Dole scum

I took the plunge and decided to claim Jobseekers allowance.

After my first attempt to use their online system which just got lost in digital oblivion, I had a lovely half-an-hour on the phone answering lots of questions about all my personal finances. I then had to attend an interview at my local Jobcentre which I did yesterday.

It was a strange experience. The actual people were actually reasonably pleasant, but the whole process did seem very protracted, with photocopies of things being taken and tons of paperwork to fill in.

I then had to formulate my Jobseekers agreement, which is basically the beginners guide to looking for a job. If I don't do 3 things to find work each week, my money is cut off ... seems like very little to ask. He also did a search for jobs for me which yielded absolutely nothing - which was funny because I had 2 emails about jobs whilst I was sitting there.

I think it was a good idea to reinforce that the unemployed should be looking for work, and hence be called Jobseekers, but I also think that the blurring between the benefits side and the looking for work side is counterproductive. The stated goal of the centre is to help you back into work, but in fact half of what they do is make sure you're actually looking yourself. The one-size-fits all approach which sees me having to ring the Jobcentre for jobs just as if I were an unskilled school leaver seems like a waste of everyone's time - when the specialist agencies have far more to offer.

Possibly the most amuzing thing is that I can specify the sort of job I want and the salary, but this only holds for 13 weeks, after that, I have to take any job - which is just foolish. If the pay won't cover the mortgage, there's just no point.

All in all though, I felt it was a more positive experience than I was expecting and, given the range of people they probably get, I felt it was quite constructive. I am, however, looking forward to officially being Dole scum when my application is finally processed (about 3 weeks, apparently).

Looking back

As a year, I feel 2008 wasn't the greatest.

There were some great bits in there for me personally, especially our first liveaboard diving holiday. There were some landmarks - most notably turning 40 and my wonderful weekend "away". There were some firsts - landing an airliner at Heathrow, albeit in a simulator. There were some gadgets - iPhone 3G being top amongst them.

There were also some bad bits, foremost being made redundant, followed closely by the rest of my team being made redundant earlier in the year.

I think that the overriding feeling for me throughtout '08 was, to coin a meterological term, unsettled. Working from home most of the time for a company which was obviously about to fail is something that is difficult to deal with at the best of times. Added to that, the fact that all you strived to do over the past 2-3 years is about to be binned dosen't help. And that the whole thing can't just quietly be put to rest because the powers that be keep on coming up with ways of reviving it.

On the whole, I think I've been quite philosophical about it and have faired reasonably well, but the feeling of going nowhere will, for me, always be associated with '08.