The UK’s Job Centres are not working, it has been alleged, which could lead to difficulties in the recruitment market.
A recent survey carried out by the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) revealed that the centres were ineffective and needed to be reformed if the thousands of Britons currently unemployed were to find work.
“With unemployment set to rise to three million by the end of the year and the number of under-25s on jobseeker’s allowance having risen by 80 per cent in the past year, it is clear that urgent action is needed,” the report urged.
John Wright, national chairman of the FSB, said that members of the group feel “let down” by the service and that despite smaller firms being the country’s biggest employers, it was felt more funding went to larger organisations.
The news comes after the Monster 2009 Employment Index revealed that overall online job demand has declined, although increases were noted in the HR sector.
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After watching a recent programme on how professional people were struggling to find work and the lack of appropriate support at Job Centres, I am increasingly concerned about this whole area.
Not everyone will be able to access private career coaching, I think there has always been a potentially huge problem with the adult career advice and guidance in this country. The current economic climate will just highlight the massive gap between need and actual provision.
I wouldn’t have a clue where to go for careers advice and would probably search online and read books instead of trying the job centre. I’ve heard too many bad stories about the staff looking like they will fall asleep, queues and wrongly-booked appointments and communication breakdown between employees of the centre leading to the same person having to attend for two days running, when they could be spending that time looking for work. My “nearest” job centre is 2 buses away, but the one that is one bus journey away I’m not allowed to use, because its not “nearest”!