Are Job centres the most depressing place on earth?

The answer is yes they are. The fact that entering a new job centre now feels as if you're entering a closely guarded fortress doesn't do much to enhance the user experience.

It's been 2 full weeks since I have been officially looking for a job. One thing for sure is that it is a lot harder than it seems. There are still jobs out there but competition is fierce and it really is a case of having to put the hours in.

The last time I had the pleasure of signing on was 8 years ago when I was a young fresh faced marketing grad looking for her first proper job. It would have been nice to say that in those 8 intermittent years that our job centre service had grown and continuously developed but that would be lying. What we have, in the main, is a creaking system that is quite frankly overwhelmed by the sheer volume of people now looking for work and a series of people who are just there to tick boxes. My first time of signing on was on Weds and I obviously didn't know what to do. Was there anyone to help me - oh no. So I ended up standing around like a lemon for quite some time until the man behind the desk told me that I was supposed to put my signing on book onto his desk.

In the end I waited around for half an hour to be seen. The man behind the desk had been quite rude to most people prior to me but when I got there he began to flirt with me. I was slightly taken aback, "where's your name from?" - he enquired. He even made a joke about the date being 2010 then called me "sharp" when I said "I think you mean it's 2009!". Anyway, I signed and left as soon as I could. Till next time.

Why Am I Here?

As a recently made redundant marketeer, I've kicked off my search for work this week. Yippeee - at least the sun is out so I can hang out in my garden too. I figured this blog would be good way to chronicle my steps towards finding that all important next role. Why am I doing this you may ask? Well it's a way to keep my mind entertained - being unemployed can get rather boring rather quickly plus I figure there are many others out there in a similar predicament so it'll be reassurring to know that you're not alone.