The Unemployment Office Seems Worthless To Me

[KafkaF]

I've had (unfortunately) a LOT of experience with the unemployment office in my country. I've talked to possibly a dozen or maybe even dozens of people there. And I have yet to have anything useful come from it.

The first time I ever went to the job office I basically got the advice to create a LinkedIn page which... duh.

The second time the person didn't even know what I was talking about.

I've had several "job coaches" of sorts as well. Talking to these people mostly involves talking and then... nothing. Except sometimes they'll send you to a specific website where you have a big list of jobs or google something.

Which is just... do these people realize that I also have access to Google?

These people are all full time employees. And as far as I can tell, most of their job consists of giving the most basic possible advice that anyone with an IQ south of 85 can probably pick up just from being alive and Googling shit.

To be fair, I don't even really blame these people for this. As far as I can tell most of these people get absolutely NO special tools or databases or connections of any kind. As far as I can tell the unemployment office basically just hires these people, gives them a computer with basic internet access and maybe a flier and tells them to get to it.

This could all be so much better and more efficient if there was a clear hierarchy and a well-developed network involved. And I don't mean just of "personal contacts." I mean a network built by the unemployment office itself. For example, off the top of my head, create a law that gives a small tax break to companies which register with the unemployment office as "consultants" where they go into a database and can be contacted for information, interviews, or even jobs by the unemployment office. So that if they have a person in front of them who's interested in journalism, for example, they can search their database for "journalism" and find a consultant who can give some guidance in that and help them on their way.

Or, hell, why not really go balls to the wall? Why not have a program where people in various industries can sign up as mentors? Basically getting some kind of legal advantage by part time mentoring someone who wants to get into the field. Again, these people would be in a specialized database of the unemployment office and easily found by any individual person working there.

I'm just throwing stuff out there here. But the point is: I don't know what the point of the unemployment office even is. Is the point really to have tens of thousands of employees around to tell people to make LinkedIn accounts and Google shit?

 

[DarkRange55]

Welcome to bureaucracy, my friend. Most people put in the minimal amount of effort at their jobs, and are simply there to collect a paycheck. Unfortunately, it's a joke. I sympathize greatly with your frustration. Clearly there needs to be massive reform and overhaul.
I can definitely tell you the best way to get a job is to know someone. But I definitely hear you on the incompetence and disorganization going on. It's pretty ridiculous.

 

[KafkaF]

Welcome to bureaucracy, my friend. Most people put in the minimal amount of effort at their jobs, and are simply there to collect a paycheck. Unfortunately, it's a joke. I sympathize greatly with your frustration. Clearly there needs to be massive reform and overhaul.
I can definitely tell you the best way to get a job is to know someone. But I definitely hear you on the incompetence and disorganization going on. It's pretty ridiculous.

I understand, a lot of these people are just doing the minimum to be employed. But that's not even the thing I'm really running into here most of the time.

I just get the impression that these people just have no tools to do anything useful. As far as I can tell, and I've talked to so many of these people now, all these people have is basically a computer with internet access and Google. I have never seen anything else demonstrated.

It's like hiring a surgeon and then giving them a table from Ikea and a set of steak knives. It's completely pointless cuz they can't do anything with that that I can't do myself.

It would be super useful if knew someone, but unfortunately 10 years of social anxiety has left me completely isolated. So I know no one.

 

[Shadowpriest]

Same, can truly relate.

 

[TheGoodGuy]

They sound extremely incompetent makes the unemployment workers here seem amazing lol.

 

[DarkRange55]

I understand, a lot of these people are just doing the minimum to be employed. But that's not even the thing I'm really running into here most of the time.

I just get the impression that these people just have no tools to do anything useful. As far as I can tell, and I've talked to so many of these people now, all these people have is basically a computer with internet access and Google. I have never seen anything else demonstrated.

It's like hiring a surgeon and then giving them a table from Ikea and a set of steak knives. It's completely pointless cuz they can't do anything with that that I can't do myself.

It would be super useful if knew someone, but unfortunately 10 years of social anxiety has left me completely isolated. So I know no one.

I get where you're coming from and yeah I have to agree. My understanding is that they have very limited resources themselves. I personally don't have a lot of experience with that to be honest but that's my understanding. It is quite frustrating. Again, there definitely needs to be a complete overhaul.

I understand, a lot of these people are just doing the minimum to be employed. But that's not even the thing I'm really running into here most of the time.

I just get the impression that these people just have no tools to do anything useful. As far as I can tell, and I've talked to so many of these people now, all these people have is basically a computer with internet access and Google. I have never seen anything else demonstrated.

It's like hiring a surgeon and then giving them a table from Ikea and a set of steak knives. It's completely pointless cuz they can't do anything with that that I can't do myself.

It would be super useful if knew someone, but unfortunately 10 years of social anxiety has left me completely isolated. So I know no one.

You certainly have my sympathies. Do you mind if I ask what country you're in?