Finding my sparkle the robotics of the job application process

 I met an old boss a few weeks ago for coffee, I am feeling battered and bruised because I have been out of work since last October and have had 8 unsuccessful interviews in the past 9 weeks. He said what I had to do was to re find my sparkle because that's what made him hire me.

So why have I lost it? this blog post will attempt to explore the process and show why I have lost my sparkle

Job application forms and person specs  have become more unrealistic.

This has been a trend since the economic crisis of 2008 organisations are trying to keep up the same level of service with less money. In reality this means combining jobs and paying people the same to do more work.  What this means for person specs is that the Essential and Desirable Criteria are becoming more lengthy. The Desirable matter because if the candidates  show they have 3 of 4 and another application  has 2 of the 4 then the candidate with 3 of 4 is more likely to get the interview if both have met the essentials. Organisations need to think if they really need a person with all the points on the person spec as they rarely exist

This means for application forms the additional information section is now critical but organisations have changed the way they recruit accordingly. The additional information is now dealt with by character length and not just  word length so candidates have to work out how to say they fit the lengthy criteria. in roughly 15 full length tweets  or 2000 characters  sometimes more. For word length its about 500 so imagine a 12 point person spec and working out a way to cover all the important points in as much detail but as briefly as possible.

This has turned me into a robot who can recite pretty much from memory my examples for applications and doesn't leave much room for the extra stardust which may get the interview.

Interviews are now literally box ticking exercises.

I am disabled but the ticking of "interviewing the disabled person box" is not what I am talking about  here. I am talking about the fact  interviews are now competency based so they follow the STAR model. Situation Task Action Result. So Tell me an example of when you worked in a team? What they are really interested in is the Action or What you did in that situation This again has turned me into a robot because what the interviewers will do at the end of the day is add up who said what into a score and the person with the biggest score wins. For me this is hard because i give solid interviews and use my personality at the interview to try and show I would fit in at this organisation, but that counts for nothing as I haven't the highest score so again my sparkle is lost. It has become so prescriptive, that very rarely now the panel decides Person X did not score the highest in the interview but they have have something we can work with or improve so lets go with them.

 Feedback

At the end of the interview process it is vital to gain feedback even if you are successful because each interview is a learning opportunity but employers can be reluctant to provide useful feedback.  With this I can than improve the other 2 parts of the blog. The pressures on organisations time means they tend to be robots  as unless the recruiting manager has the time or you push them  for it. The feedback is    "There was a high standard of candidates all of whom were excellent and you did well to get to this stage." This is not helpful at all as I can't tweak my answer or take something out of my application. So recruiting companies should be made to constructive feedback. I mentioned previously my personality. It has often been brought up in my feedback  how engaged I am with the panel and how great I would be to work with

I lost my sparkle because the job application process is now so robotic that I am worn out by it

So for me to regain my Sparkle I need to find a way to be the best robot that there is via the job application and hopefully the interview process, then  get the one thing that has not changed in recruitment have a big slice of luck.

Crossing countries breaking boundaries

For many people a highlight of their life is travelling or volunteering abroad, either in a gap year after school or during a career break. Yet for some people they can't due to having a disability and the obstacles that this presents. In 2005, I was lucky enough to spend a term in New Mexico as part of my degree. This opened my eyes to the world and gave me a love of travel and Mexican food.

I want other disabled people to have the same opportunities to spend some time abroad. This is why I am involved in a project called Crossing Countries.

Crossing Countries was set up by my girlfriend and some classmates. The idea behind it is to support disabled people to volunteer abroad. They would go with a 'travel pal' who would support them during their trip. This summer we hope to go to Durban, South Africa to road test the idea. During the trip we will volunteer with street children and go into schools to talk with students about disability.

We need your help to make the trip possible. So I would be grateful if you would read the link below and if possible donate some funds.

Thank you.

http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/crossing-countries--2

the right support for the right people

Last week I was watching part of the Labour Party Conference and Ed Miliband was taking part in a question and answer session with delegates. I tuned in when I  think he had just been asked a question about employing disabled people- ( I didn't see the question) because his answer covered Remploy workers  and Employment and Support Allowance.

He said  disabled people who can work should be given the right support to be able to do so. This can be very complected as disability is different for every disabled person.

Using my experience as a disabled person I would like to offer 2 ways in which the government can help young disabled professionals like my myself support into employment..

Firstly for young disabled graduates a national employment scheme should be established to  support disabled people into  mainstream employment. in 2008 I secured a job at Lehman Brothers in September 2008 through such a scheme run by the disability charity SCOPE.The SCOPE scheme worked by me being employed by SCOPE for a year to work at Lehman Brothers, then at the end of the years employment it was up to the bank if they took me on permanently and I know the BBC have such schemes so why cant it be rolled out nationally?


Secondly disabled people need help to move house quickly.how this is done I do not know as there is a chronic shortage of of accessible homes.

I live in social housing in Edinburgh and had to turn down a job in London because I couldnt find accessible housing despite months of trying and was told the best way of moving was to secure a house swap but I couldn't find one.  the problem here is that disabled people cant job hunt unless they have accessible accommodation because they cant  take a job in London but live in Edinburgh like me then face the issue of finding a place to live which could take months.

So Ed Miliband is right when he says disabled people need the right support to gain employment and I hope I have offered some thoughts how that support might look

how the UK Government can raise a glass to disabled people in Britain

A year ago I was lucky enough to take part in the Paralympic Torch Relay. In my hand I held the Paralympic flame, it was meant to symbolise a change of attitudes in the United Kingdom, towards disability. Disability was meant to be tackled by society as a whole and not just by disabled people.

Despite this hope, many disabled people are despairing about the changes to disability benefits and feel that instead of being inclusive society is marginalising them through the use of language such as “scrounger”. For some disabled people politicians are not to be trusted because instead of helping to improve disability rights through welfare reform, those rights are being taken away.

That trust can be rebuilt by seeing disability as a positive thing. Today in the House Of Commons there will be an Opposition Day Debate on the impact of the government policies on disabled people. Some MPs will use examples of their constituents to show how government policies are hurting instead of helping disabled people and I'm sure I will find this debate very depressing.

So how can the UK government cheer me up? The answer is take me for a beer or at least give me access information in England and Wales about where I can get one. In Scotland I campaigned for and got a change in the law so that all new licensing applications have to say what access for disabled people their facilities have. This change was supported by all parties in the Scottish Parliament and the licensed trade. Such a move by the UK government has the potential to not just help the disabled people, but people with young families or limited mobility and help the licensed trade. The whole point of the legislation was  to improve access information not to say all pubs have to be accessible. 

Toby Perkins the Shadow Pub Minister through a written question asked if the   UK government have any plans to introduce similar legislation and the answer is no see here . I hope they change their mind and if they do I may just buy them a drink

someone new in my life

For the past eighteen months or so I have been sharing my life with a figure, who at first was on the fringes, but now are front and centre sharing my life on a daily basis. I would like to introduce you to “the Gloom”. Who or what is the “the gloom”? I hear you ask yourselves. “the Gloom” is my name for depression. I was diagnosed with it in March this  year.

My depression aka “the gloom” is on the mild end of the spectrum. I am finding it hard to have a constant mood. I am a yoyo, up some days, down the next. This feeling is not constant it goes and then comes back. It brings not a feeling of sadness but a feeling of pointlessness, I find myself wondering what I should do today because there are not job vacancies and after unsuccessful job interviews, I think, what did I do wrong?

“the Gloom” is in my life for two reasons. Firstly, on the surface I am depressed because I can’t find work, and spend my days looking for work and dream of being a campaign supremo and speech writer. The second reason is probably the underlying reason, I am just coming to terms with my disability. You may find that an odd thing for me to say because I have been disabled all my life.

I am struggling with this because I was brought up to believe my disability was not a barrier to my life However, I have discovered that it is and that realization has hit me hard, Yes my disability has led me to change the law and climb Ben Nevis. But it stopped me from moving to London to take a job with ITV that I would have loved. It is limiting my job prospects because I have to think about my home first and not the job, so it is stopping me from fulfilling my potential.

But “the Gloom” has made me realise what I want to do with my life and that is to make a difference to people. By managing “the Gloom” I know I can make a difference to someone’s life, my own.

CV of a public affairs professional

If you know of anyone needing  someone with media,policy and campaigns experience show them this CV its rather good its mine

Mark Cooper

 markcooperma@googlemail.com

Personal Profile

An award-winning, highly motivated individual with strong communication skills gained through various operational and strategic roles. I have a strong working knowledge of Scottish and British public affairs through experience in an MPs office and through working for one of Scotland’s leading third sector organisations.

I have significant campaigning and lobbying experience both as a campaign leader, as a member of a campaign team and as a candidate in the 2010 General Election. My work has been recognised by the Public Affairs industry. The successful Barred! Campaign – which I founded and ran – won the 2010 Devolved Campaign of the Year at the Public Affairs News Awards.

Education

Aberdeen University (2003-2007)MA (Hons) Politics and International Relations (Lower Second Class)

• Modules included: Scottish Politics, British and European Politics, and Research Methods in Social Science.

Boroughmuir High School (1997-2003)

• Highers: Modern Studies, History, Psychology
• 6 Standard Grades at Credit Level: English, Physics, Computing Studies, German, History, Modern Studies
• 1 Standard Grade at General Level: Maths

Employment

Scottish Labour
Campaign Volunteer (March 2011-May 2011; February 2012-May 2012)

• Data gathering and inputting which enabled voters to be targeted
• Collected voter data on a door-to-door basis helping enable Labour vote to be targeted
• General administrative tasks

Capability Scotland
Parliamentary and Policy Officer (October 2009 – October 2010)

• Promoted the involvement of disabled people in policy and campaign work by collating their views into organisational responses to Government consultations
• Heavily involved in external stakeholder relations with other disability organisations, national media, and civil servants, central and local government and by representing Capability on the Cross Parliamentary Group on Disability.
• Lobbying with the Senior Policy Advisor to exert influence to ensure that laws are passed to improve the rights of disabled people and to help change societal attitudes.
• High-level writing and drafting skills included writing parliamentary briefings, consultation responses, and newspaper articles.
• Conducted research on disability equality, which led to the production of reports, which were used to campaign on issues and inform press releases.

Capability Scotland
Scotland Policy Officer (July 2009 - October 2009)

• Headhunted by Capability Scotland as a result of the Barred! Campaign.
• Led a campaign for equal accessibility for disabled people in bars across Edinburgh whilst raising awareness across Scotland. This campaign resulted in legislative change.
• Liaised with Scottish Parliament and government officials.
• Promoted the work Capability Scotland across a range of media giving interviews, and writing articles, for numerous trade magazines and national media.
• Developed Capability Scotland’s social media strategy understanding the importance of social media in engaging with communities.

Lehman Brothers
Data Analyst (September 2008)

• Hired by the bank but bank collapsed before start date.

Nigel Griffiths MP Office

Officer volunteer (June 2005 – September 2008)

• Worked for Nigel Griffiths during university holidays and on a more regular basis throughout 2007 and 2008)
• Supported MPs’ workload through research, general administration work, and constituent responses.

Achievements

• Founded and ran the award-winning Barred! Campaign. This work was recognised by the Public Affairs News Awards and successfully amended legislation. The campaign also gained national recognition through Capability and other charities.
• Prospective parliamentary candidate in Orkney and Shetland at the 2010 General Election for Scottish Labour. This unique role helped hone my project management and media relation’s skills.
• Was a member of the Debating Society at Aberdeen University and represented the University at competitions across Scotland
• Competent with all Microsoft applications, e-mail and all social media platforms.

References

Available on Request

love is all around

Today is one of those days in parliament when you feel something momentous is being decided, just like  the debate on tuition fees and the Iraq war vote. The issue is today is can same sex couples be married.

I can see both sides of the argument, but I want to explain my point of view. I have spent months thinking about it. I am a practising christian although I don't go to church that often I have found my faith is getting stronger as I continue to fight to find a job it is a comfort to me.

I am in favour of  same sex marriage  and i will admit it i struggled with it because many Christians who i respect said in the press it was wrong. I came to my decision on Christmas eve  during the midnight service. the minister said we have to "put the Christmas story into our lives today into our schools and our work places" the minister who said that is my father.

In my view the Christmas story is about love, The Christmas story says that God gave Jesus to the world because he loved it. A wedding is the opportunity for two people to say to each other in public that they love each other and want to commit to each other in front of their friends.

The second way my faith has helped me to make this decision  is that the new testament talks about equality  how God loves everybody regardless of who they are. this commitment to equality is similar to my own as I really believe that people who would like to commit themselves to each other regardless of their sexuality should be able to do so.

Britain is an un equal society with rich, and poor but by passing the Marriage (same sex couples) bill  Parliament can take a step towards making Britain the equal society we all want it to be.

some thoughts on how I would start to change the work program

I took part in this weeks panorama which showed problems in the work program and I would like take the opportunity to share my ideas on how I would change the program as a whole. My thoughts are nothing to do with the provider who is supporting me to find employment and I will just on disability and employment because that is what I have experience of.

I think there are two main issues with the work program, the first is financial and the second is the actual business of supporting people into employment. Disabled people are seen to be harder to place into employment because they may need extra support to work, for example a person who is depressed may need confidence classes before they can enter the labour market. I have cerebral palsy and am quite prepared to move to find work. This is where I need help because if I do find a job elsewhere in the country I will need help to find accessible accommodation, I live in Edinburgh and found a job in London which I was offered and had to turn down because I couldn’t find accessible accommodation, As disabled people do take longer to support into employment it is right that firms are paid slightly more as they have to do more work to succeed. I found it amusing learning that as a disabled person I have “bounty” on my head.

A Criticism of the Work program is that providers are paid a lot of money. I would like to know did the Government do a cost analysis of doing the program through the job centre? I am asking because I would think the premium paid would be lower, because I would think the government would not want to make money in the same way as the private sector providers, so the overheads would be smaller because as well as costs such as staff profit is not an issue

To help people into work there has to be jobs for the providers and the clients to find to apply for. There can be as many people as you want to have on the work program but if there are not the jobs for them to move into they will be on the program for a long time. That is why the staff who work for the providers do not have the time to work with their clients as I said on the program last night because they have lots of clients but few jobs

Now I will move on to how I would change the program. Firstly I would put disabled people straight on to the work program instead of waiting a year of people claiming JSA before doing so, as happened to me. It maybe different for others.

I would do this because surely the barriers faced by the participants would be the same as on day 365 and if the support they require is to gain confidence the longer the time it is not dealt with the worse it shall be.

Secondly I would use the program as a chance to revolutionise the way employment for disabled people is view in this country. Successive governments have viewed it as providing supported employment through factories such as Employ, In my view supported employment in those environments is only part of the solution because disabled people go to university and college in greater number than they did but there is not a scheme to support them into employment.

I am a graduate and in 2007/2008 I was part of a scheme for disabled graduates run by the disability charity SCOPE which placed disabled graduates with firms and provided support to disabled people for 12 months and at the end of scheme it was up to the firm if they took on the disabled person at the end of that time. In September 2008 I was a placed at an investment bank but I never got my feet under the table as the bank was Lehman Brothers and I started on the day they went bust. I would like to see a similar scheme rolled out nationally. I would also like a scheme to make it easier for disabled people to move home. This is needed because jobs may not be availible for people where they live but it takes time to find suitable accessible accommodation and employers may not wait that long before rescinding the offer of employment

so there are a few ideas on how to improve the work program, I hope a decision maker will read it and give it some thought. But I most of all I hope I find a job so the bounty can be taken off my head.

Did 2012 change the view of disability in the UK

As 2012 draws to a close  the stand out memory I have of the year is when I participated in the Torch Relay for the Paralympic Games. I have the torch I carried  at home at home on my lounge wall. I often look at it and think. Is the flame  of attitudinal change towards disability-that the games was billed to be,  still burning brightly, like the torch I carried, or has it been dimmed to fade away?

To answer this question I have begun to think more and more about what it means to be disabled, so in this blog I will explore what I think disability is and how it is viewed in Britain, then in a second one I will say how this can be changed.

I think disability is a condition and a mindset. My condition is cerebral palsy and yet in my mind I am not disabled. I do not think of myself as disabled but in reality i am. I would love to play sports with my friends. in my mind i am scoring the winning goal for Aberdeen in the champions league final but i know my condition will never allow me to even get close to it because i am a safety hazard on the sports field.

What I have just done is framed my view of disability for you and being framed as a disabled person is something which many people do not like including me and yet for some people its who they are. The media put activists firmly in that box of being disabled first,then being people  I recently went to speak at Kent University and if  the local paper reported the event i would wager that the first words will be disability activist Mark Cooper came to talk to students at Kent University In reality mark cooper came to Kent today to talk students about disability

 

The Mindset of disability is something, which politicians struggle with. Any politician now will say that discrimination for disabled people is wrong and that British society should have freedom and fairness for all but in reality, society is free for some and for others it’s a prison from which they find it hard to escape.

What politicians of all parties have done is not understand that disability is both a mindset and a reality. They have focused too much on the mindset that society should be free for all and not on the realities of how to make it happen.

In technical jargon they subscribe to the medical model of disability, which means that a disability is an issue, which the individual can tackle with help from the state through benefits. When they should look at disability through the lens of the social model it paints a different picture one where the barriers faced by disabled people are the barriers faced by society as a whole so the best thing to do is to remove them.

Getting disabled people back into employment is an example of what i mean 

Successive governments have dealt with the problem by arguing that too many people are on benefits so they have changed the criteria for a benefit. But this only says that the claimant is fit for work it doesnt actually get them into work.

The work program was meant to provide tailored support to help people back into employment, it has not worked because there are too few advisors for the case load, and they do not have the time they would like to work with each participant.  There are 870,000 participants but of those only 31,000 have found work for 6 months or more. Finding a job is like having a disability no two unmeployed people are the same.

  Decison Makers need to be braver on the issue So far they  have used the medical view of disability and just put a stent in the heart of welfare reform when in reality what it needs is a bypass. If they opened up the heart through the eyes of a social surgeon they would see that the way to get disabled people back into work is to have a look at the underlying problems of each case For example I have been on the dole for 2 years and am fit and willing to work. The support I need is not how to write a CV or do an interview but it’s to be able to move house. I live in Edinburgh and found a job in London which I was offered and accepted but could not start because I could not find an accessible place to live. For other people  the help they require maybe transport. So society could  help us by making it easier for disabled people to move home or travel to work

So how is disability viewed in the UK at the end of this Paralympic year. The answer unfortunately is disability is still an issue which the individual needs to deal with rather than society as a whole. How this view can be  changed will be the subject of my next blog.

my remarks to access all areas an event organised by Northwest and Manchester young labour

here is a copy of what i said today to access all areas an event organised by Northwest and Manchester young labour

Good afternoon I’m Mark Cooper the National Disability Officer on the Young Labour committee, it is great to be with you today so thanks for inviting me.

Today is Bastille Day, the day that began the French revolution with the storming of the famous prison in Paris. Politics is often seen as a fortress, with it being hard to break into I is going to share with you my thoughts on how this fortress can be entered. So that disabled people and young Labour members can access all areas of politics. .

There are 3 areas, which I want to touch on

Firstly I will tell you about myself because my experiences have helped shape my political views and given me ideas.

Secondly I will talk a bit about my role as Young Labour Disability Officer and the work I am trying to accomplish and finally I will talk a bit about disability and the Labour party although my thoughts on that could be applied to politics in general

So who am I, I am the 3rd out of 4 children this is important because I was treated like any other of my siblings and my parent fought for me to have a mainstream education and to integrate in society from an early age although at school I was surrounded by adults who wanted to protect me rather than allowing me to make my own mistakes. For example at primary school I was not allowed to fall over in the playground or take part in team sports like football. I wanted to fall over and score the winning goal for my team but I couldn’t. Why did I want to fall over it was to fit in.

My parents had to be firm and with me and the school with me so I wouldn’t be lazy and the school so I would fit in with the other kids build friendships which believe me is hard to do when your surrounded by adults and I still find it hard now. When I was at

Being encouraged by my parents to fit in the other kids was a small thing aimed to make a big difference. They also encouraged us to express our opinion on issues. I have a twin brother who Is also politically active he is in the green party I am thankful for this because if he joined the Labour party and we both ran for leader it would be like the 2010 Leadership election all over again. My dad is from County Durham and is very proud of that. We were on holiday in the area and he took us back to where he was born. At the time I was a conservative party member but I was so shocked that the community he grew up in had been decimated by the closure of the mines by the Tory government I resigned from the party and joined the Labour party. That small idea of my dads to take us there has a huge impact on me because without it I would not be talking to you now

I attended the University of Aberdeen graduating in 2007 and the local paper reported that I overcame my cerebral palsy to graduate so I thoroughly recommend Higher education if you want your disability to be cured.

The best thing I did there was to go to New Mexico for 6 months. It was great for me not just for my suntan but because America is so much more disabled friendly than the UK I don’t mean in attitude I mean in practice

Everywhere was flat and had a disabled toilet so I had a brilliant time rather than constantly thinking about barriers to my life I was able to concentrate on having fun and working instead of thinking can I see my friends? I knew I could.

The time in New Mexico was a small thing that made a huge difference in my life because from that trip I haven’t let my disability hold me back

In 2008 after spending a year job hunting I found a job in banking it was with Lehman Brothers My start date was 13 September 2008 a day forever etched in my mind because I never started the job no I did not have a change of heart, the bank collapsed so my job along with thousands of other just disappeared, I sat in my flat in tears I thought my shot at the big time had gone. Yet two years later I would have gone on change the law to improve pub access

I founded the barred campaign to improve disabled pub access - a subject in which I have no interest! The aim of the campaign was to improve access information to pubs. The campaign changed the law in Scotland so that all new pubs have to say how they are or are not accessible to disabled people this will then allow people to make informed choices about where to go out to

You may of noticed that this speech has a theme to it which is small things can make a big difference and that is the philosophy which I have used during my time as the Disability Officer for Young Labour.

When I was elected in Glasgow I said I would do two things 1) try and reboot the disabled members group. This will give disabled people a voice in the party, which at the moment is not heard and it should be. There are many great disabled members in Young Labour and Labour students but after they leave there is not currently a forum within the party for them. At the moment disabled members are out side the tents looking in when we should be inside the tent looking out. It is up to us as disabled members to say to the party we can help you not you must do things for us

The second thing I said I would work towards it is to ask the party to produce a disability manifesto this would cover things like housing and jobs. In Scotland for the Parliamentary elections we had one, which I thought was great not least because I was on the front of it.

I have also written a disability advice sheet for organizers which detail the kind of tasks people with a variety of impairments can do. The aim of the sheet is to persons out of the equation and just focus on campaigning.

In 2010 I was the PPC in Orkney and Shetland. And I would like to see more support given to disabled people to put themselves forward as candidates. The kind of support I mean is administrative support. When you are seeking selection it is a good move to contact all party members and disabled people may not be able to write addresses on envelopes or it may take them ages to stuff envelopes this may put people off from standing so by offering a small amount of help it could encourage more disabled people to put themselves forward.

Hands up if you have been bombarded by emails inviting you to go to conference here in Manchester in September I know I have! Well I intend to come but it needs to be made more accessible, I don’t mean the venue or the hotels I mean the conference itself. I hope to make a speech, but I can’t jump up and down in the hope of attracting the chairs attention, so how can I participate?

I know I haven’t done any campaigning work during my time in office but I felt if we as party don’t have the infrastructure to support disabled members then what right have we got to lecture others on disability if we cant get it right so ourselves ` by working to towards rebooting the members group and the manifesto these small steps could make a you’ve guessed it a big difference

In 2015 the Labour party faces a challenge, which is to set out a vision of how it would change the lives of people in Britain. It’s a challenge because it has to be a vision which is positive about the future and not just to say the coalition are bad and Labour is good. I just want to conclude with a few thoughts of where I think disabled people fit into that vision.

The Labour has a proud record on disability issues but we need to recognize that we cant just rest on what we did in government and assume because we introduced legislation like the equality act and the coalition are taking away disabled peoples benefits that disabled people will vote for us.

I have always that disability is a strand of equality, then why is it not part of the equalities office? The disabilities minister is working from the DWP that needs to change.

To use a sporting analogy the hardest thing to in sport do is to be behind at half time in the super bowl and change the game plan of how you got there. Well my friends that time has come up to change. Until now the game plans has been to give disabled people rights and support through benefits. Now we have to support disabled people to use those rights. Or to put in another way its time to start seeing disability as a societal issue and not one the individual has to cope with alone. The game plan will be harder to construct because there is one thing that we have to do is to rebuild the trust in politicians from disabled people because it does not exists because as one voter said to me all politicians do is take away my benefits.

That voter was right, all politicians are seen to do is take away benefits from disabled people. For years politicians of all colors have talked about welfare dependency and how this must be changed. I agree but the welfare dependency by politicians must stop too there are other way to help disabled people.

It can stop by addressing concerns of many disabled people like me I am an unemployed graduate I am sent by the Job Centre to A4E to help me to find work yet all A4E offer me are courses on how to do a good CV and interview techniques, they took one look at my CV and said we don’t have any jobs for you so why don’t you become a student again.

I would like there to be a disability graduate scheme or something for people who are not suitable to work for organisations such as Remploy. It wouldn’t cost a lot of money because all that would have to be done is reduce the umber of contracts given to firms like A4E and use that money instead to run this new service. Just this week the government has chosen to close Remploy factories which will place further strain on a system, which cannot cope

Housing is a huge for anyone who is trying to find work and even more so for disabled people.

I have been unemployed since November 2010 and in April 2011 I found and was offered in a job in London which I was unable to take because I could not find an accessible place to live which I could afford. The government is trying to get as many disabled people who can work back into work, but I very much doubt that all the disabled people will be able to find jobs in their locality so some will have to move, but they will not be able to because they will face the problem I did.

I am a social tenant, which means I live in a council flat (or housing association property). Mine has been adapted for the needs of a disabled person. E.g. it has a wet floor shower and lower worktops in the kitchen. This type of accommodation is very rare in the private sector at an affordable rate. So being a social tenant is like having a golden ticket to Willie Wonka's Chocolate Factory and not something that one gives up easily. When I tried to move to London I found I was not entitled to help to find accommodation in the social sector until I lived there which is fare enough. But that meant I had would have to leave my Edinburgh flat, if I did this I would be declaring myself homeless which meant I would not be entitled to any help at all, because in the eyes of the law I had chosen to move. There are house swapping websites but that can take months to find somewhere. So if someone is offered a job where they don't live the employer will not wait a long time to withdraw the offer. In the end I had to choose my house over my job

Labour would help disabled people by making a small change to the housing system to make it easier for people to move.

Disabled people would fit into the 2015 vision because Labour policies speak to their needs if you get the same response I did from voter I mentioned earlier you will be able to say no politicians don’t just care about your benefits Labour will support you to find a job or a home

In 1789 that would of thought that by storming of the Bastille in France would be changed forever? The revolutionaries did by doing a small thing that made a big difference!

As Young Labour Disability Officer I have campaigned for a disability manifesto and the re introduction of the disabled members group small things that will hopefully make a big difference

As a Labour movement we must change the way disability is viewed by society small change big difference and by simply having this conference you in North West Young Labour have taken a small step to making a big difference to our party! Thank you

its just not cricket

People often say sport and politics dont mix but I am going to attempt to do so. As you will probably know I have been out of work for over 18 months. While I would much rather be in work it does give me time to indulge in my passion for watching cricket and this is what I want to write about.

Yesterday an icon of English sport and cricket retired from the 1 day and twenty20 form of the game. Kevin Pieterson will still play test matches for England. This is a very strange turn of events because many people retire from tests to play more of the short version of the game. He has retired so he can play in the lucrative IPL where he is paid millons of dollars for 6 weeks work.

Let me explain what this has to do with politics. it is linked with politics because I think that the 24hr news cycle has made politics and politicians a twenty20 style sport. this is the case because twenty20 cricket is over in a matter of hours where as test matches take days. so players have a short time to make an impact and so cricketers now are hitting the ball further and scoring more in a limited amount of time 24hr news has put politicians in a similar mindset with them keen to make a good impression or say the right sound bite because it can work in their favour. Just look at what the TV debates did for Nick Clegg

I have a strategic brain and like to see how things unfold. That is why i prefer Test matches because it can take a few days to see how the game takes shape. while twenty20 is a crowd pleaser. The two games need each other but i fear that twenty20 will reduce the skill level in the longer form of the game. In my views its the same with politics. Debating things in parliament is like a test match it takes time and there is an art form to it. I fear that this will be lost as the media generation of MPs comes in because they will know short snappy sounds bites rather than longer debates so i fear the art form of debating will be lost.

a tribute to jack Ashley

Today a pioneer a pioneer of the  disability  movement Jack Ashley has died. Others will be able to write more eloquently and knowledgeably about his achievements but i wanted to say without his tireless work on disability issues I would not be where I am today. His work 40 years ago in helping to pass the first disability legislation which then led to other legislation such as the Disability Discrimination Act is something for which I will always be grateful.

With out his work I doubt I would of been educated to the extent I have been or been able to live in America. His work led to disabled people being able to integrate into society and have a normal life. For the past 3 years I have been working on a campaign to improve disabled access information about pubs. It is work that i feel is unfinished because  the law change I secured only applies in Scotland so my tribute to Jack Ashley is not this blog, but finishing the campaign that I started so that all disabled people have access to the same level of access information about pubs so they can enjoy a social life where ever they may live.

green shoots of recovery but not everything is rosey in the garden

As I start another week of job hunting I have had some good news, no i haven't found a job but the job market in Edinburgh is picking up. The latest Bank of Scotland jobs report says that the rise in the number of permanent job vacancies is the biggest since last August. this is welcome news.
As a disabled person is that I face further barriers to employment, not just a lack of jobs to apply for. Until these barriers are overcome disabled people will not be able to fully integrate into society.

I have been unemployed since November 2010 and in April 2011 I found and was offered in a job in London which i was unable to take because i could not find an accessible place to live which I could afford. The government is trying to get as many disabled people who can work back into work, but i very much doubt that all the disabled people will be able to find jobs in their locality so some will have to move, but they will not be able to because they will face the problem I did.

I am a social tenant which means I live in a council flat (or housing association property). Mine has been adapted for the needs of a disabled person. e.g. it has a wet floor shower and lower worktops in the kitchen. This type of accommodation is very rare in the private sector at an affordable rate. so being a social tenant is like having a golden ticket to Willie Wonka's Chocolate Factory and not something that one gives up easily. When I tried to move to London I found I was not entitled to help to find accommodation in the social sector until I lived there which is fare enough. But that meant I had would have to leave my Edinburgh flat, if i did this I would be declaring myself homeless which meant i would not be entitled to any help at all, because in the eyes of the law i had chosen to move. There are house swapping websites but that can take months to find somewhere. so if someone is offered a job where they don't live the employer will not wait a long time to withdraw the offer. In the end I had to choose my house over my job

the example of housing which I have just given illustrates how disability is viewed in Britain and it needs to change. In my view disability is viewed through the model, which sees disability as something the individual can cope with. and they can be helped by providing things like DLA and physio.

In my view disability should be viewed through the social model of disability which argues that disability should be dealt by society and disabled can be helped by removing barriers to them integrating into society. In my case my barrier is the inability to move to find a job. there maybe green shoots of recovery in the economy but I cant take advantage of them unless i find a job on my doorstep. I am a plant who wants to grow but am stuck in the shade when i should be out in the garden taking in the sunlight.

a degree of success

I have just had my easter break when my parents came to visit. during my break I saw my twitter feed was full of my student friends saying they were busy revising for their upcoming exams. I wish them all good luck and for those of them who graduate welcome to the world of graduate unemployment a place which i know very well. I graduated in 2007 and have been unemployed for 4 out of the last 5 years

Last week the Citizens Advice Bureau launched a survey to find out about to find out about graduates and their experiences of struggling to find work- you can fill it in here www.adviceguide.org.uk/scotland/news/graduate_employment_survey_s.htm

The problem is not just the job centre which is not fit for purpose and should be turned into a careers service which helps everybody regardless of their qualifications. The major problem is that there are too many graduates. In the early 2000s there was a big push to get 50% of the population through university. The policy was not thought through properly because they should of seen the current graduate crisis coming and made sure the system can cope because it isn't doing so.

That may sound a snobbish thing to say and it is not my intention to be so. I believe if people want to go to university they should be supported to do so. But i would advice people to think about why they are going to university and for their chosen degree subject look at employment prospects. I wish i had done this. Are you going because everyone else is? do you really want 3 or 4 more years of essays. By the end of my degree i had lost my mojo and couldnt wait to finish so ended up with a 2:2 which has proven to be useless because there are so many graduates employers are after a 2:1 so if like me you have a 2:2 you face an even harder battle to find a job and really wonder why you bothered.

I went to university because I believed i would get a better job with a degree and I chose to do Politics and International Relations because it was sold to me as a flexible degree so i could do anything i wished. But upon graduation all of the jobs i looked at the employers wanted specific degrees e.g. business management or I.T. so i was stuck.

I should not have gone to university i failed all my exams in S6 and would probably put the fact I was accepted down to my disability to fill in a statistic. So the desire for the country to be educated a good one but it will only be successfull if the system is designed in a way that makes having a degree worth while and people should take time to think is that really what they want to do.

thank you for the music

People cope in different ways in a crisis, some people turn to drink or hide away in a dark room. I do two things firstly I phone my sister and secondly i listen to ABBA. I phone my sister because big sisters are meant to know everything. and i listen to ABBA because its meant to be the ultimate feel good music.

So what is my crisis? well it is the fact that 16 months ago today I became unemployed. why is this a crisis now given that it has been so long? well the answer is i am fed up. for my last 4 interviews I have been in the top two and at the last one I was told that it was so close if there were two jobs then I would be employed. that has hit me hard I really wanted the job and to be told I was that close is heartbreaking. I wonder what more I can do to gain employment,


In 2008 I was directly affected by the Lehman Brothers collapse as I had just secured employment there. when it collapsed i was gutted and went with a friend to see Mamma Mia at the Cinema to cheer up and it worked so ever since when I have felt low i have turned to ABBA.
I speak regularly to my parents and at the end of every conversation with my dad he says "keep going as I know you do" well that is getting harder and harder as months go on. to quote an ABBA hit I have a Dream, and that dream is to work and When All is Said and done that dream cannot be realalised until some one will Take A chance on me

the welfare reform bill is a missed opportunity

Welfare Reform is an issue which successive government have tackled. In February 2011 the Coalition Government at Westminster introduced its Welfare Reform Bill which it argues is the biggest shake up of the Welfare System in 60 years. It has been very controversial with disability groups uniting in opposition to the Bill in a way that I have not seen before. The Scottish Parliament protested against the Bill by voting against the consent motion. This is a big event as it is the first time the Scottish Parliament has withheld its consent.

The bill affects me directly in two ways firstly I have been unemployed and claiming Job Seekers Allowance for 14months and secondly I am disabled and receive Disability Living Allowance which pays for my home help and transport. but the purpose of this blog is not to moan about how I am affected. but to point out where the government have not been as radical as they could have been.

According to the home page of the Bill one of the objectives of the bill is to deliver fairness to those claiming benefits and to the taxpayer for more details see http://www.dwp.gov.uk/policy/welfare-reform/legislation-and-key-documents/welfare-reform-bill-2011/

This objective is what i want to focus on and where I think the opportunity has been missed. I am a university graduate having obtained my degree from the University of Aberdeen in 2007 and since then I have been unemployed for 3 out of the 4 years since. I am a talented hardworking guy and I do not think that that stat is fair on either me or the tax payer.
The current bill is dodging the root of the problem which is the Jobcentre system. What I am about to argue is not an attack on the staff who have been very supportive of me but I think the system they operate in is wrong and that is what truly needs reforming instead of attacking the benefits which help some of the most vulnerable people in our society.

So how would I reform the job centre. Firstly I would turn it into a careers service and encourage more employers to advertise there. Presently the vast majority of jobs are for administrative jobs or jobs for skilled trades such as chefs or builders. In the current economic climate more and more highly qualified are signing on and the job centre does not help them find jobs because they are not advertised there. Highly qualified people are taking the jobs which less qualified people could do, so the people who need help to find work are finding even harder and it is not fair on those people.

I have claiming JSA for 14 months I have been put on a Back to Work program which is welcome but why should it happen now and not at the start of my claim. I feel that this will give people the support they need to find work and thus reduce the length of a claim, if people are trained earlier in interview techniques and other skills.

So the Welfare Reform bill is a missed chance because it does not reform one of the biggest barriers to employment for people which is the jobcentre its self.

so near and yet so far

2010 began and ended for me in the same fashion I watched fire works on TV. I was celebrating Hogmanay in two of the great cites on the Planet I saw in 2010 in Venice and saw it out in Edinburgh. This example demonstrates what a year it has been for me so near and yet so far away. I was so near to St Marks Square in Venice to bring in the year (I wasn’t there because it was flooded) and was so near to Edinburgh Castle and the centre of Edinburgh. Both of these venues are famous for their Hogmanay celebrations and although I was there I wasn’t really.

I look back on 2010 with a huge sense of pride not many people can say they stood for parliament and changed the law in the same year but I have a sense of so close and yet so far. My parliamentary campaign went well feel looking back on it I was close to being in parliament. Sitting on the platform waiting for the returning officer to declare the result I was one sentence away from being the Member of Parliament for Orkney and Shetland. So near and yet so far.

The Barred campaign has been part of me for nearly two years it gave me a job, new friends and even more belief in myself. The 27th of October was my finest achievement it is even more important to me than my degree. That night the Barred campaign won the devolved campaign of the year prize at the Public Affairs News Awards the Oscars of the Public Affairs Industry I thought I had finally arrived. But like so many others I cant find work and again I have a feeling of so near after that fantastic achievement and so far because I cant find work from a professional point of view Barred was meant to be the final push off the diving board into a professional life of work I am still teetering on the edge waiting to get pushed in. So near and yet so far.



2011 will be a big year for me and for the whole of the UK. For me personally I have to take the next step in my life. I would love to stay in Edinburgh but in the current climate beggar’s cant be choosers so I am open to work anywhere. One day I would love to work in America. I lived in New Mexico for a Semester as a student and loved it. In the UK as a whole it will be a big year. The Coalition faces its first big test in May with elections for the Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly as well as the AV referendum. If it fails will Nick Clegg be thinking so near and yet so far? Closer to home the Scottish Parliamentary elections will be taking up a lot of my time. I am not standing this time round but I will be campaigning hard for a Labour victory. But I think it will be tight and expect there to a handful of seats in it. For who ever wins it will be a case of so near and yet so far!

there is more to being disabled than being on benefits

Hi all,

A few weeks ago I was in manchester at the labour party conference. I had hoped to take part in the equality debate but was not called to speak so just for you here is what I was going to say

> Good morning conference, I was the PPC in Orkney and Shetland at the last
> election. I am proud to be part of the new generation and look forward to
> working with Ed Milliband to return a Labour Government to power.
>
> I would like to thank Harriet Harman for all of her efforts in passing the
> Equality Act and Jonathan Shaw for all of his good work as disability
> minister.
>
>
>
> At this time because of the economic climate there is a considerable amount
> of talk about money. I work with disabled people as a parliamentary officer
> for a charity and many of them are concerned about the potential loss off
> benefits. I know this is a debate about equality but many people I talk to
> think that all politicians care abouts when it comes to disabled people is
> taking things from them or making it harder for them to receive what they
> are entitled to
>
> Conference I know that this is not the case but politicians need to practise what they preach tell and borrow a phrase its about getting off benefits and
> into work.
>
>
>
> What is that work. It is about supporting the removal of barriers to
> disabled people in society and not just talking about money For example In Scotland. The Criminal Justice and Licensing bill has just passed in that bill was an amendment thatrequires license applicants to state how their premises meets the needs ofdisabled people so that for the first time they have to consider access
> right from the start. Conference that was a campaign I started which George
> Foulkes led through the Scottish Parliament this small change will make a
> huge difference to so many people allow disabled people and their friends to
> enjoy a barrier free social life. If we help remove the barriers then we can be a more equal society. So I want to encourage Ed and his team to show what they are doing to help disabled people. I would also like a page in the party manifesto for disability related policys. this is because being disabled affects your whole life in a way that the other equality strands do not. for example your housing needs your job prospects I could go on so I feel a single paragraph will not surphise
>

> In conclusion to build an equal society we must show that we are there to
> help and not hinder, Yvette Cooper mentioned a crusade to protect the
> vulnerable well Yvette I will be there at the front supporting you as long
> as your pushing
>
>
>

poetry in motion

The publication today of the full partnership agreement reminded me of the crooner bobby vee and his song poetry in motion. there have been a few members of both parties who to quote the song about their own manifesto think that they "love every movement their is nothing they would change, it doesn't need improving its much too nice to re arrange" Nick and David have a hard task a head of them and it could cause the coalition to have tears on its pillow

if the shoe fits

The new Home Secretary Theresa May is famous for her shoes. Today I am also thinking about shoes. that is because i have just bought a new pair. But this pair is different. they actually fit my own feet. I wear splints to help me walk. but they are away being fixed at the moment. I have shoes which fit my splint, but not my feet. so on sunday I bought my first pair of shoes, i will send mum a picture to fit in my baby book.

so far so good but time will tell if the shoes fit