Your local job centre - make use of it!
One of the key resources that jobseekers frequently neglect is their local job centre. There seems to be a stigma attached to visiting the job centre - that somehow “signing on” reflects badly on you as individual.
This is crap. This article will look at some of the common misconceptions that people have about their local job centre.
My local job centre won’t have any jobs for me
Not true.Â
It may have been the case years ago that job centres had an abundance of certain types of jobs, but more niche, professional or unique job roles weren’t covered (because employees weren’t getting a good selection of candidates from the job centres).
This is no longer the case. Job centres across the country have a huge selection of jobs in a wide breadth of industries. What’s more, job centres can substantially help your local job search simply because they offer a great place for local employees to reach local candidates.
Job centre employees don’t care about placing me
Not true.
Look at it this way - people working in job centres do so because they want to help people find jobs - recruitment consultants on the other hand is a very sales orientated job. Recruitment consultants make more money if they place candidates - they have a financial incentive to do so, which in some cases can lead to inappropraite placements.
Job centre employees on the other hand have no ulterior motive - they place the right candidates with the right jobs.
The job centre will recommend crap jobs
Well, it’s all relative.
The job centre is there to get people working and sometimes that means offering jobs to candidates that may seem like a step back in their careers. That’s not the fault of the job centre - that’s just life.
I’m not saying you need to take these jobs - I firmly believe people should make their own decisions when choosing the right job for them, but I also fully support the job centre’s process of offering suitable jobs to candidates.
It’s not always about the financial side of things and every job doesn’t need to be a step up in the career ladder - being unemployed takes its toll on your motivation, confidence and at times, your mental health. Even a low paid job that is a step back from what you were doing before gets you out working regularly - that’s better than sitting on your backside all day feeling sorry for yourself, although it might not seem it at the time.
I don’t think people should necessarily jump at the chance of an entry level position just because they are unemployed - but in certain cases, any job is good for an individual to get them back on the right track.
Good luck!
