked me what I thought of it. Since it was a Data Entry job I asked was sort of speed were they looking for, assuming he might know something about the job. But no he just attacked my for trying to avoid work for asking about the job for asking a sensible question.

He said that they would pay 70% of my salary to an employer for 6 months to "get me off their books". I said I didn't see the point of putting me in an 8 weeks job just for me to end up back on the dole and facing a Liquid Asset Waiting period and ending up $2000 out of pocket when it finished, but put me forward for the job. He then yelled at me saying no job has guarantee and I can't expect one. So I again said put me forward for the job. He then realised that an 8 week job won't result in a placement payment from the Government so he would be committing to spending their own money. So we quickly forgot about that job.

Then he said that I am not to contact any employers that he will. Then he will ring me at 5pm in the afternoon and tell me to be there a 9am the next morning for an interview so that when I didn't turn up he would breach me. Then he said he would get the employer to report me for sabotaging the interview and breach me.

He started lecturing me that it was all my fault and my attitude and motivation was all wrong and he was going to force me to change it, or breach me. I am rather confused about how threatening someone know to have Generalised Anxiety Disorder is going to help them. But I am not a Senior Consultant.

I was pissed off by now and pointed out that this was blatant bullying and harassment and how did this fit with the fact that he was bound by the service agreement to treat me "fairly and with respect". He continued to yell at me and told me he would breach me for refusing to do the first job. Which I didn't and he told me not to apply for it because it wouldn't yield a placement payment for them.

I asked were we writing a new Employment Pathway Plan today he said no. Then he said that I was to research and find companies I wanted to work for, that I was not allowed to speech to them and then bring them in next week. I said when next week. He said whenever. I said I was busy next week and had no scheduled appointments and didn't have to come in at all. If he wants to see me he can schedule and appointment in the system properly.