A visit to the job centre

So I had my interview at the job centre - or JobCentre Plus, to give it its correct name - this morning. It's so not set up for dealing with anyone at any kind of senior level, or indeed anyone in the eCommerce or internet sectors.

I have to say the experience wasn't as unpleasant as it might have been. I chose to go to Barnet rather than Wood Green, which is nearer to me but now that I've started watching The Wire is just a bit too close to Baltimore. Sadly they don't have job centres in Muswell Hill, Hampstead or Highgate...

Anyway they had someone at reception to meet and greet, and within 5 minutes of arriving I was being seen by the first person, to go through the details I had given on the phone on Wednesday.

That's when it started to go pear-shaped. I then went upstairs to meet with a personal consultant, or something like that, to go through my objectives and my plan for finding work. We sat at her computer and she started by asking me to tell her three areas that I'll be focusing on. I started with 'eCommerce'. Not a clue. I explained to her that I ran the zavvi website; "So you're a computer programmer then?". No, I explained, and talked her through the intricacies of content management systems, searchandising and offshore fulfilment. Well, actually, I asked her to imagine going to a website and buying a CD, which she seemed to understand. Anyway, they don't have eCommerce anywhere in the Department of Employment's systems, so I suggested she just put down retail and spelt eCommerce for her to add in brackets.

On to number two. I said that I'm also interested in other internet related positions. Guess what, there's no 'internet' option either, or website unless you're a programmer. Ho hum.

On to my availability. I said that I'd be happy to work any hours between 8-6, which she then input as 08.00 - 06.00 making for a very long day indeed...

Now we discussed what I was doing to find employment. The first suggestion was to come in 10 minutes early before my next sign-on appointment so I can look at the jobpoint kiosk. She asked if I was able to commit to sending my cv out to 2 people per week, which I reluctantly agreed to - honestly, what do these people want from me! A further suggestion was to look in my local paper, so I've also signed up to checking the Muswell Hill Journal every week - I'm not familiar with their executive search section but I'm looking forward to it. I made the suggestion that I would look at The Guardian's Media pages on Mondays, and Technology pages on Thursdays, but we struggled with that one since she couldn't spell 'Guardian'. Still, we got there together.

By now you'll have gathered that I'm not holding out too much hope of Bridget playing a major part in my job search; frankly I'd rather she spent her time helping others that might benefit from it more anyway so it's not really an issue. If I can get a little money and my National Insurance contributions paid that'll be fine.

In general the job search seems to be progressing well enough, although I'm more than aware that positive conversations don't necessarily lead to interviews or job offers, and being busy isn't to be confused with making things happen. But at this stage it's about making connections, talking to people and getting myself in decent shape to take advantage when the important conversations happen. It's been a decent week, with a few meetings lined up for next week, but I need to push myself to keep the momentum going.

In the meantime, as I write it looks like Kris Boyd isn't leaving Rangers, and Andy Murray has just beaten Roger Federer 6-7 6-2 6-2 in Qatar. So that's good.