Originally Posted by -Ralph-

Nonsense Lance, if the Polish lads can find a job, so can everyone else. When was the last time you walked into a job centre and didn't see a single card on the wall? There are loads of unskilled jobs there that pay minimum wage if people want to find them. Trouble is the redundant welder goes into the job centre and looks at the cards - cleaner, bartender, road sweeper, grass cutter, pizza delivery. Most McDonalds are always recruiting. But he walks out saying there are no jobs, 'cos none of the cards said "welder".

Being on jobseekers would never be a problem for me because even if there were no IT jobs, I'd be doing something else within six weeks to keep some cash rolling in whilst I looked for an IT job. There's somebody out there who needs your help and is prepared to pay you for it if you look hard enough.

As for qualifications, how many night classes and free education schemes do you need? If you want to get some qualifications, an NVQ in catering for instance, that's within anyone's reach too.

Don't take it personally, nobody is bashing those who have just been made redundant, or are full time carers, or are disabled, etc, etc.