How to get your Job Search right so you dont get sanctioned

Yesterday i wrote how to sign on initially, so if you have not read that yet go back and read it so you know what you have to do to set up your claim and how you should get your Claimant Commitment set up so it is not unrealistic for you to manage your job search.

Ok so you are now signed on at the job centre and you now have to complete your job search for the next time you go into the office to sign on. If you have never done this before it may seem daunting and where do you start with it and what exactly do they want to see when you go back in to sign on?

The first place to start is your claimant commitment form. This is exactly what you have agreed to do in your job search. Lets take a look at an example.

Your claimant commitment form will look something like this:

Check Universal Jobmatch                   - Daily
Check local newspapers                       - Weekly
Check indeed.co.uk                              - Daily
Visit 3 employers per week                  - Weekly
Apply for at least 6 jobs per week        - Weekly

You will have different things on yours that you have agreed to do but whatever it says you have to do then this is what you HAVE to do each week you are claiming benefits or you will be sanctioned if you dont.

So lets take a look at our example. Remember your own claimant commitment will be different but you still have to follow what is on your own form along the same lines as this example. Dont just copy this example as a job search, you will get sanctioned, this is just an example to show you what kinds of things you will be expected to do to keep your claim going.

Ok so the first thing on our example is Check Universal JobMatch. On the example we have agreed to do this daily so this means logging into your universal jobmatch (UJM) account and checking for all the jobs you can do and if you see one you can apply for it as long as you can get to it if you are using public transport. If you have followed my m previous post on how to set up your claim you wont have given your advisor access to your UJM account, if you have then go back and read my previous post and uncheck the boxes giving them access. The reason for this is they can see exactly what you have been doing on your account and if they dont think you have applied for all the jobs that are available on your account they can sanction you. So it is in your own interest to keep your UJM private to you. Remember keep a record of any jobs you apply for so you can show in your job search the next time you sign on.
The next thing we have to do is check Indeed.co.uk as we have agreed to do that daily too. So just log into your indeed account and check for jobs that you can apply for and apply for them, remembering to keep a record of what jobs you apply for to show when you next sign on.
So next we have to check local newspapers as we have agreed to do that weekly. Personally i agree to look in 3 newspapers from different towns local to where i live to give myself more chance to find jobs. Remember to keep a copy of the jobs you apply for to show in your job search next time you sign on.
Next we have to visit 3 employers a week to see if they have any jobs. This may sound like a good idea when you first sign on and you may think this will get you brownie points with the advisor because you have shown you are pro-actively looking for work but remember you have to keep this up for the whole period of your claim. Once you have visited all the employers in your area that have jobs you are qualified to do you will have to look further afield in places you might not want to work in such as outside public transport routes or places that are miles away from your home. Remember that if you agree to something on your claimant commitment you have to keep it up or you can be sanctioned if you dont do it. This is the most important part of your job search as you MUST do EVERYTHING you agreed to do EVERY day to keep up your claim or you can and will be sanctioned which means you can lose your money for up to 3 years. So if you agree to something like visit 3 employers per week you have to be able to keep up with it for the whole period of your claim. If you do manage this remember to keep a copy of it to show for your job search. I take a photo of myself outside the employers office to show that i went there and ask the reception to give you a 'with compliments' slip with their signature on saying you dropped of a CV to show with your job search to prove you actually did it.
The last one is Apply for at least 6 jobs per week. If you agreed to 6 jobs then apply for 12. This may sound crazy or hard but it pays in the end because you will be showing you are doing what you agreed to. On our example we could have applied for 3 jobs already by visiting 3 employers, we could have applied for 3 jobs on UJM, 3 jobs on indeed.co.uk and 3 jobs out of the local newspapers and that gives us the 12 jobs for that week. So we have already filled this one in and completed it by completing the other steps.

There are also other things you can do to look for work which will give you more things you can put down such as asking friends and family if they know of any jobs. If you are on facebook or twitter to ask on there or join the local job groups and check on them each day/every other day. If you use Linkedin this gives you another method of applying for jobs and more steps you can put down. Visiting/phoning/emailing employment agencies, if you register with at least 5 agencies this will give you 1 contact per day you can put down on your job search. There are plenty more things you can do and im sure you know of other ways of applying for jobs but just remember to put them down on your job search form to show exactly what you did each day/week to find work.


If we did all the above then our jobsearch should look something like the following:

Monday - logged onto UJM and applied for cleaner at A1 Cleaners, Logged onto Indeed and applied for a Gardener at B1 Gardeners. Phoned Best Employment Agency to see if they had work. Asked my friend Bob if he knew of any jobs.

Tuesday - Logged onto UJM and applied for builder at One Builders, Logged onto Indeed and applied for cleaner at Sparkle cleaning Visited Sun Manufacturing and dropped off CV. Visited Happy Employment Agency to ask about new vacancies they have. Checked my Linkedin and applied for admin at Great Business plc. Checked my Facebook for new jobs in the "jobs in mytown" group

Wednesday - Logged onto UJM and applied for sailor at Seaside boats ltd, Logged onto Indeed and applied for carpet fitter at ace carpets. Emailed Very Good employment agency about their current vacancies. Checked my Linkedin account for new jobs and joined 3 new job groups in Mytown area and introduced myself to 3 managers of businesses in Mytown. Checked my Twitter for new jobs and asked my friend Henry if he knew of any jobs in Histown where he lives

Then basically keep this kind of thing up each day and you will be fulfilling what you agreed to do on your claimant commitment form. Remember you have to do EVERYTHING you agreed to do so make sure you can achieve it or you will only set yourself up for a sanction. I cannot stress this enough, say with our example claimant commitment form we applied for 300 jobs in the week but didnt visit 3 employers per week we can still be sanctioned because we did not do everything we agreed to do. They would not care you have applied for 300 jobs they would just say you didnt visit 3 employers and send your claim to a decision maker for a sanction and you will lose your money. Do EVERYTHING you agreed to do on your claimant commitment form.

I hope this helps you with your job search and how to complete it. Next up is your signing day.....