Jobseeker Bulletin

Disappointed Jobseeker Bulletin. No, that isn't it. Dismal Jobseeker Bulletin? No... Dismayed Jobseeker Bulletin? I forget exactly the terminology, but anyway, on the job front:

1. Trainee Estate Agent. No response.

2. Baby photographer for hospital. Form response turning me down because I live too far away.

3. School cover supervisor. No response.

4. Art gallery assistant. No response.

Cass says that Ned's in the same boat at the moment, looking for a job, and apparently all these online application forms automatically filter you out on things like a) no work experience, b) no recent work experience and c) age. Puh. Surely that's against some law or other? Google 'age discrimination'. Yes! Here we are. The law gives you the right not to suffer a disadvantage at work because of your age.

The following groups of people have protection under the law.

In employment:

• Employees
• Self-employed people
• Office holders (for example‚ company directors‚ clergy)
• Contract and agency workers
• Job applicants
• Former employees
• Members of occupational pension funds

 In education:

• People applying for further, higher or adult education‚ or training
• Students in further, higher or adult education‚ or training
• Former students in further, higher or adult education‚ or training

 In other areas:

• People using career guidance services
• People applying for a professional qualification
• Members of trade unions or professional associations.

Ye-es... And? What about people applying for jobs? Not bloody covered. Well that's pathetic. No wonder you get these jobs-for-lifers. They're covered and they'll stick in their wretched dead-wood jobs until retirement forces them out. But if you take time out from the workforce voluntarily (or because your husband expects you to run his social life and mask the fact that he's gay), then tough. You're Too Bloody Old.

Hang on. Just reading the In Employment bit more carefully (which obviously I skimmed over initially because it says 'in' employment, which we jobseekers aren't). 'Job Applicants.' Yes! Job Applicants! It says Job Applicants are covered! So they can't filter you out! Hmmm. But they are filtering me out. But how does one prove it? And is it worth fighting anyway, for a measly £8 an hour? I could ring the Citizens Advice Bureau, I suppose. Or Age Concern. But, really, it's all too demeaning.

Defeated. That's it. I remember now. I remain, yours humbly, a Defeated Jobseeker.