Want to be a pheasant plucker? (completely re-written) (General Career Advice)

Member Name: Otjiwarotji

Product:	General Career Advice
Date:	22/09/01 (244 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Thousands of job vacancies updated daily, the service is free, helpful operators

Disadvantages: Need to have a good idea of exactly what you are looking for

Or a nipple greaser? Or how about an apple tree shaker?
These are all jobs which have recently been available on the Employment Service website!

If you thought the Job Centre was just somewhere you went to sign on the "dole" .... think again. Curiously enough, the Employment Service Job Centre, really is about .... JOBS.

The best thing for me and many others is that you don't even have to leave home to find a job from amongst hundreds of thousands of vacancies held by every jobcentre in the UK and even some overseas.

There are two great services on offer for ANY jobseeker; Employment Service Direct - a jobs by phone service and 2 massive websites updated daily and containing at any time between 300,000 and 400,000 vacancies!

So, whether you are between jobs and want to get back to work as quickly as possible or tired of your present job and need a change, even if you are a busy parent looking for a part time job to get you away from the kitchen sink, you could do a lot worse than start here.

EMPLOYMENT SERVICE DIRECT

A couple of years ago through no fault of my own I suddenly found myself joining the ranks of unemployed people competing on the job market. It was a heck of a shock, I can tell you! Having worked all my life, here I was, in my 40's, jobless and panicking. Thats when ESD came to the rescue.
When I went to claim my jobseekers allowance amongst other advice and information I was given a telephone number,
perhaps you'd like it too?
0845 60 60 234

This is the number you can dial from anywhere in the uk, for the cost of a local call and have instant access, through a friendly operator, to all the latest jobs in your area or anywhere else you fancy working.
You can call as frequently as you like, the service operates between 9am and 6pm Monday to Friday and from 9 am to 1pm on a Saturday.

If you are claiming Jobseekers allowance your details will
already be registered and all you will need to give the operator is your name and date of birth or your national insurance number. First time callers who are working or not claiming this benefit will be asked to provide a little more information, but don't panic you won't get any unsolicited junk mail or phone calls, it is purely so they can store your details and give the best service.

Then you need to tell them where you want to look for work, how far you can consider travelling to work and most importantly what kind of job you have the skills or experience to do, or the line of work which you would be best suited to. This is where a lot of people may flounder, what ESD are not able to offer is an in depth careers counselling service, although they will always try and point you in the right direction of someone who may be able to help.
You may also find the worktrain website helpful for career advice (more details later)

Then they will access a list of suitable vacancies, and read the basic details to you, once you have heard about a job which sounds like the one you want they will tell you how to apply, maybe by telephone or by sending a cv, if an application form is needed they will get it posted out to you, together with a job description.

Make sure you have a pen and paper ready before you phone and having a few up to date cvs ready together with references or addresses of people who will give you a reference, this will help you apply quickly. Because this service is very popular you may find that jobs don't wait around very long before they are filled and having to go away, get a cv produced and find some references you hid away in a drawer ages ago can be the difference between being considered by the prospective employer and quite frankly missing the boat.

Don't just settle for applying for one job that you like the sound of, if you hear about 2 or 3 apply for all of them, the worst that can happen is
you may end up in the enviable position of having to choose between 2 job offers! Oh and don't get disheartened if you ring regularly and there isn't something new every day, just keep ringing regularly to make sure you don't miss that perfect job when it does appear.

Just because this service is provided by the Jobcentre don't be fooled into thinking all the jobs on offer will be unskilled, low paid ones. Hundreds of local authorities, health authorities, the civil service and blue chip companies advertise all their vacancies here.

Take my example for instance. I had been in Retail, and Retail Management for many years but a progressive back problem was making it difficult for me to continue in that line of work. I had done administration years before and wanted to return to a sitting down office type job. I began to phone these people in earnest on an almost daily basis.
Sometimes there would be several new jobs which sounded suitable sometimes none, but gradually I built up a folder of jobs I had applied for. Then the interviews began and I had a few but didn't seem to be getting very far, I got very cheesed off, yet found the operators I spoke to almost every day were encouraging and helpful and I doggedly continued.

I got the job I wanted in the end. I heard about it from ESD, they sent me an application form and I had an interview. I was put on a waiting list at first but it didn't take long before my new employer rang me with a starting date. Yippee I was back in work!

Where was my new job??? In the Jobcentre itself! I have been there over 2 years now. I have worked in a variety of administrative roles within the service but when a vacancy came up to be an operator on ESD I jumped at the chance and thats what I do now. So although my opinion may seem to be biased, you can be sure that it is accurate! If you ring you may even speak to me (though you won't know it) and you can be sure I wil
l put as much effort in to helping you find the right job as I was given.

JOBS ON LINE

When I was jobseeking I didn't have a personal computer and a couple of years ago there wasn't free internet access at UK online centres but now a lot of people use the www regularly and there is now another way to have access to all these vacancies.

www.employmentservice.gov.uk
is a complete and up to date database of all the jobcentre vacancies which you can search through at your leisure, picking out the jobs you fancy. You can add your user name and a password and it will store your previous searches allowing you to access only new jobs each time you log on. When you see something you want futher information on or need an application form for you just pick up the phone and ring ESD who will give you all you need to apply. There isn't yet a facility to apply immediately on line.

www.worktrain.gov.uk
is the website which is a collaboration between the Employemnt service and Learn Direct. It also contains access to all the vacancies previously mentioned. PLUS it gives some excellent advice about career choices, waht skills are necessary to do different jobs and it also gives you all the information to access the training you need, if you decide you want to learn new skills to enhance your employability or change directions completely.

You can also phone Learn Direct on 0800 100 900. For details on all kinds of training and learning opportuntities.

So there we have it, some really great ways to find a job and you didn't even have to put down your cup of coffee!

So go on, click that mouse or pick up the phone and give your jobsearch a head start.

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