Sorry everyone I need to have a whinge:

When DH was sentenced I was out of work. Needless to say I had to register for Centrelink. Anyone who has had dealings with the mighty Centrelink will know that this isn't fun at the best of times but it was a necessary evil and I knew I just had to knuckle down and make the best of it.

Centrelink (or rather Little Johnny) insists that you register with a job network member. For the uninitiated, these are agencies that will, supposedly, help you find work and, if necessary, training to make you more employable. That's fine. I don't have a problem with that. I figured it was one more string to my bow when it came to finding work. However, in practice, it seems to be a glorified monitoring system which enables a bunch of people to justify their existence by tracking everything you do (without their assistance) to find work and not much more.

I also registered with five different private employment agencies in the hope of finding a permanent job. Haven't had any success in that regard. In fact I never heard from three of those agencies. (That really helps to keep your spirits up when you need a job, let me tell you.) Fortunately, I’ve been getting some temporary work from the other two. Most of my assignments have been a few days here and there and, occasionally I get a whole week. When I got three weeks in one place I thought I'd hit the jack pot. Hardly enough to have Centrelink accusing me of rorting the system. Besides I’ve declared each and every assignment and my earnings.

In the meantime I had to attend a "job search training course" run through my job network provider. I didn't have a problem with that either. So I completed my 100 hours job search training late last year. (No, that's not a typo; the course is 100 hours, no exceptions.) In fact, because I'm not work shy, and have some knowledge of how to write a resume, an application letter, can spell my own name and count to twenty without taking my shoes and socks off, I impressed the course provider to the extent that I was allowed to bypass some of the content and move ahead of other participants. Still had to do the full 100 hours though but it gave me extra time to send off job applications.

No sooner had I completed the course than I got a long-term temp assignment (four months). I continued to submit my forms to Centrelink because I didn't know from one week to the next how long the assignment would last and I didn't want to have to reregister with them when it ended. They told me I could do this and it would save starting from scratch.

Now that the assignment is finished I (somewhat naively) thought I would simply be reinstated. Nope! Silly me! I have to start from scratch. What Centrelink hadn’t told me was that you can only keep submitting your forms etc. for 12 weeks maximum at which time you are classed as inactive and you get kicked off the system.

So I reregistered and am now back on the books but that's not the worst of it. I have to start from scratch with my job network provider as well. Can't change providers by the way, have to stick with the same one.

But wait, there's more: Today I had my first appointment with them. What a joke. Without fail, whenever I’ve attended appointments there I’ve been kept waiting. In one instance I waited an hour for my case worker to see me even though we had an appointment. (If, however, you are so late that they can’t see you, or you miss an appointment altogether they have to tell Centrelink and Centrelink can breach you.)


Today, I was 15 minutes late and the woman I saw had the nerve to lecture me about being on time http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/4/4_2_103.gif (http://www.smileycentral.com/?partner=ZSzeb001_ZN). (Save your breath honey. If and when one of you are ever on time you can lecture me about time keeping. Until then stop wasting what little time we have left and get on with this.)


I was less than impressed to find that I was only there to get me back on their books! This, despite the fact that my resume and other details are still on their system!!

Nothing actually happened today that would get me a job. In fact, they want nothing to do with me for another 12 weeks. If I still haven’t found myself a job in that time, they will call me in to see what’s going on.

To add insult to injury, she tells me I’m going to have to do the job search training all over again! http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/4/4_2_211.gif (http://www.smileycentral.com/?partner=ZSzeb001_ZN) Apparently the only way I can get out of it is if Centrelink give the approval so I have to go and see them. I don’t like my chances do you? My blood is boiling. http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/4/4_2_101.gif (http://www.smileycentral.com/?partner=ZSzeb001_ZN)

For those of you who pay taxes I am sure this isn’t how you envisage your tax dollars being spent. It’s an absolute farce!

Sorry for the scroller but I just had to get this off my chest. I am livid.

OMG Wissy, what a damn nightmare.:mad: These morons have nothing better to do than to waste time and money, they get paid for it too. How totally stupid is the whole concept of this??? I hope you can make Centrelink see some sense in this whole matter, but sadly I doubt it. I always cringe if I have to go in there, because I know I will have to waste about an hour at least, before I even get to talk to anyone. Then by the time they have spoken to about 3 other people who are all as clueless as each other, I might be lucky and get an answer to my question.:angry: maybe you should just tell them you want a job doing what they are doing... I hope this all gets sorted for you hun. As if you don't have enough to deal with, being in the situation we are in!! Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr Maybe you should tell them you cant do the course, because you are now suffering from a stress related illness caused by their actions.:thumbsup:

ROZ

Roz if I'd included the lead up to all this that I experienced with Centrelink my scroller would have been as long as War and Peace! Suffice to say that I was told by two separate people on the phone that all I had to do was go in to my local office with my paperwork and I'd be reinstated. Off I trot and when I get there I'm told I have to have an interview and it could take a week for my payments to start. http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/4/4_2_200v.gif (http://www.smileycentral.com/?partner=ZSzeb001_ZN)

Yeh, right!! So I started jumping up and down and they got someone to see me then and there. (Amazing what you can achieve when you stand your ground...) But all up I was there for two hours!

I actually applied for a job at Centrelink a few months ago (what was I thinking??!!http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/4/4_2_100.gif (http://www.smileycentral.com/?partner=ZSzeb001_ZN) ) The job description/person spec was the worst example I've ever seen. A friend told me about the job and said she'd heard they were really desperate to fill the positions so had just thrown the specs together. I didn't even get an interview.

To be honest, I can't say I'm sorry. I couldn't stand working there.

WORKING there....ROFLMAO...is that what they call it?? Sure...
Wys, you were probably too qualified. I know there are a few people that do work there, and do a good job, but the majority...sad, sad sad.

ROZ

I always have problems with my job network place. Went to an appointment there the other day, and waiting for like 30 mins and then found out that my case worker wasn't there and I was to see someone else, but he forgot to tell me.. My job network place is for disabled people, interlectually, physically or whatever other types of disabilities there are... and they were meant to come pick me up and take me to a job interview one day, and they rng 30 minutes before the interview to ask me if I could get my own way there... Lucky I could, but the job I was going for, was like a 20 minute drive away.. Ugh.
I went for a job interview the other day, showed up to realise that my resume was 6 years out of date, though the job place were meant to have already fixed it for me.
For some reason, when I go for a job, they never bother ringing me to let me know if I got the job or not, which annoys the heck out of me. Am so sick of all this crap. I hope you get a job soon :)

Lauren that's terrible. I must say that of the few interviews I've had the behaviour of the people who were conducting the interviews has been appalling. I get the feeling they think that, with the current IR laws, they can treat people however they like. I've never seen such a lack of courtesty or respect for applicants as I have in the last year.

Holy Hat 100 more hours????? I cant even imagine how crazy mad you must feel right now. they disgust me sometimes. Really they do. I feel so bad for you. I hope your appeal goes well. *shakes head* terrible.