Emma herself was in Downing Street last week with other "philanthropic entrepreneurs" to discuss Cameron's "big society" obsession. According to the ICG site she was happy to endorse the project. "A4e (formally Action for Employment) is the prime contractor for government services like 'Flexible New Deal' and 'Education for Offenders' and have helped more than a million people in Britain back to work. 'Let us all accept that people have been helping people for ever - and that it gives us all a wonderful sense of purpose and is a thing that we can all do. It would build communities, friendships, self esteem, confidence and help people get back to work,' said Emma Harrison, who is also the founder of the charity Foundation for Social Improvement (FSI)." I wonder where that figure of "more than a million" comes from. Does it include the results of all the subcontractors?
It's the last of "The Fairy Jobmother" tonight, and the latest pearl of wisdom from Hayley is “The jobs are there. It’s being prepared to start at the bottom and work your way up. There’s something there for everyone if you’re prepared to work hard enough.” (The Herald). So if you can't find a job it's because you're not trying hard enough. Thanks, Hayley.
What Ms Taylor should be saying is "the VACANCIES are there". A job vacancy does not necessarily mean there is a real job attatched to it.
ReplyDeleteThere are a LOT of scam employment opps out there at the moment, not to mention vacancies hiding phantom jobs posted by unscrupulous employment agencies.
Employment agencies post phantom vacnancies as a way of building up their client database so when an employer notifies them of a vacancy they hope to have a suitable client already registered. This has been going on for years and should be made illegal.
ReplyDeleteEven the most reputable agencies do it. I remember it being raised more than a year ago, when the DWP was talking up the number of vacancies. Often they are genuine vacancies which have already been filled. And then there are those "vacancies" which turn out to be for some home-working scam. JCP should have to weed all these out, but it's not in their interests to do it.
ReplyDeleteAgencys should not be allowed to advertise in any jobcenter.
ReplyDeleteI don't agree with that. People often find work through agencies. But it has to be clear that they are not advertising a particular vacancy so that people know what's being offered.
ReplyDeleteHistorian has a point. Like restaurants, hotels and retail outlets, there are good agencies and poor ones. I can think of a couple of good ones I worked for esp one that manged to get people work contracts for decent periods of time. Sadly, they're no longer in business.
ReplyDeleteThe issue of phantom vacancies really must be addressed as it makes ALL agencies look dodgy to some eyes and skews the vacancy figures, even if slightly.
Imatt raises an interesting point about good agencies no longer being in business. I suspect they get undercut by the big boys. Where quality of service plays second fiddle to company profit with large multi-nationals who increasingly dominate the market.
ReplyDeleteI think emma harrison and people like her are being set up by goverment as scapegoats, for when the system collapses, id hate to be her or people like her when it does.
ReplyDelete