The jobcentre only hinders my search for work

I am not lazy or workshy, but I can't find a job. Why does this mean I must take part in meaningless assignments?
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'My demons reside at the Jobcentre.' Photograph: Matt Cardy/Getty Images


Like most graduates, I'm in vast amounts of debt. I owe £18,000 (and rising) to the Student Loans Company, £3,000 to Halifax and £750 to HSBC. Despite this, I don't regret my degree course for a second (I have a BSc in genetics from the University of Wales, Aberystwyth). No, my demons reside at the jobcentre. Forced to move back in with my retired father (whose state pension is barely enough for him, let alone both of us) I rely on jobseeker's allowance to get by, to stay out of poverty.

The Jobcentre has done nothing but hinder me in my search. When I was asked what qualifications I had, and I told them about my degree, Btecs, A-levels, AS-levels and GCSEs, they responded with "Are you sure? Have you got certificates to prove that?" To be patronised and looked down on didn't faze me, but what did was the suggestion by a personal adviser that I take my degree off my CV, saying it might be scaring employers. I steadfastly refused, and later asked another staff member who said there was no way any adviser would suggest a customer remove a qualification.

Things degenerated when another adviser referred me to the "flexible new deal" programme. They made me attend a course at Pertemps People Development Group. This was a few rooms of rented-out office space with a projector, whiteboard and a few computers. My assignment was to complete a large black folder's worth of worksheets, with topics like "verbal and non-verbal communication" which was more or less sit up and smile, and interview techniques with innovative methods such as not swearing and wearing a shirt and tie. All for a level 1 NVQ, which according to is worth the same as a GCSE grades D-G.


Why then did the "adviser" refer me to the mandatory work activity that is designed for young people who require "discipline" as they have "never had a job". I have had jobs. I have discipline. I couldn't have passed my degree without it. I have successfully passed over a hundred exams in my academic career, each one of them a good example of how I possess the skills of "arriving on time", "carrying out specific tasks" and "working under supervision", the aims of the mandatory work activity. Why are graduates being placed on this scheme at all?



I am not lazy or workshy. I send at least 20 job applications every week. No replies. No recognition of your existence. And of course, no jobs.

At university, I was part of a project researching how to make heat-resistant potatoes that could grow anywhere a cactus could grow, even in the desert. We were going to solve world hunger by feeding Africa chips. Now they say I'm only good enough to stack shelves. For no wage. It's a very bitter pill to swallow. I suspect, for my generation, there is no future. We were supposed to be the next set of great thinkers. What do you think we think about now? How to stay out of poverty. How to avoid being made a slave.

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