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hadepsx

Hi, In may I transferred from btea to jobseekers allowance. When I did this I also signed a form stating that I was returning to the second year of my third level college course. Today I received a letter asking have I applied for any jobs in the meantime, looking for and available for full time work etc. I've only been looking at part time positions as I intend to return to college, and haven't applied for them as of yet. If I got a full time job between now and September I would lose btea entitlement. Any advice as to what to write down?. Shall I just state as I'm returning to college that I haven't applied for jobs??. Thanks.

hawthorne

Whatever you do- don't tell them you did not look for jobs.
If you are on JA you must look for jobs- it is one of the conditions to get the money.
The only time you do not have to look for jobs is when you are on JA "for administrative purposes only". F.ex waiting for a review of a disallowed claim.

hadepsx

hawthorne wrote: »

Whatever you do- don't tell them you did not look for jobs.
If you are on JA you must look for jobs- it is one of the conditions to get the money.
The only time you do not have to look for jobs is when you are on JA "for administrative purposes only". F.ex waiting for a review of a disallowed claim.

What if I just apply for jobs now then return the form before the 2 week deadline. I know it looks bad but it will show I'm looking for positions, the thing that's putting me off doing that is that they know my intentions of returning to college in September.

hadepsx

Also is there another type of payment I should be on instead, considering the above situation?.

killanena

Just start applying now for placements sense you said you needed a part time job anyways, in an interview state your only looking for part time work. You'll be grand. There are much bigger fish out there for them to catch and fry.

hawthorne

hadepsx wrote: »

What if I just apply for jobs now then return the form before the 2 week deadline. I know it looks bad but it will show I'm looking for positions, the thing that's putting me off doing that is that they know my intentions of returning to college in September.

Fine. Would not look bad.
Consider the following:
Checking out job ads in newspapers counts as an effort to look for work. I suppose you did the in the last few weeks.
Checking out jobs online- there are a few like "jobs.ie" counts as well.
Surely you have done that as well in the last few weeks.
Asking around is another effort which you might have done in the last few weeks.
You can give loads of examples what you have done- and you will be surprised how long your list of efforts will be.
Good luck!

hawthorne

hadepsx wrote: »

Also is there another type of payment I should be on instead, considering the above situation?.

I am afraid there is no other payment.
On second thoughts...if you are on BTEA you should ask somebody in a citizen information centre for advice.

hadepsx

hawthorne wrote: »

Fine. Would not look bad.
Consider the following:
Checking out job ads in newspapers counts as an effort to look for work. I suppose you did the in the last few weeks.
Checking out jobs online- there are a few like "jobs.ie" counts as well.
Surely you have done that as well in the last few weeks.
Asking around is another effort which you might have done in the last few weeks.
You can give loads of examples what you have done- and you will be surprised how long your list of efforts will be.
Good luck!

Thanks, Yes I'm always doing those activities, but how do you prove it. I also have a jobs.ie account so I'm receiving daily emails about jobs that are of interest to me.

hawthorne

hadepsx wrote: »

Thanks, Yes I'm always doing those activities, but how do you prove it. I also have a jobs.ie account so I'm receiving daily emails about jobs that are of interest to me.

They accept a sort of diary of your efforts. You put down the date and the sort of activity you did. Loads of efforts are done without any proof. People sending off CVs and never get an answer.
You could print out the emails you got. Probably you phoned a few numbers without success.
I used to have lined sheets of paper printed out with all the daily efforts written into it. I kept it going during the month and whenever they asked me for proof I just sent them a copy.
They will be happy about it, don't worry.

hadepsx

hawthorne wrote: »

They accept a sort of diary of your efforts. You put down the date and the sort of activity you did. Loads of efforts are done without any proof. People sending off CVs and never get an answer.
You could print out the emails you got. Probably you phoned a few numbers without success.
I used to have lined sheets of paper printed out with all the daily efforts written into it. I kept it going during the month and whenever they asked me for proof I just sent them a copy.
They will be happy about it, don't worry.

Fair enough, I'll do something similar. Thanks for the advice.