unemployed soon =(

[WhiteBears]

i, plus many others at my workplace will be unemployed as from 2nd october, so im gonna queue up outside job centre to sign on!

i have applied at least 10 jobs a week for the past few months and no joy, i am either over qualified or not enough experience. i cant win. im so depressed, ive given up looking, im just gonna claim JSA and housing benefits for a few months! ='(

[TCL-MUMPING]

Sara3 said "they won't be interested in what you've done prior to your claim, but it is a requirement to be "actively seeking work" to get your JSA" When looking at actively seeking employment (ASE) the claimant has to have taken the steps it was reasonable to expect them to have taken in order to give them the best chances of getting employment.

If someone has applied for a dozen jobs in the fortnight before claiming JSA, it would not be reasonable to expect them to take as many steps during the first week or fortnight of their new claim as compared to someone who has done nothing to look for work before claiming.

[general-ignorance]

If you don't look, you have less chance of finding a job. Also, if you are not looking for work, they will not give you jobseekers allowance. You have to report what you do to look for work, and they do checks to make sure you are. Be aware it may take ages to come through - I applied for jobseekers allowance and housing benefit a while back and it too 5 months for them to process my application for JSA and 7 months to process housing benefit because of the backlog! Needless to say, I lost my accomodation and nearly starved to death!

[Rach2008]

The Job Centre \'advisors\' don\'t even ask what you\'ve done! They might have a two second chat about the weather or Corrie, that\'s it! It is a complete joke.