Universal Jobmatch:- Day One

So, today is the 19th of November 2012, and as such the DWPs "new" method of job searching , the "Universal Job Match", has been launched.
As I said in a previous blog entry, the whole scheme has been kept very much under wraps, so much so that many jobseekers were, and probably still are, completely unaware of its existence.

Thus far today, I have received THREE text messages from the Jobcentre regarding this scheme, even though I have not given them permission to contact me by text I may add, although they do have my mobile number.
The first text came at 10:35am and simply put was nothing more than a bog standard marketing text containing a very basic description of the service. One worrying thing about it though was the end of the text which said "Please register ASAP at www.gov.co.uk/jobsearch - this will be reviewed at your next attendance" and then followed by a geographical number to contact the jobcentre on.

The second text arrived at 10:45, containing the exact same text, but with the geographical number being replaced by an 0845 number, because hey, we all know the JCP don't want us contacting them directly, much less by a phone number which doesn't generate much of an income for them.

The third text of the day arrived at 4:05pm, and this time round instead of being a pseudo friendly marketing text, it contained the following text:-

"Today the new government website Universal Jobmatch has launched. To register you must have a valid e-mail address, our records show that you do not have one. It is important that you create an email account as a matter of priority in order to register and start using Universal Jobmatch. If you require assistance creating an email address please contact Doncaster JCP on 08456043719 or ask your personal advisor"

Ok, the above is a verbatim reproduction of the text I received, but unfortunately for JCP, the soft handed passive-aggressive bully tactics contained in this text will not work on me, so to wit, the following corrections are a more accurate picture of how the situation with UJ actually is:-

#1 - Under the terms of the Data Protection Act 1998 I, or indeed any UK citizen, am under no obligation whatsoever, legal or otherwise, to enter into any kind of agreement whereby I will face the possibility of my personal information being  stolen or misused in any way contrary to my wishes. The Sites own privacy policy itself clearly states, and I quote:

 “We try to limit access to our searchable CV database only to those employers who have been given permission, but cannot guarantee that people or organisations without permission will not gain access to this database.”. 

 In addition to this piss poor promise of low security, buried within the UJ sites Terms and Conditions of use they say (in addition to this being the ONLY section of the website which states that the sites database will NOT be overseen by the DWP, but instead will be overseen by Monster Worldwide ltd, who already have a poor record when it comes to safeguarding personal data ) that, and I quote: 


“We cannot protect you from unwanted emails that you may receive that may advertise products or services for sale, although We can choose to restrict the number of emails which an employer may send to you.”

If this is true, then the whole site has been set up in direct contravention of the DPA 1998 and thus is not fit for purpose.

#2 - The second correction is a very simple one. In the "thinly veiled threat" text received by me at 4:05pm today they state that:

".. It is important that you create an email account as a matter of priority in order to register and start using Universal Jobmatch.."

Oops!, sorry DWP, but that one wont work either, as firstly this document (along with source) shows, there is NO OBLIGATION whatsoever for anyone ti register any of their personal information with the UJ scheme, neither is there any recourse against them if they don't, but secondly, a quick visit and poke around on the UJ site, located HERE , shows anyone with an ounce of common sense that there is no need whatsoever to provide any information to the site in order to perform jobsearch activities.

So, all that aside, I decided to check out the site (but not submit any personal information), to see if there had been any improvements to the job search facilities, because god knows the old direct.gov jobsearch site was in dire need of an overhaul.

The first thing you are greeted with is this:

The home page, which again, does not mention that registration is required, nor does it mention that the scheme is not being run by the DWP.
Scrolling down the page reveals this:

Once again, no mention made of any kind of mandatory elements, or who the site is being administered by, or about who has access to the sites information.

Clicking on the "Other ways to apply" tab gets you this:

quite simply, the telephone number to call jobseeker direct, which is to be "scaled back" as part of the introduction of the UJ scheme, which undoubtedly will lead to redundancies within the DWP and/or the call centres that they contract the work out to.

Clicking on the "Start now" button forwards you to this:

Oh look!, its the direct.gov jobsearch page....way to go DWP, you've just paid someone to slap a few bits of touch up work on your existing site...essentially, paying twice for work you've already done yourself..*sigh*
You will also note how under the heading "Welcome to Universal Jobmatch", it quite clearly says "you don't need an account to start searching for a job" and that making an account merely makes a profile for your CV to be attached to and sets up email notification.
Of course, no mention is made here that your account will be made accessible to any JCP or DWP employee who has access to the system, much less that any info contained in it will be more than likely sold or passed on to any of Monster Worldwides sub companies or affiliates for marketing purposes.

You are presented with the option to log in if you have already created a government gateway account, or to create one, so i decided to see what happened when I tried to create a dummy account:

The initial form is simple, asking for name, email address and a password, UJ got the name "Fuck Nugget" whose email address was "fucknugget@bigbrother.com" and the password of "bigbrother6969", which was then submitted

AWWWWWWW!, spoilsports!.

So, going back to the main jobsearch page and typing in "Doncaster" gets me this:

The site is automatically preset to search within 20 miles of the town specified, with additional clickable search modifiers down on the left hand sidebar to refine the search

In this case, I chose to refine the search to full time only vacancies within 20 miles, posted within the last 3 days, unfortunately though, those folk who designed the search algorithm don't appear to be able to read a map, as can be seen clearly here....

Both Lincoln and Leeds are NOT within a 20 mile radius of Doncaster (and don't get me started on using public transport to reach either of these destinations), given that the scale on this map is 1 inch = 10 miles.

Anyways, i decided to check through some of the results, firstly this one

I cant apply for this one on account of not having a driving licence, but I do note from this entry that an email address is not supplied, neither is a contact name, although this could be because, as the entry says, applications are to be made by contacting the personnel dept and asking for an application form. Not too bad considering, but wouldn't it be cheaper just to email one to the applicant?..
Also shown is the drop down box containing the reasons as to why you will not be applying for this position, Id wager if you were using the "full" UJ account, you'd be sanctioned for clicking "I am not interested in this job" or "job doesn't match my career level".

Anyways, i tried a couple of other jobs on the list, to see if any of them held any contact details, and the next interesting thing came up here

This vacancy is through an employment agency, but note how this entry does not identify it as such, unlike what the old direct.gov site did, instead, this job implies that it is working for the agency in some capacity. As some people, myself included, have an extreme level of distrust in agencies (with good reason too), this is a bit dodgy in my opinion.

So, all in all, the UJs "new" site offers some, albeit minimal, improvements over the old direct.gov.uk jobsearch facility, namely with regards to more user friendly search refinements, but at the same time its big brother-esque (and legally unsound) background goings off are still a cause for concern, and as such, I will not be giving any of my details to this site, unless given a written order to by a DWP advisor.

Universal Jobmatch... Big Brothers latest unwelcome intrusion that you know nothing about.

On the 8th of August 2012, the DWP very quietly announced its intention to launch a scheme it called the "Universal Jobmatch".
This scheme, they stated, was intended to "streamline" (alarm bells always ring in my head whenever I hear that word) the current job search system, making it easier for bother prospective employees and employers to access available positions and jobseekers by visiting a single place.

The first I heard about this was on the afternoon of the 8th of November, when I went to sign on at the Jobcentre, or, more specifically, only when I asked what "UJ account approved" meant on a form that I had slid across the desk to me, which, due to the fact that the form requested personal information irrelevant to my claim for JSA (for example, asking for NINOs, addresses and DOBs of relatives) I left mostly blank, and refused to provide the information verbally either.

The explanation went along the lines of this:-

"Its a new scheme that was announced in parliament during the summer. Basically its going to replace jobseeker direct and the job points here"

When I pressed the issue further (which made the guy whom I was talking to uncomfortable) I was told:-

"After the 19th of November we will send you a text to let you know the scheme has gone live. Everyone claiming JSA will have to go to the Direct.gov site and make an account on there, giving your skills, qualifications and experience, from there your skills and stuff will be given a score out of five, then the system will show you what jobs are available in your area that match your score so you can apply for them. Then, whenever you come to sign on, we can quickly see what you have applied for and follow up on them."

This in itself doesn't sound too bad,  but when I asked again about the reasons behind them wanting my relatives personal info, my question was rebuffed, leading me to be highly dubious of their motives, so I did a little digging around to see just what this "Universal jobmatch" thing was all about.

The first thing a Google search throws up is THIS , which is the "official" (and rather worryingly brief) statement of affairs from the DWP website, along with a link to an FAQ document. reading through these two items, again, everything seems fairly above board, however, looking at the other Google hits tells a slightly different story.

The first one to come to my attention was THIS blog post, which describes how originally, the universal jobmatch scheme was intended to simply be an additional tool for job seekers to use in their jobsearch, but then was changed to become a mandatory part of the job seekers agreement, a fact which has been hurriedly covered up by a recent, and unannounced, change to the DWPs FAQ document.

In addition, reading further it seems that this universal jobmatch scheme is being operated without consideration for personal privacy laws and regulations, and in addition to this, the scheme is to be overseen by US based "Monster Worldwide", a company which also runs the US version of jobmatch through the website www.usajobs.gov . It should be noted here that while running the USAjobs website, Hackers managed to steal the personal information of 4.5 million registered users due to poor site security, fills you with confidence huh?

So, in addition to concerns about personal info being lost or stolen, which as we all know has never happened before *rolleyes*, what does this mean to the ordinary joe who is just looking for work?, well, unfortunately, CONSEQUENCES WILL NEVER BE THE SAME AGAIN!!1!!!!one!1!11!!.

As I have stated, the implementation of the UJ scheme is a mandatory part of the job seekers agreement (or at least will be after 19/11/2012) so thus all job seekers will be expected to use the website, which is fine and dandy so long as you have Internet access (this is addressed and neatly sidestepped in the DWPs FAQ document, question #3 to be precise), however, as it is expected/assumed that you will be able to find something to apply for on there, it does not take into account other jobsearch websites, such as jobsite.co.uk, indeed.co.uk and many others.

What does this mean?, well, lets say that in one 2 week period, you apply for only one position through the UJ system, but then apply for a dozen other vacancies through an external job search website, or directly with an employer through their website, your job centre advisor will only be able to see a single application, as the general rule of thumb is that job seekers should be applying for at least 4 jobs in the two week period, this will mean that "proof" of job search has not been adequately shown on their system (and remember folks, the system is never wrong !!!!!), the advisor has more than enough reason to use you as a means to hit their target for slapping you with "sanctions" , because as we all know these days, its all about hitting those targets, regardless of whether its lawful or not.

Personally, i do think that the IDEA of the UJ scheme is sound, but as past experience has taught us, the DWPs target driven environment, coupled with poor training of staff as well as the DWPs poor understanding of the job market will mean that the scheme will probably end up worse for job seekers than the current work program gravy train, in which the DWP is managing to fiddle the unemployment figures by saying that people are being sent on non-existant "training courses" presided over organisations such a A4E, Serco and many others....then of course you have the whole situation regarding the victimisation of those unable to work by ATOS, but that's another story....