Labor turns to Howard to shake-up job placements |
When I was in my 20s, I was between jobs after an illness and signed up for unemployment benefits.
As part of my “obligation” to the state, I had to visit an employment service and watch videos on how to get a job. I had to travel to attend these meetings which, for someone who was recently very ill, and without a car, was an issue in of itself, and involved two different types of public transport and a 20-minute walk.
Still, it was all that stood between me and rent. So I attended my meetings, showed what jobs I had applied for, and smiled and nodded as I was told to “just try harder”.
The jobs I was sent to included what seemed to me to be a telemarketing scam convincing elderly people to sign up for holiday packages they neither needed nor could afford. I spent my limited shifts there dialling the talking clock and pretending to read out the script.
I eventually got a callback for a local restaurant. I was called in for a two-hour (unpaid) trial and would miss one of my scheduled job-provider appointments. I called, explained why I would miss my meeting, did the two-hour free trial and got the job myself.
Which, cool beans – job done, right?
Except no. Turns out the job-service provider reported that I had not been attending my obligatory appointments and Centrelink cancelled my payment. I wasn’t going to get paid from my new job........