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Original poster

What is the reasonable average number of job applications submitted per month when you are receiving Job Seekers Allowance?

30 replies

Mongolia · 11/12/2009 18:34

I don't qualify for JSA but my ex husband is claiming that I have not been able to secure a job because I'm lazy.

In the last 6 months have visited the job centre in 3-4 occasions, visited career counselors twice, search for jobs in the internet and local sites at least 3 times a week. Have submitted around 20 very good and extensively researched applications over the last 6 months (carefully adapting Cv and intro letter for each of them). Managed a few interviews but as it seems there are so many of us unemployed,getting short listed for interviews is a monumental task even when the job description seems to be written with you in mind.

Is this a good number of applications? would the job centre consider this reasonable?

Just wondering because my filthy rich ex husband is trying to reduce to an absolute minimum his maintenance payments and put the house DS and I live in for sale because according to him, I'm not making enough efforts to be financially independant.

Is he right?

OP posts:
Kaloki · 11/12/2009 18:49

It varies, the last time I was on JSA I was told to apply for 2-3 jobs every fortnight. Sounds like you are doing a hell of a lot, it is a hellish time to be job hunting. I wish you lots and lots of luck!

Original poster
Mongolia · 11/12/2009 21:31

Thank you. I guess then I'm a bit low but to be honest, there were not many jobs to apply either

Guess this recession is affecting everyone.

OP posts:
Kaloki · 11/12/2009 21:39

No, there's a real shortage, even the unskilled minimum wage jobs are hard to get. I did temp work for a recruitment agency, and seemed to spend all my time apologising for the lack of jobs.

chegirlwithbellson · 11/12/2009 21:49

I was told I needed to apply for 2 a week

As I am a carer for OH and DS so could only work part time and during school hours and had a 1 year old at the time, I thought that seemed a little unrealistic.

Needless to say my 6 months entitlement to JSA run out long before I found my job.

Original poster
Mongolia · 12/12/2009 15:54

thank you, I counted the applications yesterday and they are at least 25. So probably it would suffice.

OP posts:
Original poster
Mongolia · 12/12/2009 15:54

for the ex... at least..

OP posts:
wannaBe · 12/12/2009 17:27

My personal opinion is that if you need a job, then you apply for any job that you are able to do, even if it's not necessarily one that you would choose to do, as it's easier to get a job when you've got a job. So with that in mind it's just really not possible to put a figure on it as the job market is changeable and what people are able to apply for differs from person to person.

It's really none of your ex's business, but I would say that if you've applied for 25 jobs then you at least are applying. I have a friend who applies for maybe three/four jobs a year, for jobs she is totally under qualified for, and then tells people she is struggling to find a job. I have offered to send her cv to a company I used to work for, have told her when jobs came up at a friend's work, and her response was "those jobs just don't excite me." beggers can't be choosers in that respect..

also think that how many interviews you get is totally irelevant, and in the current climate, not getting an interview has absolutely no bearing on your abilities, as there are so few jobs and so many applicants, that often perspective employers are forced to select only a certain amount of applicants and discard all the rest regardless of how good they are.

HappyMummyOfOne · 12/12/2009 17:41

The job centre wouldnt be happy with 20 applications over 6 months. On JSA you have to apply for more than that, its less than one a week if only 20 in 6 months.

Given the economy at the moment, its not a good time to be picky over applications. I'd apply for anything and everything (the more applications the higher the chance of success) - its far easier to get another job once actually working so you can move jobs later on.

If the tables were reversed, would you be happy supporting your ex if he was able to work himself but was being choosy?

expatinscotland · 12/12/2009 17:44

if i were you, i'd see your solicitor again.

Original poster
Mongolia · 12/12/2009 17:55

As i said, i don't qualify for JSA (I don't get any money from them or IS, or whatever).

I have applied for any job that I think that I can do, but as you said there are very few jobs, and many unemployed people so the competition is fierce. I have managed to be shortlisted for interviews so it is not that I'm applying for jobs I can not get.

At the beggining I tried to apply to 3 jobs a week, but then I realised it was impossible as there were hardly any jobs advertised. I can not apply for more junior jobs than I have as in my experience, you are not taken seriously once you have to explain you have done senior management or that you have a PhD. I live in a small city and I am a single parent with shared residency of DS, if I were to take a position in another city, I will need to leave my son behind.

Under those terms, is 25 reasonable?

OP posts:
expatinscotland · 12/12/2009 17:57

regardless, if he's that rich you should have got the house in settlement.

i'd sack your lawyer and get another, tbh.

Original poster
Mongolia · 12/12/2009 17:57

... and yes, I supported the career of my ex and his expenses for many many years. Even after we split.

OP posts:
Original poster
Mongolia · 12/12/2009 17:58

Oh no, the lawyer is great but is very sensible and doesn't promise anything, I'm just wondering what to expect...

OP posts:
prettybird · 12/12/2009 18:00

What sort of thing are you looking for? Are you already well qualified? I say that becasue if you are, then comments like "you should just take anything" and "getting a job while you are in a job is much easier" are not helpful.

If you are (to give an exaggerated example) a qualified brain surgeon, then taking a job stacking shelves would both reduce the amount of time you have to find an equivalent role and reduce the chances you have of getting such a job again as questions would then be asked about why you were stacking shelves.

I was made redundant in April in a fairly specialised sector. The Job Centre was happy with the efforts that I made - which sound very similar to what you are doing (n fact I probably apllied for fewer jobs - there just weren't any in my field). It was only towards the end of the 6 motnhs that they started making noises about widening my criteria. I actually signed off after 6 months when I was no longer eligible for contributions based JSA as our savings are too large for any other benefits and I didn't see the point in going along every two weeks just to tell them waht I was doing for nothing.

And for those that say I shhouldn't have been so picky - by waiting for the right job at the sort of salary I was on I would be ultimately contributing far more to the government's coffers in terms of tax and NI than if I had just taken a short term job.

As it happens, I have now managed to "tailor" a consultancy role working on behalf of one of my former customers, so it is worth being patient.

Don't let your ex-h bully you.

SleighGirl · 12/12/2009 18:00

I think you're being reasonable,. Presumably you still have your ds to look after, how old is he?

I'd tell your ex that it's none of his business!

Alarmbellsring · 12/12/2009 18:02

I don't understand how people can sit on JSA for years and years if they are applying for a job a week.

There must be hundreds of people on JSA who do not apply for a job a week

Kaloki · 12/12/2009 18:07

I think it is possible, we did have some people who deliberately do badly in interviews so as to stay on JSA.

But I think for the majority of them who are on JSA long term there are many different reasons why they would be.

a) just take any job doesn't necessarily work, some are too low paid for it to be worth coming off JSA
b) they may have lost a job later in life and struggle to find anyone willing to take them
c) same goes for lack of experience/education - which can also be influenced by point a.

Kaloki · 12/12/2009 18:07

There are more, but I'm meant to be doing other stuff

Alarmbellsring · 12/12/2009 18:16

I know people that have never worked a day in their life, nor have their (age 16+) children, who are also recieving it. They all are most definitely not applying for a job a week.

I did watch a programme the other night where a man said he wrote BNP activist on every job application form he had to fill in. Which meant he never had to attend an interview.

Kaloki · 12/12/2009 18:56

"I did watch a programme the other night where a man said he wrote BNP activist on every job application form he had to fill in. Which meant he never had to attend an interview."

That's awful! People like that make it so difficult for people on JSA, I know I refused to go onto JSA until I had no other choice (read: was in debt) because I didn't want to explain my time off work as claiming. Worried I'd be seen as a sponger, rather than someone genuinely looking.

Original poster
Mongolia · 12/12/2009 18:58

Well, yes, the "job stacking shelves" analogy certainly applies, I am an academic and failing to find an academic job in such a small place, I have gone into the administrative side of education.

It has made things far worse. I can not access jobs at my previous level because my last job is in administration, and at the same time, I can not access more senior positions in administration because I don't have the "right" qualifications like a National Vocational Degree or an EDLC (I have used the damn software for decades but I don't have a little paper that tells I have spent 6 hrs in a training to prove I'm qualified for it!)

But yes, as many, I do wonder how people can insist in staying in job seekers allowance. It is not how little it pays, it is about the damage being jobless can cause. I, for instance, feel worthless and out of control, I do really miss having a job

OP posts:
Kaloki · 12/12/2009 19:03

I miss working too (not that I can apply right now) but I just cannot see how anyone could be happy with doing nothing and having so little control of their income.

expatinscotland · 12/12/2009 19:03

plus, how is stacking shelves going to fit in with single parent unless the ex is willing to provide the childcare for all those odd shifts.

Alarmbellsring · 12/12/2009 19:09

I worked in Asda a few years ago and worked with four women, who were all single parents. They worked 4 hours a day, Mon- Fri while their children were at school, and never worked during school holidays.

You'd be surprised how flexible some work places can be.

Of course now it's an employers market so not much chance of finding them shifts at the moment I doubt

expatinscotland · 12/12/2009 19:12

ASDA can be flexible.

Tesco definitely NOT.

And in quite a few regions, that's the only supermarket.

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