One of the saddest things about the Work Programme and it was the same on the flexible new deal and new deal schemes was the need for the providers to change a persons CV just so they could tick a box and say that they did something for the person involved. 

I recently experienced what I thought was a ridiculous statement by an employee of a training provider.  The woman stated that a good CV relevant to the jobs applied for should yield from six job applications, three interviews and one job outcome.  This statistic could be achieved by someone in a specialised field but anyone seeking basic admin jobs this statistic is ridiculous.  The woman said that if my CV was a good one then I would be working.  She couldn't understand that if she gave her perfect CV to 100 unemployed office workers in Cardiff and they applied for the same six jobs and only six people per job were going to be interviewed then at least 64 would not even have one interview from those six applications and they could continue to receive no interviews indefinitely with her so called good CV.

I wonder what she would say if someone came back and said, "I have applied for fifty jobs with the CV you gave me and I have had no inteviews, does that mean your CV's are crap"?  She told me that she has been going by this statistic for five years,

It's very important for the person on the Work Programme to realise that providers are intending to make every CV different to meet the needs of the employer.  People are being encouraged give consent to the providers to send CV's to employers and tailor the CV so in effect allowing the provider to apply for jobs not only in the desired field of employment the person wants.  They could make the person out to be a great carer by using any information given confidentially about ones private life and you end up being interviewed for a carers job when in fact you are looking for an admin position.  It would be very difficult to turn down any job as this could be a sanction possibility.  The old line that you have more chance of finding a job if you are presently employed has some truth but also it could leave you stuck in a job you hate for the rest of your working life. 

The day will come when you will have to do some kind of community work for your benefit if you are unemployed.  It's important to be polite at work programme appointments and go along with most things but sometimes it's hard to bite your tongue and say nothing when someone tells you something that is nonsense.  Many people are so down and depressed they will sign all forms put in front of them just to avoid any hassle and keep receiving benefits.. Life isn't easy on benefits,  just over £67 a week, water rates, electricity and gas bills, phone and food and a little left over which leaves you having to save for some time to afford to buy any clothes.  It is a basic lifestyle and very demoralising and having more free time was just a minor compensation for the depression one goes through. Taking away the free time and making people who want to work do community volunteering or work experience for the multi million pound companies who are happy to have people working for nothing rather than hiring workers is going to depress people even more.