"Wheels to Work" - Moped Scheme in New Forest

Looking for work usually involves considerable expensive travel by bus or train, for example:

• travel to interviews at employers' premises;


• regular visits to the office of Jobcentre Plus;


• visits to the nearby town's public library to job-search by on-line or in local newspapers; and,


• travel to Learn Direct or some other training establishment.

Walking up and down on the South Downs Way from Winchester in four days of blissful weather, I came upon the New Forest's "Wheels to Work" Mobed Scheme - details were given on a village notice board.

Wheels to Work enables selected young persons to have a conditional loan of a mobed and a variety of "appendages". The package might include for instance:

• the moped with lock and MOT;


• helmet and clothing;


• insurance;


• training in riding a moped; and,


• etc, etc.

For the young cash-strapped seeker of employment or training for work the scheme is a boon.

Referrals to the scheme may be made by a referring agent, such as - Jobcentre Plus, Youth Service, employer,.. self-referral is allowed. Detailed notes on the Scheme were later found (you know where). Numerous schemes are littering the countryside - see: http://www.cfnf.org.uk/ and search 'Moped'.

Mandatory Work for Jobseekers and Job Clubs

Regulations 2011 SI 2011 No 688 has been scrutinised by the Merits of Statutory Instruments Committee of theHouse of Lords(?) and the reponse from the Department of Works and Pensions was useful in getting a handle, ie for me, on mandatory work for jobseekers. Initially a minimum of 10,000 persons will come within the scheme and it is expected to grow. For Job Clubs there is scope to help those who might otherwise or will come within the mandatory work scheme. Initially consideration for needs advice and practice might be based upon:

• the importance of the practice of personal time management - setting and identifying targets and outcomes;


• how to source and procure support in personal job searching;


• learning and taking on board innovative and speculative approaches to job searching;


• action-research in obtaining and rationalising work experience into meanful outcomes;


• recording and explaining "work experience" from life experiences in situations involving work (of course) but also leisure, volunteering, church activities; home life and so on;


• networking at courses, exhibitions. business shows etc so as to understand how employers "think2 and "react" to one's personal behaviour;


• the rationale of complaining and the current procedures for progressing a complaint.

Members' experience in and with their job club will enable them to successfully avoid the negative aspects of indicating behaviours (to use the DWP jargon) and so get regular work by their own efforts - this not wishful thinking!

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld201011/ldselect/ldmerit/126/12606.htm

Intellectual Property Rights No 2 - Protection of IPRs

Since the last post on niche members the government's Department for BIS has issued a press release on the need for companies to protect their intellectual property, ie innovations requiring protection with patent, registered design, copyright, ...etc. The press release (link below) shows the range of services available from the Intllectual Property Office. http//nds.coi.gov.uk/content/Detail.aspx?ReleaseID=418943&NewsAreaID=2&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+bis-news+%28BIS+News%29 The British Library runs a free on-line short course which introduces the subject of IP protection - a good first step!

Courses for Job Club Leaders - Part 1 (Update No 1 - 8 January 2012)

Received news and documentation of the governmental interest in work clubs and enterprise clubs - how to set up and run them. I now believe that the "job club movement" is going to become institutionalised. Will training and education catch hold this movement and create certificates, diplomas, degrees, masters degrees and doctors degrees? I learned this morning that Douglas College has a certificate in "job club leadership"!

Having researched for setting up a job club network, I now appreciate how much I did not know before I started and how much I want/need to know - to be really effective. (No course was available - I should say that I did not find one!) If I were to work up a course syllabus I would want to understand who are the end-users (members of job clubs) and what are their requirements. Here one is into niche marketing.

So far my research suggests end-users will be categorised in no particular order as :

• return-to-work mothers;
• graduates seeking employment or internships;
• school-leavers wanting apprenticeships;
• inventors wanting to protect their ideas (patents, etc) and then licence-out or start-up a business etc;
• those with a product or service idea who want to start a business;
• recently or not recently unemployed wanting to get employment;
• those with a small business wanting to develop or to expand;
• keen-to-work persons with disabilities or health problems;
• former business owners wanting to move into employment;
• individuals at the first or a later threshold working life and without an inkling of the potential for themselves in the world of work; and,
• etc, etc.

A syllabus-deliverer has his or her work cut out to create a course for job club leaders where each will have that mix of group! Is it feasible to have such a mix...?

Today (9 January 2012) I found information about a USAID course for job club leaders in Argentina. Must now seek details of the syllabus!
http://mazedonien-nachrichten.blogspot.com/2011/12/job-club-re-opens-in-strumica.html

Starting a Business No 2 - Business Link Courses

Twenty or so of us sat for nearly three hours to listen and talk about starting a new business. The morning course was set-up by Sevenoaks District Council and was delivered by Business Link South East.

The speaker's style was informal and was inter-active - we were kept on or toes so to speak. The aim was to examine "starting a business". This was in the sense that by the end of the session a participant would go away fired-up to take on (or perhaps not) his or her idea for a business.

Self-commitment to the numerous tasks ahead was made obvious to all. The exploratory approach meant that many of the self-examine worksheets of questions could not be completed in the time available. This was entirely acceptable because the broad nature of the insight given would enable the wannabee business-eer to take a suitable period for the work-up to commitment.

A few had already started their business so the opportunity to network was taken by all - business cards, email addresses or telephone numbers were exchanged by those prepared to seek or do business.

Business Link offer a range of developmental opportunities - courses going deeper into the topics introduced in this first session.

Hopefully 20 new businesses or recently established will prosper as a result of the day's workshop session - they should do so with the kind of grounding on offer.

Books for Job Clubs No 3 - CVs in a Week (Book Review)

In 2002 the Chartered Management Institute published CVs in a Week, a book of about 84 effective pages, which day-by-day gives motivation to the CV-compiler to complete a first class CV of appropriate style in seven days. The authors are Steve Morris and Graham Willcocks.

The seven 'chapters' are indicated by page headers as the days of the week. Each gives directions and balanced comment on a selected part of the process, namely:

1. ways to see oneself in a processed manner (on Sunday);
2. basics of the CV (on Monday);
3. understanding the prospective employer(s) from the advert and in other ways (on Tuesday);
4. a retrieval mapping approach to one's life and working life (on Wednesday);
5. putting the CV on paper - approaches to style and format - almost a first draft (on Thursday);
6. fine-tuning the layout and phraseology of the various sections of the CV (on Friday); and,
7. attracting the right employer - partly by the covering letter (on Saturday).

The approach will give the applicant a wealth of self-understanding, approaches and ideas for the CV and confidence that one is probably spot-on. A criticism of this slender volume is that there is no index - hopefully, however, the reader will only once need to use the book for the first CV that is then sent to the perfick employer who immediately recognises the perfick employee!
Footnote: It was not until about Wednesday that I remembered that I am a member (albeit retired) of the CIM!

Books for Job Clubs No 2 "How to turn an Interview into a Job" (Book Review Update july 2011)

How to turn an Interview into a Job (2004 Edition) by Jeffery G Allen has about 98 very effective pages (veps) of seemingly effective advice for the would-be job searcher cum interviewee.

The 14 chapters are short and pithy; the chapters, notes and index etc are written for the USA market circa mid-2000's but I would guess this very readable and useful book has a UK-following. The first read took less than a day but it is a book I would want to go back to time and again.

The principal subject matter of the early chapters includes:

• the process of preparing for a job interview;
• job searching on the internet;
• the use of 72 buzz words for CVs;
• some 75 questions for stress or interrogation interviews;
• researching the employers;
• Do's and Do not's in given situations;
• etc, etc.

Although written for the job seeker in the USA much of the material is transferable to the UK. Some of the advice might be innovative or even over-the-top for the UK job market in 2004 and since. My read has taken less than a day and I want to go back to the book for mock interviews at the Hextable Job Club and Swanley Job Club. - as interviewer!

Frequently were the thoughts: "Why haven't I thought of that!" or "I will adopt that approach!"