"When the Job Centre used to find people jobs"

Gone direct to a comment on a thread on Reddit where the poster's father used to work for the Job Centre. The post describes how they met employers to match their requirements to seekers' skills and personalities. More such meetings should still be in place, this could help for the Job Centre person to introduce an Asperger jobseeker to an employer, as the Job Centre person would be able to better explain the positive offsets than the Asperger jobseeker themselves in an open interview in competition with others who do not have the condition.

Why do employers ask: “Why do you want this job”?

This thread on Quora.com "Why do you want this job" is a well thought debate on this open question. The writer himself has been recruiting for over twenty years and says "PLEASE STOP ASKING THIS QUESTION", couldn't agree more!

Jobcentre ordering someone to purchase a smartphone

This article in yesterday's INews shows a Jobcentre adviser ordering a 56-year-old jobseeker to purchase a smartphone for his job search because his basic model was "not good enough". Even the Department for Work and Pensions spokesman in a statement said there was no requirement for Universal Credit claimants to own a mobile phone, but this one adviser had said this.

I agree because I don't like smartphones myself, I too own only a basic mobile which can call and text, also having a calculator and alarm clock. I see people so glued to smartphones to the extent of seeming to be oblivious to everything else, and 24/7 connectivity is being thought to be detrimental to mental health.

"Increasingly rigid job and person specifications"

This had been a comment on "21st century welfare" chapter 2 "Problems with the current system", a link which was on the DWP's own website back in 2010 (however now removed - edit Jan 2018). Most of the discussion is about "rates of welfare dependency and poverty" and "work incentives being poor", ie part time hours on mininum wage with regard to top up benefits. So much discussion of welfare reform does centre on blaming (a) unemployed people for not being willing to take jobs (b) the complexity of the system preventing the ones who ARE willing from taking many lower paid and/or part time jobs. No mention of the employer's role in this equation! First there have to be the jobs to take though, difficult enough in the current climate, then factor in the willingness of employers to offer them to some people who may not meet the criteria 100%, and I'm not just talking about disability here. This comment ties in with what I've often said about the need to re-educate employers. The writer touches on "Increasingly rigid job and person specifications" and the "human resources driven ‘closed shop’ mentality of employers", I've often wondered that many 'human resources' bods sometimes don't pass applications to the line managers that they might actually be interested in if they were to see them. How many applications / interviewees are turned down having only been interviewed / application seen ONLY by an HR bod and not the manager who would be responsible for them if taken on? Very good post, and standing out in that it focuses on the employer for once.

Police investigation over fit-to-work tests

Link to article in the Independent as to whether DWP ministers could face police investigation over fit-to-work tests.

Interview adjustments and competition

This thread on the National Autistic Society's own message board is about Interview adjustments. The 3rd post by user Aspergerix describes up the difficulty with competition and proof of hidden prejudice from a legal stance.

Ken Loach - "I, Daniel Blake"

The Guardian reviews film "I, Daniel Blake" by Ken Loach, a veteran film-maker quoted as "rarely speaking" while developing a project but is so deeply concerned about government policy on benefits and the sanctions regime. The title character worked for years as a joiner but had a heart attack which forced him to give up work and claim benefits. Ken goes on to comment on the divisive rhetoric of people into "skivers and strivers". The article ends with an amendment note by charity Mind had commenting on independent academic research that fit-for-work tests were linked to hundreds of extra suicides.