Pip-for Job seekers

PIP or Personal Income Protection when there is a need

When someone finds themselves in a fragile past of the economy e.g Part time work, Self Employment or zero hour contract there is a stronger possibility that they may come into contact with the Department of Work and Pensions. At this point there is little protection. There are few ways that an individual can financially protect themselves against loss of income or plan for any form of Welfare Support protection.

Why would they need any form of protection?

We only have to look at the statistics and historical background to the U.K Welfare Benefit Sanctions system administered by DWP to see that there are strong possibilities that an individual and their family could easily be sanctioned and lose income for a period of 3 months. This may be replace by some form of hardship payment.
However reality is that the revision of the Welfare Benefit Act during this parliament has not led to the provision of any support for those on the lower income employment seeker

The normal recommendation for anyone in this situation is to seek advice from the Citizens Advice Bureau. and seek food from a local Food Bank

Little provision is allowed for the planning of a volatile economy of the zero hour contract.
Our economy hasn't moved

Whether the history of PIP , the Personal protection plans it is not suprising that the Insurance companies would be wary of providing any form of plan for eventualities on the loss of work.

There are however few options for the provision of support for redundant employees.
Or the employees that are unsure whether they are working from one day to the other. DWP systems have failed to update their systems for the changing working world.

How could this be resolved

Insurance Companies

Insurance companies have a marketing opportunity here.

• The Provision of policies against the imposition of a Sanction.
• Cover during sanction periods for those that have proven history of employment.
• Provision of job search support for job seekers with proven employment history

DWP Jobcentreplus

DWP Job Matching services have opportunities to treat claimants as clients. Searching for work providing training as required on aspects of Social media job search.

To Provide an 8:00am-8pm call centre or online chat options. 

Thus far there are no services and DWP do not use Twitter as a method of communications.

Whilst Job Match has the options of making contact with their adviser 

However making contact with them regarding appointments is undertaken through a call centre.

Add caption

For many of these reasons including cut backs within the department there are some real possibilities for out sourcing some real support to job seekers that are likely to return to work in the current climate

The options could and should be extended to 0 hour contract job seekers who's employment situation no longer connects well with the fortnightly Job seeker.

Review-Top 10 Recruitment web sites and features Introduction

 I wanted to Review-Top 10 Recruitment web sites and features to look at what they had to offer. Recruitment web sites are a key part of the recruitment process as featured in the last article They are the first place where many people will post their CV and send their letters of application. They filter the applications for the employers and provide many other facilities for Employers

What do they offer you?-Review-Top 10 Recruitment web sites and features

John Fairest AIEP

  As you can see I have measured this review on certain key criteria

• Vacancy Count including Category or region
• CV Building & Support
• Training courses
• layout
• Additional information
• Social Media

Why these Categories in Regards to Recruitment web sites?

Vacancies-

is a clear indication as to whether the web site is going to be the best from your viewpoint If you are looking for a vacancy in your sector you want the web site to have a number of vacancies in your sector of future employment and ideally in your area of the country.

CV Building-

The CV is the information that the Computer will see first of all. Ideally you want to find a good web site that has a CV Builder that you understand and that you can create the CV that will pass the computer filter and that the Employer will choose to view.

Training-

The Recruitment site that has interesting training advice and guidance may make you reflect on where you should go from here and where you might consider developing your skills base.

Layout-

We each have our own individual layout tastes and opinions. In my view I like to be able to easily find my way around. If I cannot, i like a video to explain to me what I can find if I look.

Additional Information-

Are you a mature Job seeker, wandering when to call it a day, dont understand the New Recruitment methods. Well I look at the fact that the last few sites featured on the video look at a number of these factors. Is there a different CV for the younger Job seeker to the more mature Job seeker?

Conclusion

The video lasts 18 mins  but covers briefly a number of sites all of which i have selected as being Generic .I hope it provides you with a chance to look at whats on offer.

Application Tracking system -Key words and Recruitment

Key words & Application Tracking systems

  Key Words are seen in Google and Youtube.
 Both GOOGLE& YOUTUBE  use them as a Search facility as well as a marketing option. Application Tracking System is a phrase not featured as much I was aware of the use of Key Words in CV as well as Cover letters but it wasnt until recently I became aware of the term Application Tracking System.

YOUTube & Application Tracking Systems

What left me suprised was that the HR companies have not promoted a U.K version of the material seen on the video play list. Indeed as I undertook searches using Key words like " job -search - key words U.K " there was nothing substantial. Yet I knew that there had to be more than just sending a CV to an employer or posting a CV on a Recruitment web site. In effect I stumbled upon the phrase Application Tracking System.

Recruitment web sites and key Words-Application Tracking Systems

John Fairest AIEP

As i have said on other videos in the past it is very clear that the old saying that the words of a job advert have to be looked at closely, In today's employment market its not just the advert but it's also the Job email alerts sent out by the recruiters. If the Alerts are not sparking the Job seeker's interest then the Job seeker isn't responding to them and misses opportunities.

Job seeker responce during job search

Job seeker Frustration

 When the Job seeker does respond to an advert their CV has to be individually edited as does the cover letter. Otherwise the frustration of the Job search continues. From observation Universal Job Match is one of the few Recruitment systems that might allow for a human still reading a CV before a computer. But that's only based on the contact details of the posts.

Recruiters- Applicant Tracking Systems

It stands to reason that most recruiters will be using search systems to enable their search for candidates. Sadly the training for putting a quality CV  to meet the requirements of these systems is often sadly lacking. If we take Linkedin as a recruitment search engine then there is good material. However as stated in the videos on the playlist each software package is different.

Conclusion

Job seekers therefore need to cover many avenues to make their Job search effective. This will include not just researching the company but also ensuring that they have a Good knowledge of the Recruitment web site that they are using. That instructions are followed and CV's are available and editable in the required formats.

City Link-closure

City Link web site

City Link -The parcel service 

City Link's departure from the parcel delivery market is sad for may of its customers and staff The timing of it over the Christmas market when as they point out no comment can be made due the the Market's being closed was sad. The timing over the Christmas period from a customer viewpoint is as annoying I would have thought
A tough time for Redundancy or Unemployment,

City Link History and issues

Founded in 1969, City Link was acquired by restructuring specialist Better Capital in April 2013. It invested £40m but E&Y said City Link had incurred substantial losses over several years and the money could not help it turn the firm around. The delivery sector had become too competitive and prices were being squeezed.City Link also had issues with its delivery and I.T system

City Link Staff comments

Stefan Thorrington in Exeter, Devon City LinkI have five vans in City Link colours and five drivers who have all been working flat-out up until Christmas Eve to make sure everything was delivered. We didn't have any warning about this whatsoever - drivers even knew which routes they were going to cover on Saturday. Last night I was pondering what to do. None of the managers at the depot knew about this - they were under a lot of pressure to deliver everything by Wednesday. 

However, I do think someone must have known what was going on. I don't know what's going to happen now. The main question is do I get paid?

Paul Horner, Kirkcaldy I'm a sub-contractor at a local City Link depot in Fife and have been there for three years. I'm totally and utterly gutted. This has happened after they spent money on new uniforms and new scanners. ( Most companies have scanners in this sector) Everyone thought we had turned a corner and things would be getting a lot better, but obviously not. I found out on Christmas Day. I'm still pretty numb. I've just told my fiancée (I couldn't bring myself to tell her yesterday). She's distraught. I just hope I get paid at the end of the month because, like all the other sub-contractors, I need money to live on, to pay for the van and the diesel. (Administrators would be expected to look at payment to employees with urgency-particularly politically)

Irfan Khan, Beckton, London We have 20 drivers and a fleet of vans that need paying up. We have probably lost £70,000 in unpaid invoices.( A significant amount in respect to one depot) We haven't got the capital to pay it so we'll probably sell the vans, and the drivers probably won't get paid. We just don't know what's going to happen. We've worked until midnight nearly every day last week up to Christmas. I have not slept since finding out, I've been going crazy.

Geoffrey Goddard, Teddington I work for City Link as an infrastructure engineer in the Heathrow office, I have been employed as a permanent employee for six months now. ( Redundancy Payment's maybe) I almost half expected it but we hoped we could turn the company around. I could see a few faults. There were lots of layers of management, there were basics which needed doing and no engineers on the ground. They weren't getting the fundamentals right.

Simon Judd, Essex I'm a sub-contractor with City Link, now find I have a liveried van and no work. I doubt if I'll get paid for my last two weeks' work, nearly £2,000. They've got rid of most employed drivers at my depot, and presumably nationwide. Just have to hope I can find some work elsewhere, after getting the van made white! I worked for the company for eight or nine years but recently became a self-employed driver for them. Most drivers at this depot are self-employed, so I don't know about the figure of 2,727 people, it depends how they're counted.

City Link employees by location
Location	Total employees
Aberdeen	19
Ashford	24
Bangor	16
Basingstoke	25
Beckenham	23
Beckton	32
Belfast	23
Bicester	28
Birmingham	70
Bournemouth	32
Bristol	50
Cardiff	44
Carlisle	28
Chelmsford	48
Coventry	404
Cowes	4
Durham	56
Edinburgh	22
Edmonton	36
Epsom	22
Exeter	41
Gatwick	42
Glasgow	75
Glenrothes	22
Gloucester	32
Guildford	24
Hatfield	116
Heathrow	132
Leeds	1
Leeming	34
Leicester	1
Lincoln	25
London City	19
London West Central	43
Maidstone	48
Manchester	67
Milton Keynes	91
Morley	74
Motherwell	27
Newcastle	45
Newmarket	1
Northampton	47
Norwich	44
Nottingham	48
Peterborough	63
Plymouth	58
Preston	52
Reading	2
Rotherham	34
Scunthorpe	28
Shrewsbury	38
Southampton	33
Stafford	40
Swansea	30
Swindon	73
Warrington	115
West Bromwich	56

Twitter -Job search

Twitter job Search

Introduction

Twitter has in the last two years become a significant way of searching for work. In this article we look at how Twitter is being used as a mechanism by DWP and recruitment companies in the U.K to promote Job opportunities. We look at how your Search through Twitter may work

DWP JobCentre plus & Twitter

In the last year most of the Job Centres throughout the U.K have started Tweeting out job adverts on a daily basis. There are a number of ways you can search.
One method is to go to twitter and search by typing out the name of your local U.K DWP Job Centre and follow the job centre on your own twitter account.
This does not mean that the local Job centre will look at your Universal Job Match account and say wow Mr Smith you have followed our "Twitter account " Therefore you have completed your Job Search and all is well. Rather, it provides you with the leads and you follow them up. its a faster way than the weekly or daily local newspaper in producing the Job leads.
However, there is also often a need to be registered with the recruiters advertising the job. However, Key word may be of use. Certainly is a relatively new method of Job Search.

TwitJobSearch

 Tweet job search Certainly Twit Job Search has the advantage of providing information quickly and can be found on many Job search. Many companies use Twitter as a suitable method of communication and thus we can see on the map the location of the map. Very hands. Again there are options for looking at the town and as with all search options looking for the key words that may work with the type of work we are seeking.

Key Words on Twitter

Each Job advertised may have key words included in it. If you can find the type of Job you are seeking then look for the key words that are being highlighted and see if these are the key words being used by Twitter or Google etc. Key words may be the future for your Job search in the Search engines.




 Written by John Fairest Written BY John Fairest John Fairest author I am writing this post to support those wondering how they can use twitter for Job search and their future emplyment

DWP-Christmas- & Stats for Year

...

Department of Work and Pensions

DWP Payment dates over Christmas New Year

Payment dates at Christmas and the new year from DWP the Department of Work and Pensions. This takes into consideration the Banks holidays of Christmas and New Year.

Payment due date	When you’ll be paid
24, 25, 26 December 2014	24 December
1 January 2015	31 December 2014
2 January 2015 (England and Wales)	2 January 2015

The Department of Work and Pensions ( DWP) have produced a number of statistics over the last year.

The ONS videos

Their results on Unemployment figures can be see on a monthly basis when the ONS produces their stats.

The ONS figures come out middle of the month. Here are a sample of the videos from the year.
We have produced videos on this and feedback throughout this year

The Real DWP results

But as I have often said this has not been the entire story as they do not take into consideration the figures for Universal Credit and ESA etc. [caption id="attachment_1331" align="alignleft"
 Indeed the figures for Sanctions also make interesting viewing throughout the year as featured here. The Appeals as you see in the presentation add to an interesting story. These figures are available as are the success rates of the Appeals

Vacancies and Unemployment

Vacancies and Unemployment in the U.K

The vacancies throughout the year have changed. As I pointed out in a previous post the ratio has gone from 3.8 to 2.8 This makes the bargaining power of the potential employee look bettter. However is that a reality for the Job seeker. Ask most job -seekers looking for vacancies under £20.000 and they would probably say no.

Vacancies in Industries

A short while back i did some research into the stats.  Vacancies by industry[/caption] I have a few pages for employers on further information in this area but the figures would also indicate which sectors of the economy have grown and which are struggling. The image seen here shown many of the sectors that are featured on the Stats. But this sort of information is not as well published as the ONS monthly Stats.

  John Fairest author
I wonder why?

Over 50 Unemployed

• 
  
• 
  
• 
  
• source Gov.uk
• A quarter of women and one in six men who reach state pension age have not worked since they were 55
• Almost half (47%) of all unemployed people between 50 and 64 have been out of work for a year or more, compared with 33% for those aged 18-24
• There are "positive effects" on younger staff when more people aged 55-64 are employed, research has suggested
• Those aged 50-64 have an average job tenure of 13 years, compared with seven years for those aged 25-49

Source: Department for Work and Pensions

Frightening statistics but many who find themselves out of work at this stage of their lives find it harder to re enter the labour market. Particularly if they are in lower skilled jobs as they will find that the youth may be fitter than them,have more energy or other aspects of their lives that don't fit into some business cultures.

Part 1 During the recent recession the focus has been on Youth unemployment. But the Job Centre has an issue with this group of Job seekers.
There is the anticiption that the over 50 will not have the I.T training but often this group have the skills
The other issue is that they will rely on savings to survive. followed by part 2

The Princes initiative for the over 50's has highlighted the issue on Prime
Their web site goes on to say
"Helping older people back into the labour market could also lead to a potential £88 billion boost to the UK GDP. Most importantly securing employment for older people will transform their lives and offer them the opportunity of a brighter, more secure future."

BBC-

"Unemployed over-50s will be offered "career reviews" and help using computers as part of plans to get more people in that age group into work.

The trial will also include seven "older worker champions" across the UK.

An estimated 1.2 million over-50s are unemployed and "willing to work" - and ministers said if they all found jobs it would "add £50bn to the economy".

Employment Minister Esther McVey told the BBC it was "wrong" so many skilled people were "locked out" of work.

Long-term unemployment in the wider population fell 16% in the past year - but joblessness among the over 50s fell by 3.5%.

'Challenge stereotypes'

The trial, to be launched in April, will include training in CV and interview skills, the internet and social media, as well as "career reviews" with an expert to identify skills from previous work and any training needs.

"Champions" will be appointed in seven areas of the UK, at a cost to the government of £250,000. These Job Centre staff will focus on "going out to smaller and medium-sized businesses to ensure they recognise the benefits of hiring older workers".

Ms McVey said it was about "challenging outdated stereotypes".

"The plight of unemployed older workers has gone under the radar for too long. There's something fundamentally wrong with so many skilled and experienced people finding themselves locked out of the workplace simply because of their age," she told BBC Radio 5 live.

She pointed to "record numbers" of people getting into work since 2010, adding that in the past year more than 250,000 people over 50 had found jobs.

Ms McVey said it was not a question of older workers taking the place of younger employees.

"More jobs are being created in the UK than anywhere else in Europe... We've just got to make sure that everybody is a part of that growth."