I was being called in around twice a week to Working Links in Cardiff to do jobsearch and supposed to be job ready when I was told along with others that I would have to complete a two week employability course run by Skill Wales. They told us that we could not stay on jobseekers for the two weeks and had to sign up for a training allowance which means in effect that we will soon have to do a rapid reclaim for jobseekers allowance once it is all over. More paperwork and inconvenience but at least the first week has just ended. A group of 14 of us had to go to the YMCA in Cardiff and spend a week having the odd mock interview and completing a personal statement about ourselves and a few other discussions and on friday we walked over to Working Links to spend some time on their computers typing a few documents up and being given a basic word processing task that we have to go back it seems on monday afternoon to continue. Monday morning will still be spent attending at the YMCA. Everyone in the group had to complete the word processing task even the people who were looking for security and warehouse jobs. I have just received my paperwork from the DWP informing me that I am on the training allowance so won't have to sign at the jobcentre next week but of course after that we will all have to receive an appointment at the jobcentre to make our rapid reclaims and make sure the housing benefit form is received by the Council. I will probably end up with a different time to sign but hopefully on the day I would normally sign. To be told that you are job ready and then have to complete an employability course doesn't make sense. It should be the other way round. Next week we all have to have a mock telephone interview and it will be recorded which sounds like an attempt to see who is a good candidate for call centres. Although Working Links say they can improve a CV, they seem happy to leave it to another company. I might be cynical but I feel that as the major players in the work programme have been criticised for not spreading around the contract to smaller providers this is a way of showing that they are doing that. Sadly it means that the unemployed have to attend courses they may have done many times on New Deal in the past.