The Dole

I have worked in a dole office..

quote:

Originally posted by Nigel Cavendish:
I have worked in a dole office..

The real Big Brother..

Soon as I graduate ill be signing on

Just for the record, & As is well known already I am presently on the Nat King Cole, and have previously given full accounts of how the system here worked (pre- Jan 2005) and how it works today under the new regime here in Germany, innit.


Fritz Von Probably paid far more tax than our Mick too, even though I am far far younger

quote:

Originally posted by Webke:
Soon as I graduate ill be signing on

Are you studying philosophy?

quote:

Originally posted by Deane F:

quote:

Originally posted by Webke:
Soon as I graduate ill be signing on

Are you studying philosophy?

Definately not English ! Perhaps when you sign the 'Job Seekers Agreement' you should say I will, rather than I'll, innit ?

Oh god Fritz, don't you start correcting spelling too.

I was on the dole for two years after leaving college in the late 70s.

quote:

Originally posted by Deane F:
Oh god Fritz, don't you start correcting spelling too.

Deano ! You're quite correct, and I know that it's normally Our Mat's Dept, and I know that I'm the absolute last person to comment upon other's spelling on this forum BUT: in this case I think I am justified; especially if this is a typical example of an up & coming British Uniwersity educated Dole Scrounger, innit.

Fritz Von I didn't get where I am today by listening to other people, that's why I let Our Jack do my work in the Commons today, innit

quote:

Originally posted by Deane F:

quote:

Originally posted by Nigel Cavendish:
I have worked in a dole office..

The real Big Brother..

What is the phrase? "If you have done nothing wrong, you have nothing to fear".

Or in our case: "if you have done no work for months, you have a job offer to fear".

Spent nearly a year on the dole from 1990 to 1991 during a rather dire era in the IT industry.

At the time I was getting 1 or 2 interviews a week which was an achievement as most of the other people I heard about were averaging about 1 every 4-8 weeks. Employers could be very picky at the time.

It came to a point where I was looking for jobs in Europe to find something.

Steve.

quote:

Originally posted by Deane F:

quote:

Originally posted by Webke:
Soon as I graduate ill be signing on

Are you studying philosophy?

Oi Deane - Out!

Reminds me of signing on. One question asked "do you have any other qualifications that would help you get employment?"

I wrote "Degree in Philosophy?".

I got a call from the dole office to determine if I had said degree but was unsure of its employment efficacy or --- thinking back What?

Hehe. It was just an honest troll Guv.

I've taken the odd paper in Phil myself through the years. I actually suppport the idea of universities as places to attain an education purely for its own sake and not as training establishments for employers.

My wife's degree includes a major in philosophy. Her other major - psychology - is the subject she thought contained the most crap. After the first year of psychology she thought it might get better in the second year, then the third and so on but she says it just got worse until eventually she had an honours degree! She says the forensic psychology paper was interesting though.

It's a larf though innit

quote:

Originally posted by Berlin Fritz:
It's a larf though innit

Not all of it.

quote:

Originally posted by Deane F:
I've taken the odd paper in Phil myself through the years. I actually suppport the idea of universities as places to attain an education purely for its own sake and not as training establishments for employers.

The course structure at the uni I went to meant that as well as my core major & minor subjects (computer science and chemistry) there was room each term for taking one other subject. That allowed me to do a term of psychology and a term of philosphy as well as more practically useful subjects like business studies and management science. I quite enjoyed the psychology course but the philosophy was tedious in the extreme, only livened up in the tutorials were I had to ward of constant attack (I was the only non-vegetarian and worse I was regarded as a warmongerer for being a member of the reserve armed forces).

As an employer I see a lot of CV's from folks with first degrees in subjects like those then a subsequent MSc in computer science which I assume was done to improve their job prospects. I've interviewed a lot of such candidates now and even employed a few and almost without exception they make very poor IT staff - I'm not entirely sure why though.

quote:

Originally posted by Steve G:

As an employer I see a lot of CV's from folks with first degrees in subjects like those then a subsequent MSc in computer science which I assume was done to improve their job prospects. I've interviewed a lot of such candidates now and even employed a few and almost without exception they make very poor IT staff - I'm not entirely sure why though.

What were they like as people?

quote:

Originally posted by Deane F:
What were they like as people?

Nice enough and I'm sure some of them have a future where customer interaction is part of the job - behind the counter at MacDonalds for example...

Steve, Thats a bit rough.

Wot's >Mac Donalds ?

quote:

Originally posted by Steve G:

quote:

Originally posted by Deane F:
What were they like as people?

Nice enough and I'm sure some of them have a future where customer interaction is part of the job - behind the counter at MacDonalds for example...

It's meant as a joke but it is possible to be educated and not find fulfillment through the status one attaches to one's choice of vocation. The world is predominantly made up of people that work very hard for very little so that the few who make a lot of money can spend it on their own pleasures.

Steve G - this is no attack on you btw.

quote:

Originally posted by Deane F:
Steve G - this is no attack on you btw.

And I don't take it as such. As an employer the qualification someone has aren't a significant factor in whether they get a job with us, and it also doesn't appear to be much of a factor in the quality of them as an employee. The point about folks with less practical first degrees then an MSc apparently to make them more widely employable is based on observations from years as a recruiter or employer though. The last one we employed (I think he had an honours degree in English and an IT MSc) was clearly a clever chap and came across very well in interviews but in practice he really was an exceptionally ineffective member of staff.

Having said that though my best developer had a useless first degree (accountancy ) and an IT MSc and he's excellent both as a consultant and a developer.

A lot of people go to university to study subjects which interest them (which is fine by me) however once the reality of the job market sets in they can have problems translating their qualifications into a good job - perhaps something which should be explained better at the time they are making course choices?

One day (perhaps when I'm retired) it's my intention to go back to being a student again, studying something I've no intention in making a career of this time (photography possibly) but purely for interest and enjoyment.

Regards
Steve

I'm such an idealist I make myself cringe sometimes.