It's a pain in the arse m8.

https://www.gov.uk/jobseekers-allowance/your-jsa-interview

Pretty much as you said OP.
Every time you "sign on" they will generally ask for proof that you are looking for work (I kept a notebook of what I applied for and if I heard anything back and backed it up by showing a list of emails on my phone) They may ask you what you're doing and how it's working out, if you're hearing anything back etc.
They may "force" you on some workshop or open day, maybe even a mass hiring event in some shithole call centre job.

It comes down to your advisor at the end of the day. Sometimes you get some grump who will grill you over any slight error in your proof or you could get someone nice who knows there is fuck all good out there and can sympathise that you aren't hearing anything back. The only time they'd probably verify if you did apply for x is if it was given to you by them or they feel you're lying.

Honestly though, being on the dole is a shite experience. It was like going to a zoo full of the dregs of Humanity. I've had the unfortunate experience of being on it twice, I never want to step foot in a job centre again. You're better off finding a part time job if you want bare minimum effort for minimum work.

As said, it's the luck of the draw on your advisor, and, to be honest, a class thing.

I was on the dole for a year and could have stayed there much longer because my advisor liked me and I looked middle class enough to avoid scrutiny. It helped that I was applying to civil service jobs too, as there's nothing that gets a civil servant wetter than the chance to talk about the civil service.

>>12831
Is this true though ?

I went straight after uni like a lot of lads having come from a fairly decent uni and genuinely wanted to join the civil service.

They wouldn't give me peace and basically said I either had to join their ranks at the job centre for two months (I think, maybe a month?) and work there.

I asked how much I'd get paid and they just explained nothing, the work experience would do me good.

It wasn't the kind of civil service career I had in mind so I just signed off.

>>12835
They scrapped Mandatory Work Activity in early 2016.

I believe the Job Centre is generally less hostile and eager to sanction now than it was a few years ago but it's also probably true that YMMV based on your adviser and your ability to paint yourself as taking positive steps.

It was ~10 years ago I last signed on. I used to just either browse quickly through a job ads site and write down that I applied for some, or just pick off major towns in London and the home counties and say I applied for a job there. In reality I was a bit fed-up and hardly applying for anything. Did that for 4 or 5 months. No-one ever really questioned me much. I was looking for software development roles though, and wasn't going to accept being forced into some random minimum wage job, so they just left me to it as they couldn't really help much. I imagine if you're looking for any old unskilled job then they'll be a bit more forceful.

>>12835

It was true for me. My adviser obviously liked me and seemed to be invested in helping me and never once seemed to doubt anything I said. I really think they assume anyone in there who doesn't look like a complete wreckhead is probably really after some work and is just struggling to find it.

>>12835
Same as this lad >>12839
Me and my advisor got on well and I'm not some scruffy chav. I applied for a lot less than I should have but didn't want to be forced into a job I'd hate just to end up in the job centre again a month later. I was looking for work though and attending interviews because fuck staying on the dole.

You wont get plain old dole now, it's Universal Credit and it will completely and totally fuck you over if you don't follow their demands of searching for work a minimum of 35 hours a week, which must be logged into your online journal and proof provided. Also they make you look for work if you are already working if they should consider it not to be enough hours.

>>12844
How is any of that different from Jobseeker's Allowance?

>>12845
When I was on the dole, I had to log at least three steps a week in a paper diary which totally weren't filled in retrospectively on the morning of my signing appointment. Around the time I signed off, "Universal Jobmatch" was kicking off, complete with Big Brother Mode. Both were entirely optional, but some advisors would get really arsey if you weren't using it.

>>12844

I'm >>12839 and I was on UC. It's not that bad. The online journal makes it easier if anything, since you can just put all your info in at once. If you're not capable of writing 20 or so job titles, picking a date for each of them and ticking a box saying you've applied for it, then perhaps you aren't actually fit for work.

>>12848
>then perhaps you aren't actually fit for work
I don't know, according to DWP a used tampon is fit for work.

I last signed on five years ago. They had brought in Universal JobMatch, and said you have to spend 35 hours a week looking for jobs, and changed the advisor's job title to a "coach". When he told me, I had a vision of him wearing a tracksuit and blowing a whistle at me and surpressed a laugh and he looked stung.

You sign a jobseeker's agreement which says you have to visit certain recruitment sites every day and apply for a certain number of jobs every day or something. You have to go on UJM every day and log that and give the advisor access to your account. You have the legal right to not give access but then you're making yourself a target for them to fuck with you and it's better to fly under the radar as much as possible.

My agreement just said to visit the recruitment sites every day and there was an "implication" I would apply for a lot of jobs. I got a different advisor every time and they were wildly inconsistent about what is or isn't acceptable and it's harder to comply with an "implication". I think the people with one nice advisor must either be in a small place or signed on a long time ago.

In my experience, they have a stronger dislike of graduates and the middle-class because they feel you're going to look down on cleaning jobs and things.

>>12845

It isn't but it's different from JSA ten years ago when you did your jobsearch on paper and the advisors were nice.

>>12852

I've mentioned this here before but one of my advisors was a Chinese guy named Ming but he was a nice one and not merciless at all. He never heard me make idiotic jokes about his name though.

>How does the dole work?

Watch "I, Daniel Blake" tonight at 9:45pm on BBC 2 and find out.

The last time I tried to sign on was a year or so ago when I had just got back from bumming around Europe in the summer, I was sleeping outside and hiking so it was very affordable, even managed to land a little cash in hand work to get a little spending money, had a great time. Got back and started looking for work so I figured I'd sign on, only to be told that I needed to be living in the UK for 3 months before claiming, when I called up to ask about it and say I was a British citizen they seemed really surprised but did nothing.

Good job I had family to crash with otherwise I'd have been fucked. Fortunately I found a job within a week on my own too so fuck 'em.