Enjoying your Employability Skills Course? Does it help you get a job?

[999tigger 10]

I'm down for the EES course starting tomorrow morning. I have no idea if it's segregated according to the English / Maths test scores that are taken beforehand (Level 3, for what's worth) but it's being held at Norton College, S8. I remember the lady who I met with regards to those tests all but admitted this EES thing is a waste of time, although I guess it's a nice little earner for the college. I suppose with it being 8 weeks, they can claim quite a bit of Government money with each seat they fill.

 

Anyway, I eagerly await to switch my brain off and be told how to fill in application forms and make paper aeroplanes for 5 and a half hours. I just hope there are some PC's that can be used, as I could at least get some programming in, as I've been learning Ruby lately while chasing employers. If it's going to be nothing but listening to someone blather on about CV's and confidence, mixed in with some awkward group work, I'll probably consider jumping off a bridge.

 

1. The only reason for the testing is to weed out those who are illiterate and innumerate. They get a different course in numeracy and literacy. The test does not cover verbal or istening to English.

 

2. There is no segregation beyond that. I was told level 3 is about A level standard + and it doesnt go any higher. That makes no difference as you will be put with people who can just about read and write, but have comprehension and behavioural problems. JCP dont believe in streaming so who you might get appears to be random and your class will have to go at the pace of the slowest. It makes the test pretty pointless, but it is simplu the general test the college uses to assess students.

 

3. The college has cannibalised a course aimed at school leavers. I have seen some of the materials. It is very basic. It shows little understanding of important topics and includes a lot of irrelevant ones. The college gets on results as to who completes the workbooks, so they are only interested in getting workbooks completed, everything answered etc and less interested in teaching skills that might be used after the course.

 

4. I have talked to a few people about this and they say depending on your tutor, then you get treated like schoolchildren, but this is random.

 

5. There are pcs there, but you will only get to use them for about 90 minutes a day during your class time, but you cna stay after class if you dont have access to a computer.

 

6. You mention about blathering on. Perfecting your application and interview technique is very important and should be kept under review. I am not sure the course will teach you much. I am told one of the few plusses is that some of the attendees are ok.

 

7. If you want your money then it is compulsory. I was told some people were thrown off the course, so just behave or risk a 26 week sanction.

 

8. The tip a couple of my friends said to pass on was to take a packed lunch or eat a decent breakfast. There is a canteen but on benefits you cant really afford spending £4-5 a day.

 

Have fun and do report back about what your impressions are.

[OryxBeisa 11]

1. The only reason for the testing is to weed out those who are illiterate and innumerate. They get a different course in numeracy and literacy. The test does not cover verbal or istening to English.

 

2. There is no segregation beyond that. I was told level 3 is about A level standard + and it doesnt go any higher. That makes no difference as you will be put with people who can just about read and write, but have comprehension and behavioural problems. JCP dont believe in streaming so who you might get appears to be random and your class will have to go at the pace of the slowest. It makes the test pretty pointless, but it is simplu the general test the college uses to assess students.

 

3. The college has cannibalised a course aimed at school leavers. I have seen some of the materials. It is very basic. It shows little understanding of important topics and includes a lot of irrelevant ones. The college gets on results as to who completes the workbooks, so they are only interested in getting workbooks completed, everything answered etc and less interested in teaching skills that might be used after the course.

 

4. I have talked to a few people about this and they say depending on your tutor, then you get treated like schoolchildren, but this is random.

 

5. There are pcs there, but you will only get to use them for about 90 minutes a day during your class time, but you cna stay after class if you dont have access to a computer.

 

6. You mention about blathering on. Perfecting your application and interview technique is very important and should be kept under review. I am not sure the course will teach you much. I am told one of the few plusses is that some of the attendees are ok.

 

7. If you want your money then it is compulsory. I was told some people were thrown off the course, so just behave or risk a 26 week sanction.

 

8. The tip a couple of my friends said to pass on was to take a packed lunch or eat a decent breakfast. There is a canteen but on benefits you cant really afford spending £4-5 a day.

 

Have fun and do report back about what your impressions are.

 

Cheers, it's pretty much what I expected, I'll just keep my head down then.

 

I wrote myself an e-mail set to arrive on the 30th Nov to remind myself to do a quick write up, for the benefit of any other poor soul who end up doing it after I've finished.

[The Packet 10]

Been on this the past week, it seems I lucked out and got into a group that isn't too bad. No one is really happy to be there, but I reckon everyone understands that the best course of action is to ride it out for the full 8 weeks.

 

This course takes so long because they drag out what I'd imagine to be a weeks worth of material to the 2 months. Mostly it takes the form of the tutor reads one paragraph of the worksheets we get, perhaps something related to a hypothetical employee consistently being late, then asks everyone for anecdotal stories and experiences relating to this. Obviously, this takes up to 20 minutes, where the next paragraph or two is read and the cycle repeats.

 

They also seem to be going over what I would say are debunked methods, such as silly 'VAK learning styles' which are supposed to tell you if you're someone who learns through visual or audio means. Which, even if this crap had some bearing in reality, the course is run the same whatever you get, so there's little to no point of doing it except, of course, to drag the course out and get more money from the DWP.

 

I'd imagine any employer who looked at this on your CV would chuck it in the bin pretty quick. A level one qualification taking this long is absurd, but there you go. It really is a very odd, very boring, experience.

[Foxy18 10]

Hi everyone. I thought I'd give you an update on what this course has to offer.

 

A friend of mine is on this course and the daily sessions are being held in the S.A.D.A.C.C.A building. They are currently on week 6 of the course and so far they have been mostly playing hangman or reading books they have brought in themselves. Today they are watching The Apprentice.

 

Nice to see that it's a worthwhile course (!)

[jobless-shef 10]

Well, that does not surprise me one little bit.

 

However, reading a book you are actually interested in, is much better than reading those workbooks you are forced to fill in.

 

I really feel sorry for anyone having to endure 8 weeks of psychological torture at any of these employability skills courses, as I have stated before, I have endured the 8 weeks myself.

 

Was it worth my time, or the tax payers money?

 

Absolutely not, as I am still awaiting to receive my EES certificate, which I will delightfully use to start my bonfire with on November the 5th.

 

Well you can't get any lower than a level 1 certificate can you?

 

I don't know if anyone has noticed, however there was recent news reports, regarding a huge increase and demand for food banks around the UK.

 

I'm not surprised, with the amount of sanctions the JCP & DWP are handing out, maybe for failure to attend these pathetic EES courses?

[Mr Mandate 10]

Thanks everyone for the updates. It looks like the content of the course hasn't changed since we first had to go through it in July and August.

 

We protested to Sheffield College, spoke to managers, sent them a petition signed by most of us, met them a number of times. College managers David Dale ([email protected]) and Andrew Sale ([email protected]) said they understood our complaints. Maybe they did but Sheffield College are still grabbing taxpayers' money by demeaning us. They've even expanded the business by hiring out SADACCA on The Wicker. You might want to let them know your feelings about us being lied to (they said the course content would be changed in line with our complaints and suggestions) - their work email addresses are above.

 

Some of us also wrote to our MPs to complain about the demeaning, useless nature of the "course" and to complain about this waste of public money. As a result, one of them, Paul Blomfield MP for Sheffield Central challenged Iain Duncan Smith in parliament about this. Here's their exchange on October 14th 2013:

 

Paul Blomfield: One of my constituents who is still without a job after his involvement in the Work programme came to one of the public consultation meetings I organised during the recess because he was angered by his experience of the programme. Bright and articulate with a postgraduate degree from Oxford, he had been sent on an eight-week employability course that included the completion of questions by ticking boxes with smiley faces or sad faces. Does the Secretary of State understand why he and others on the course angrily felt it was a waste of time, and does his experience explain why the Work programme has failed the overwhelming majority of people who have been sent on it?

 

Mr Duncan Smith: I just do not agree with that because the reality is that the Work programme figures show that it is performing incredibly well and it will just get better: some 72% of the first tranche or cohort are off benefits; 380,000 people who before were written off by the last Government are now in work; 168,000 are now in sustained employment; and we now know that 90% of those who are in sustained employment go on to another year at least of employment, which is better than any of the last Government’s programmes—cheaper, more effective and better for those trying to get into work.

 

Apart from refusing to address the question: the nature of the EES "course", Duncan Smith uses the evasive phrase "72% of the first tranche or cohort are off benefits" deliberately mixing up those people who left benefits for a job with those people who are off benefits because they were sanctioned.

 

The DWP refuses to issue figures for the numbers of us sanctioned despite promising to do so by May 1st this year. So, hey presto, by stopping people's benefits for being 5 minutes late for a Work Programme appointment (or in one case 5 minutes early!) it appears that the Work Programme is a success.

 

Is it? Well, I could refer to Mr Duncan Smith's bollocking from the Office of National Statistics for using "dodgy" figures about the Work Programme (see http://falseeconomy.org.uk/blog/lies-damn-lies-and-iain-duncan-smiths-statistics) or the Daily Mirror and the TUC's view that "not content with using rhetoric to stigmatise poor people the Government has now been caught misrepresenting the figures" (http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/iain-duncan-smith-statistics-didnt-1879262) but let's show a bit of compassion eh...

 

According to the Tory-owned, Tory-supporting Daily Telegraph "the £5bn Work Programme (is) 'worse than doing nothing'". Fewer people found jobs through the scheme than would have found work if no Work Programme "help" or "support" had been "offered" (see http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/spending-review/10146659/5bn-Work-Programme-worse-than-doing-nothing.html)

 

It's not just maths that Iain struggles with either. His CV skills could do with some brushing up too, after it was found that he invented various qualifications on his own CV (see http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2002/12_december/19/newsnight_ids_cv.shtml)

 

Someone should tell him: there's a course to help with that.

[OryxBeisa 11]

3rd week in, we've already lost a few people and a few more are taking every other day off. We're doing CV's and covering letters tomorrow, never-mind that literally everyone already has at least one, usually two. Because, you know, we're a group of intelligent adults who stopped needing this sort of help once we left high school.

 

Oh well, it could be worse. Probably.

[tinfoilhat 11]

3rd week in, we've already lost a few people and a few more are taking every other day off. We're doing CV's and covering letters tomorrow, never-mind that literally everyone already has at least one, usually two. Because, you know, we're a group of intelligent adults who stopped needing this sort of help once we left high school.

 

Oh well, it could be worse. Probably.

 

Nowt wrong with tidying up cvs and brushing up interview techniques - but surely that's week one stuff. What on earth have they had you doing for the other 3 weeks?

[999tigger 10]

3rd week in, we've already lost a few people and a few more are taking every other day off. We're doing CV's and covering letters tomorrow, never-mind that literally everyone already has at least one, usually two. Because, you know, we're a group of intelligent adults who stopped needing this sort of help once we left high school.

 

Oh well, it could be worse. Probably.

 

People who miss days without good excuse are lining themselves up to be sanctioned.

 

What you should be concerned about is the quality of your CV and covering letter. They can always be improved. Unforunately I'd be concerned that the ability of the course and its tutors will only ever provide a basic CV. To get better you need to read books and do some research. The library has plenty of books on this.

[Hairyloon 10]

In addition the £5 billion pound work program has been a huge failure, maybe the government should have put that money into actually creating new jobs for the unemployed, not giving it to work program providers like A4E, Serco and G4S...

It would help if real people, and not just faceless megacorporations could take people on on the work programme.

It is obvious that someone put on the work programme stacking shelves at Tesco will not learn any real skills, and will take the work away from someone who should be getting paid for it.

However, someone on the work programme working as a gopher at a small business could easily be a real bonus to that company, would pick up real skills, and quite likely be able to create themselves a job.

But I'm damned if I can find a way in to doing that.

However still allowed to retain billion pound contracts through the government. Tell me where the logic is in that?

It is not logic, it is the Old Boys Club. Decency and Logic need not apply.

The rest of the UK population, should really open their eyes, and see what is going on here. I'm starting to think, we are becoming a nation, that is brainwashed into thinking that the government, taking away your basic human rights, is a good thing to happen?

I don't think it is that, I think they have just been brainwashed into believing there is nothing they can do about it.

 

If being on the programme that jobseek refers to helps some of the people on that programme to progress in some way shape or form, however small, is that a bad thing?

Does it help any of them?

Let us assume that it does, but what does it mean in real terms?

The skills that are taught in these courses are not real skills, they are just "job-getting" skills.

So if the course has succeeded in helping someone get the job, then it means that someone else hasn't got the job, and as likely as not, the person who didn't get the job would have actually been better at it.

 

If those on the programme and those delivering the programme keep it simple, accept that forces outside their control have brought them together and therefore as a partnership they can enjoy the learning journey, doesn't that make for an enjoyable rather than tortuous journey?

Does running on the spot or chasing your own tail count as a journey?

I think not.

[OryxBeisa 11]

Nowt wrong with tidying up cvs and brushing up interview techniques - but surely that's week one stuff. What on earth have they had you doing for the other 3 weeks?

 

We didn't actually re-do our own CV's, or even look at ours at all, we just had to make up fake CV's for fake jobs, along with fake cover letters.

 

Next week is interviews, I literally cannot contain my excitement.

[999tigger 10]

How is the course going peeps? Item on BBC today about people being sanctioned.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-24833627