JSA letter i got in the mail

nudist

Ive been on the doll now for about 18 months now and i got a letter today asking for my details again.

1-is this normal? or am i being singled out?

2. There a few questions about fas in the report. Im not registered with fas. Should i be? I remember hearing on the news that fas are really corrupt and that the qualifications they hand out are next to useless. And that fas are going to be disbanded pretty soon.

3. The reports says that ive 14 days to reply to this but the letter itself only came 7 days since it was posted-the letter was dated on the 21th but it only came on the 28th today!!! wtf??

4. Under the job section its asks 'did you make contact by letter, phone or personal call?' I did most of my contact via online job ad's so what do i say under this section?

tenchi-fan

1. I doubt they're singling you out personally. I'm sure it's just a routine review of your claim to ensure your circumstances having changed (who you live with, your income, your assets, and that you are genuinely seeking employment)

2. Apparently it's not mandatory any more. But you've been out of work 18 months, you'd want to have a pretty good reason for not registering with the state's training and employment agency!!

I don't remember a news report that said Fas qualifications are useless and Fas are really corrupt and they were going to be disbanded.

Some Fas awards are being investigated, there was controversy about Mary Harney raiding a Fas slush fund for hair, makeup and pies (or something like that), and Fas may be reorganised into a new agency. None of this stuff concerns you.

Just register with Fas on Monday, get a letter to say you've registered, and submit it along with all the other proof of jobseeking (rejection letters, thank you for your interest emails, copies of job postings, any ads you printed in newspapers or online that show you have been looking for work, etc) and show it all to the person assessing your claim.

3. So? It was delayed in the post. You still have a full week to reply.

4. Tick letter. Any time you apply for a job online you usually get a confirmation email. Print them out as evidence.

mrsbyrne

SW are about to get extremely serious about asking you and all jobseeker claimants for evidence that you looked for work. vague hand-waving about applying for jobs online will not do anymore. you need to register with FAS straight away. i don't know what excuse your going to come up with to explain why you haven't already. i definitely wouldn't express the opinion you've expressed on here if i were you. as previous poster suggested return the letter immediately. make no mistake, your payment will stop without any more notice as they would be entitled to presume that you are no longer at that address. you and all jobseeker claimants are subject to a "re-check" at any time. its part of the deal.

Balagan

nudist wrote: »

Ive been on the doll now for about 18 months now and i got a letter today asking for my details again.

1-is this normal? or am i being singled out?

2. There a few questions about fas in the report. Im not registered with fas. Should i be? I remember hearing on the news that fas are really corrupt and that the qualifications they hand out are next to useless. And that fas are going to be disbanded pretty soon.

3. The reports says that ive 14 days to reply to this but the letter itself only came 7 days since it was posted-the letter was dated on the 21th but it only came on the 28th today!!! wtf??

4. Under the job section its asks 'did you make contact by letter, phone or personal call?' I did most of my contact via online job ad's so what do i say under this section?

You're absolutely right that an announcement was made that Fas would be disbanded

FÁS to be replaced with new agency - Tánaiste
RTE News -Thursday, 28 October 2010
http://www.rte.ie/news/2010/1028/fas.html

and problems with some courses have occurred which have, unfortunately, cast a shadow over perfectly well run courses

1,700 FAS certificates withheld
Full extent of training scandal laid bare as almost 1,000 students left in limbo
http://www.independent.ie/national-news/1700-fas-certificates-withheld-2360523.html

Hopefully, there will be a radical overhaul, but in the meantime, flawed as it is, you will need to register with Fas. It still offers real possibilities for jobs, work placements and courses.

hawthorne

This letter is a routine letter- most people get them sooner or later. You will get it all over and over again as long as you are unemployed. About every 6 months or so.
It is very important- you probably will loose your dole if you cannot proof your efforts. Read this first:
http://www.inou.ie/download/pdf/wtw_2_genuinely_seeking_work_new.pdf
It tells you all what you have to do and how to proof that your are looking for work.
You might get away with it in telling the DO that you did not know that you have to have "proofs". The DO will watch you in the future- and your are off the dole the next time for sure if you have nothing but empty words for them.
Happened to me and many others-it is not a joke.
You still have to register with FAS- no change there in spite of the state FAS is in. Think about it: This also counts as an effort to secure employment (See link)- and you have written proof.
The government changed the title of the dole to "JOBSEEKER'S allowance" deliberately. You are getting paid to look for a job. Keeping a list of all steps you have undertaken is one part of your work. Write a little bit into a writing copy every day and keep copies of any application you send off is part of your daily efforts...
Sorry- this is how the DO sees it.
It used to be different in the past. The dole office had to proof that you are not looking for work. The only way they could do this was by catching you working somewhere in the black economy. Virtualy impossible if you was at home all the time...
So the method was changed and the onus was put on the unemployed person to proof that he/she is looking for work.
It was one of the "great" working class leaders who introduced this when he was a minister for social welfare in the rainbow coalition : Prionsias De Rossa. Talk about silk shirt socialists...
Most "worker's leaders" are actually not working in the interest of the working class- just as a thought here...
Good look to you- hope the DO lets you go in peace this time...

Sephiroth_dude

tenchi-fan wrote: »

there was controversy about Mary Harney raiding a Fas slush fund for hair, makeup and pies (or something like that).

Are you serious?pies and makeup? LMAO

My brother got a similar letter op,just fill it out and send it back.

Max Power1

Sephiroth_dude wrote: »

Are you serious?pies and makeup? LMAO

My brother got a similar letter op,just fill it out and send it back.

Im sure she ate the makeup too.

whirlpool

I'm very concerned now. I received this letter today. They're asking for proof that I've been job seeking. However ,even though I've been on the lookout for jobs and work, and I've been posting my CV online and asking around about jobs, searching online and in printed publications etc, I stopped applying for work in print form months ago because it was proving to be totally pointless in that I was getting nowhere. Therefore I have no physical evidence of my job seeking. So what do I do now? :-/

tenchi-fan

whirlpool wrote: »

I'm very concerned now. I received this letter today. They're asking for proof that I've been job seeking. However ,even though I've been on the lookout for jobs and work, and I've been posting my CV online and asking around about jobs, searching online and in printed publications etc, I stopped applying for work in print form months ago because it was proving to be totally pointless in that I was getting nowhere. Therefore I have no physical evidence of my job seeking. So what do I do now? :-/

When you apply for jobs online you usually get an email confirmation. Print them out.

You should keep a journal of any calls you make to - either face-to-face or phonecalls, (date/time, phone number, who you were speaking to, job title you applied for, etc). Your phone should keep a record of your most recent last dialled numbers. For numbers not in your last dialled, just try to remember the name of the company & look up the phone number on eircomphonebook.ie.

Finally, go through your old newspapers (or get them from a friend who keeps old newspapers for a long time for no reason), scan the ads of the jobs you applied for, and print them out as evidence.

It will just show them you haven't been bone idle for the past few months.

Dempo1

tenchi-fan wrote: »

When you apply for jobs online you usually get an email confirmation. Print them out.

You should keep a journal of any calls you make to - either face-to-face or phonecalls, (date/time, phone number, who you were speaking to, job title you applied for, etc). Your phone should keep a record of your most recent last dialled numbers. For numbers not in your last dialled, just try to remember the name of the company & look up the phone number on eircomphonebook.ie.

Finally, go through your old newspapers (or get them from a friend who keeps old newspapers for a long time for no reason), scan the ads of the jobs you applied for, and print them out as evidence.

It will just show them you haven't been bone idle for the past few months.

Unfortunately it is not entirely true that candidates get a response to applications, in fact the opposite is true. More and more employers are also clearly stating UN successful candidates will not be contacted. Some sites like Irish jobs will send a copy of your application but it is very vague, however keep these and indeed any email applications sent. The Dept of SW know full well employers are not responding. It was not too long ago when SW recipients had to physically go door to door looking for jobs and have these trips signed off by various businesses. The Businesses revolted and refused and eventually this practice was stopped, thankfully.

Chaotic_Forces

Jeez, stop flipping scaring him/her.

Look, the letter is given out after a few months, I got one too. It's the same deal when you signed up for it at first. You just fill out your details and the whole "looking for work" thing is just putting down actual places you applied to. You don't need to have emails and whatnot. I've often sent out applications online and never got anything back, even
after emailing them again.
Let's say you applied at your local corner shop all you would do is get one of the staff (or yourself if you know the details) to fill out stuff. Address of the store, name, if a job was advertised and if you were offered one or not.

Really, all it is is a standard check up to make sure you're still qualified for getting it. and part of the deal was you have to look for work so they just want you to fill it in again. As for the thing with it being late (this happens a lot with letters from the SW for some reason), don't worry about it. Just take a day or two to look for jobs, fill it in and leave it in to the SW in person and explain you got it so late.

tenchi-fan

Dempo1 wrote: »

Unfortunately it is not entirely true that candidates get a response to applications, in fact the opposite is true. More and more employers are also clearly stating UN successful candidates will not be contacted. Some sites like Irish jobs will send a copy of your application but it is very vague, however keep these and indeed any email applications sent. The Dept of SW know full well employers are not responding. It was not too long ago when SW recipients had to physically go door to door looking for jobs and have these trips signed off by various businesses. The Businesses revolted and refused and eventually this practice was stopped, thankfully.

This is the type of email I was referring to. The (automated) confirmation email. Whether it's vague or not, it shows that you're applying for jobs. And for people who also print out the job spec it will be clear exactly what type of job they're applying for too.

Dempo1

tenchi-fan wrote: »

This is the type of email I was referring to. The (automated) confirmation email. Whether it's vague or not, it shows that you're applying for jobs. And for people who also print out the job spec it will be clear exactly what type of job they're applying for too.

Yes indeed just wanted to point out that there are all to many employers not responding to applicants and automated confirmations will help, this said not all job sites offer this service, any and all emails sent for job applications should be saved!

cee_jay

Chaotic_Forces wrote: »

Just take a day or two to look for jobs, fill it in and leave it in to the SW in person and explain you got it so late.

You are supposed to be looking for work all the time - not just when you receive this form. So you shouldn't really need a day or two to look for jobs. Just keep note of what jobs you do apply for - have a notebook or saved document on your PC keeping a list of them all. You can then fill these in on the back of the form they send out. If you have the saved emails etc all well and good - just detail when you applied and where on the back of the form.

Chaotic_Forces

cee_jay wrote: »

You are supposed to be looking for work all the time - not just when you receive this form. So you shouldn't really need a day or two to look for jobs. Just keep note of what jobs you do apply for - have a notebook or saved document on your PC keeping a list of them all. You can then fill these in on the back of the form they send out. If you have the saved emails etc all well and good - just detail when you applied and where on the back of the form.

Well I meant that there isn't a rush to do it all in one day. And yes, I know we look for work as often as possible but it's just not possible to have 12 jobs (or however it is to be filled in) available for you to apply for daily. Hence, I said a day or two.