On the financial front, things are looking up. I have a new tenant that has just moved in to the studio apartment below me, so that will help towards paying my income tax bill in September, and because I meet the criteria, the French government are going to pay me some unemployment benefit. This will be up to 70 percent of what I was earning from my school job. If I earn any money, I have to send Pole Emploi a copy of my payslip. I presume that they will then deduct that amount from my benefit money.
Since I worked 3 hours teaching English last month, and will be teaching for a final 3 hours later this month, I will have to declare this, when they decide to send me a payslip. This can take months... and with this being the month of public holidays .......
Now that I have received some documents from Pole Emploi, I need to take them along to my health insurance / social security provider MGEN, so that my advisor there can make copies of them, and file them in my dossier.
Things are beginning to move in the right direction. Now if only I could sort out the long spell of bad weather, I could start working on my tan.
Showing posts with label unemployment. Show all posts
Showing posts with label unemployment. Show all posts
Thursday, 10 May 2012
Wednesday, 9 May 2012
En Forme
Two weeks ago I began my "formation" or training with Pierre, my advisor. I had taken along the bag that I use for cabin luggage, stuffed with a big French / English dictionary, copies of all my pole emploi documents, my CV and lots of other papers concerning my previous employments here in France and in the UK.
Pierre had been a bit worried about me coming to see him as he doesn't speak English and his only other English client not having spoken any French. They had tried to communicate with her using the dictionary that she had brought along, and with him typing things into Google Translate. This was obviously tedious and not very efficient or accurate.
He had ended up phoning his daughter, who spoke some English, putting his mobile on speakerphone, and his daughter translating for them as best she could as they went along. Lord knows how the client managed with filling in the paperwork.
As usual there is lots of paperwork. I had to sign at least 6 different documents, presumably a contract, agreeing that I understood and agreed to do anything that I am asked to do, or my money (should they give me any) would be stopped.
I had come prepared for a possible full day of training, perhaps in a large room stuffed with computer terminals, but no, it's just me and Pierre in a room.
Do you know what the training entails? he asked. I replied that apart from CV's, letters of motivation and how to search for a job, I had no idea no idea.
Were you told any other details of the training?
No, I said, and I don't know how long the training lasts....
He explained that I was to come along once a week for up to three months, or until I find a job, whichever comes first. He qualified this by saying that although these meetings would be once a week, some of the meetings would be carried out over the phone. He then gave a sheet with the "training" overview. Sessions would last from 25 minutes up to an hour. After 25 minutes I emerged into the sunlight, 8 pages of questions nestling in my heavy bag, my homework for the next week's meeting.
Last Thursday, I returned to see Pierre with my questionnaire filled in to the best of my ability. I left an hour later, with another 8 pages of questions to fill in. Once this first 4 week phase is completed, Pierre will have all of the information he needs to make a judgement on what firms / jobs to target.
He has told me that only 20 percent of the available jobs are advertised on the open market. We will be targeting the hidden jobs.
Whilst arranging the date and time for our next meeting, Pierre explained that May was the month when the French make "le pont". There are about 4 bank/public holidays in May. If for example the holiday is on a Tuesday, most workers make le pont / the bridge, and don't go to work on the Monday, to enjoy a long weekend. This means that I have until 31 may to do my homework. Vive la France!!
Pierre had been a bit worried about me coming to see him as he doesn't speak English and his only other English client not having spoken any French. They had tried to communicate with her using the dictionary that she had brought along, and with him typing things into Google Translate. This was obviously tedious and not very efficient or accurate.
He had ended up phoning his daughter, who spoke some English, putting his mobile on speakerphone, and his daughter translating for them as best she could as they went along. Lord knows how the client managed with filling in the paperwork.
As usual there is lots of paperwork. I had to sign at least 6 different documents, presumably a contract, agreeing that I understood and agreed to do anything that I am asked to do, or my money (should they give me any) would be stopped.
I had come prepared for a possible full day of training, perhaps in a large room stuffed with computer terminals, but no, it's just me and Pierre in a room.
Do you know what the training entails? he asked. I replied that apart from CV's, letters of motivation and how to search for a job, I had no idea no idea.
Were you told any other details of the training?
No, I said, and I don't know how long the training lasts....
He explained that I was to come along once a week for up to three months, or until I find a job, whichever comes first. He qualified this by saying that although these meetings would be once a week, some of the meetings would be carried out over the phone. He then gave a sheet with the "training" overview. Sessions would last from 25 minutes up to an hour. After 25 minutes I emerged into the sunlight, 8 pages of questions nestling in my heavy bag, my homework for the next week's meeting.
Last Thursday, I returned to see Pierre with my questionnaire filled in to the best of my ability. I left an hour later, with another 8 pages of questions to fill in. Once this first 4 week phase is completed, Pierre will have all of the information he needs to make a judgement on what firms / jobs to target.
He has told me that only 20 percent of the available jobs are advertised on the open market. We will be targeting the hidden jobs.
Whilst arranging the date and time for our next meeting, Pierre explained that May was the month when the French make "le pont". There are about 4 bank/public holidays in May. If for example the holiday is on a Tuesday, most workers make le pont / the bridge, and don't go to work on the Monday, to enjoy a long weekend. This means that I have until 31 may to do my homework. Vive la France!!
Tuesday, 8 May 2012
Stand and deliver
Back at chez Rigsby, I logged on to the Internet and filled in an 8 page form which was similar to the paper one that I had just filled in at Pole Emploi.
This generated a choice of three rendezvous dates/times to return to Pole Emploi to meet with an advisor.
On the allotted day, I arrived at Pole Emploi in good time and waited in the queue. I told the lady at the desk that I had arrived and she ticked my name off the list.
I sat and waited. My fashion model advisor kept me waiting at least 15 minutes, but finally she acknowledged my presence, shook my hand and ushered me into interview room 2.
She found me on their computer system, checked details, then started to fill in a form. We were doing splendidly, but I said that form is very like the form that I filled in online, and the paper form that I filled in here last Monday, but which the lady kept.
My advisor left the room, returning 10 minutes later to say that they couldn't find my form and other paperwork that I had left, anywhere, but that they would have a good search for it that afternoon.
I was asked for more paperwork, which wasn't on the original list of things to bring along. I was now subscribed on a course to learn how to write a CV, a lettre of motivation, and how to search for jobs.
So off I went home again.
The next day, my "lost" paperwork arrived in the post.
I returned to the counter with it more of my evidence. The lady took away my passport to copy it for my growing evidence file. Then she looked at my language teaching contract. She decided that it wouldn't fit the bill, and went off with it to see her boss.
No it wouldn't do. I needed to contact my employer and get a proper contract, then return once I had that.
2 weeks later, the required document arrived in the post. Hands shaking with excitement, I opened the envelope and discovered that the last two dates were missing from my contract.
F**** it I thought, and set off with my pile of paperwork to face Pole Emploi. Before I set off however, I riffled through, only to discover that the copy of my passport was missing from my file (a further delaying tactic perhaps?). I therefore copied my passport.
At Pole emploi, the lady barely glanced at my new "contract" but started hunting for my passport copy. What a surprise it was there....
We will now process your dossier, and you will hear from us in about 18 days, she said.
I headed off into the sunset, no hint of a smile of triumph on my face, lest some punishment excercise be handed out.
This generated a choice of three rendezvous dates/times to return to Pole Emploi to meet with an advisor.
On the allotted day, I arrived at Pole Emploi in good time and waited in the queue. I told the lady at the desk that I had arrived and she ticked my name off the list.
I sat and waited. My fashion model advisor kept me waiting at least 15 minutes, but finally she acknowledged my presence, shook my hand and ushered me into interview room 2.
She found me on their computer system, checked details, then started to fill in a form. We were doing splendidly, but I said that form is very like the form that I filled in online, and the paper form that I filled in here last Monday, but which the lady kept.
My advisor left the room, returning 10 minutes later to say that they couldn't find my form and other paperwork that I had left, anywhere, but that they would have a good search for it that afternoon.
I was asked for more paperwork, which wasn't on the original list of things to bring along. I was now subscribed on a course to learn how to write a CV, a lettre of motivation, and how to search for jobs.
So off I went home again.
The next day, my "lost" paperwork arrived in the post.
I returned to the counter with it more of my evidence. The lady took away my passport to copy it for my growing evidence file. Then she looked at my language teaching contract. She decided that it wouldn't fit the bill, and went off with it to see her boss.
No it wouldn't do. I needed to contact my employer and get a proper contract, then return once I had that.
2 weeks later, the required document arrived in the post. Hands shaking with excitement, I opened the envelope and discovered that the last two dates were missing from my contract.
F**** it I thought, and set off with my pile of paperwork to face Pole Emploi. Before I set off however, I riffled through, only to discover that the copy of my passport was missing from my file (a further delaying tactic perhaps?). I therefore copied my passport.
At Pole emploi, the lady barely glanced at my new "contract" but started hunting for my passport copy. What a surprise it was there....
We will now process your dossier, and you will hear from us in about 18 days, she said.
I headed off into the sunset, no hint of a smile of triumph on my face, lest some punishment excercise be handed out.
Monday, 7 May 2012
To begin at the beginning
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.
As a newly unemployed person, I was at the door of my local Pole Emploi, just after opening time on the 2nd of April. A young man with a spring in my step eager to embark on the next player level of my "life in France" adventure.
Knowing the love affair that France has with bureaucracy, I was clutching a carrier bag of documentation which might aid me in my quest for unemployment benefit "allocation" and perhaps even a job.
"I've come to sign on"
here's a form, you can sit at the table over there and fill it in.
I filled in as much as I could, then went to the counter again (a tip, early morning is the best time to turn up, otherwise you risk standing in a long queue). I explained that there were some bits on the form that I wasn't sure about. The young man came back over to the table and we went over the form. Next came checking through the necessary supporting documentation that I had brought "Oh dear" he said looking at my major weapon, my confirmation of the end of my contract. "They haven't filled it in properly"
There was a section which was blank"
"Can't we just fill it in now" I asked. He sucked in a breath through his beard and looked at the form again. There was a pause, then "Non"
So I packed up my forms and headed off across town to the Lycee that had sent out my document.
Reaching the office, I explained my problem. The lady apologised and it transpired that all that was missing, was an X in the box to say that my contract was finished!!! If only I had looked at the form, I could have saved myself the trip.
Back in the Pole emploi queue, I handed over my paperwork again. The lady riffled through the papers. Have you signed on? she asked. I thought, this is a bit odd, but I went along with it. "
"But that's what I'm here for" I said.
Oh no, she said, you have to sign on by telephone or via the Internet. She hung on to my paperwork, and I set off home to sign on.....
As a newly unemployed person, I was at the door of my local Pole Emploi, just after opening time on the 2nd of April. A young man with a spring in my step eager to embark on the next player level of my "life in France" adventure.
Knowing the love affair that France has with bureaucracy, I was clutching a carrier bag of documentation which might aid me in my quest for unemployment benefit "allocation" and perhaps even a job.
"I've come to sign on"
here's a form, you can sit at the table over there and fill it in.
I filled in as much as I could, then went to the counter again (a tip, early morning is the best time to turn up, otherwise you risk standing in a long queue). I explained that there were some bits on the form that I wasn't sure about. The young man came back over to the table and we went over the form. Next came checking through the necessary supporting documentation that I had brought "Oh dear" he said looking at my major weapon, my confirmation of the end of my contract. "They haven't filled it in properly"
There was a section which was blank"
"Can't we just fill it in now" I asked. He sucked in a breath through his beard and looked at the form again. There was a pause, then "Non"
So I packed up my forms and headed off across town to the Lycee that had sent out my document.
Reaching the office, I explained my problem. The lady apologised and it transpired that all that was missing, was an X in the box to say that my contract was finished!!! If only I had looked at the form, I could have saved myself the trip.
Back in the Pole emploi queue, I handed over my paperwork again. The lady riffled through the papers. Have you signed on? she asked. I thought, this is a bit odd, but I went along with it. "
"But that's what I'm here for" I said.
Oh no, she said, you have to sign on by telephone or via the Internet. She hung on to my paperwork, and I set off home to sign on.....
Thursday, 15 January 2009
Instep mobilisation
Scraped the ice of my car and set off to keep my appointment with ASSEDIC.
I entered the building and loitered around the reception desk, above which there was another large digital display to indicate your turn in the queue.
I was 10 minutes early and when a lady appeared, she asked me if I had filled in the form and had I brought my carte d’identite and social security card. I flashed her my passport and my medical card and she indicated that I would need to copy them on the photocopier, which I did.
I showed her the form that I had printed off and she said that it was not the correct form. That form is for the ANPE.
She gave me another 3 page form to fill in while I waited. When it was 10am she would give me a number for my appointment.
I filled in most of the form before I was ushered into a small office where another lady waited for me. I completed the rest of the form, seeking clarification on some of the terminology. E.g. what did titre mean, before ticking a box or writing text.
She looked at my form and input the information into her computer. Did I have my payslips for my last year 12 months of work, also my P45 and my P60?
I happened to have my last payslip and my P45, but as no one had mentioned that I would need these or payslips…….
I now have to return to the ASSEDIC office with copies of the said documents.
Unfortunately the payslips are still in the UK, but I contacted S and she will send them to me.
Once they have received the documents from me, they will be added to my dossier (Yes I have my own dossier) and this will be sent to Paris. From Paris they will be sent to the UK. Somewhere along the line someone will decide whether I am eligible for unemployment benefit or not. This could take at least 2 to 3 months.
I was given an identification number and a code which I have to use on the last day of every month to log in or phone up to say that I am still seeking work. This lasts for 10 months. I don’t know what happens after that.
ASSEDIC and ANPE were merged at the beginning of the year. Yes of course there were, and continue to be industrial action about it, but meantime they have become Pole emploi (circumflex over the o). The aim is to create a one stop shop for the unemployed person seeking work where you will be allocated an advisor to guide your search for work etc.
My previous career was in public libraries. However ANPE never get any jobs in from local government sources. Entry to those is by exam.
I have had a look at the current job vacancies online. There are not many jobs available locally at all.
Did I want French lessons? I said yes, so she made a phone call. She discovered that there are currently no classes, as they wait to see if the government will make funding available for such things. There will be a delay.
Did I think that I required orientation?
I decided that I did. So she proceeded to enrol me on the “mobilisation vers l’emploi” scheme. I will be assigned an advisor who will work with me for the next 6 months. The advisor will discuss my requirements and give me assistance with the job seeking process. I need to decide what area of employment I wish to pursue. At the moment I am assigned to the code Rome number for librarian, which would equate to library assistant in the UK. As this will be a non-starter, I need to choose something else. I wonder how much trainee belly dancers get paid?
I may be sent to places???? And have to attend regular meetings with my advisor. While I am on the scheme I must ask permission to leave the country. The maximum block of time away that I could receive would be 7 days, with a maximum total of 35 days away per year.
I signed more documents and the lady told me that as part of the scheme, I could not turn down any reasonable offer of work.
Another phone call was made and I have my first meeting with my assigned advisor next Monday morning at the INSTEP office in Foix.
I think that this might be the first time that I have ever been in step in my life. Still, "the game's afoot" as Sherlock might say.
I entered the building and loitered around the reception desk, above which there was another large digital display to indicate your turn in the queue.
I was 10 minutes early and when a lady appeared, she asked me if I had filled in the form and had I brought my carte d’identite and social security card. I flashed her my passport and my medical card and she indicated that I would need to copy them on the photocopier, which I did.
I showed her the form that I had printed off and she said that it was not the correct form. That form is for the ANPE.
She gave me another 3 page form to fill in while I waited. When it was 10am she would give me a number for my appointment.
I filled in most of the form before I was ushered into a small office where another lady waited for me. I completed the rest of the form, seeking clarification on some of the terminology. E.g. what did titre mean, before ticking a box or writing text.
She looked at my form and input the information into her computer. Did I have my payslips for my last year 12 months of work, also my P45 and my P60?
I happened to have my last payslip and my P45, but as no one had mentioned that I would need these or payslips…….
I now have to return to the ASSEDIC office with copies of the said documents.
Unfortunately the payslips are still in the UK, but I contacted S and she will send them to me.
Once they have received the documents from me, they will be added to my dossier (Yes I have my own dossier) and this will be sent to Paris. From Paris they will be sent to the UK. Somewhere along the line someone will decide whether I am eligible for unemployment benefit or not. This could take at least 2 to 3 months.
I was given an identification number and a code which I have to use on the last day of every month to log in or phone up to say that I am still seeking work. This lasts for 10 months. I don’t know what happens after that.
ASSEDIC and ANPE were merged at the beginning of the year. Yes of course there were, and continue to be industrial action about it, but meantime they have become Pole emploi (circumflex over the o). The aim is to create a one stop shop for the unemployed person seeking work where you will be allocated an advisor to guide your search for work etc.
My previous career was in public libraries. However ANPE never get any jobs in from local government sources. Entry to those is by exam.
I have had a look at the current job vacancies online. There are not many jobs available locally at all.
Did I want French lessons? I said yes, so she made a phone call. She discovered that there are currently no classes, as they wait to see if the government will make funding available for such things. There will be a delay.
Did I think that I required orientation?
I decided that I did. So she proceeded to enrol me on the “mobilisation vers l’emploi” scheme. I will be assigned an advisor who will work with me for the next 6 months. The advisor will discuss my requirements and give me assistance with the job seeking process. I need to decide what area of employment I wish to pursue. At the moment I am assigned to the code Rome number for librarian, which would equate to library assistant in the UK. As this will be a non-starter, I need to choose something else. I wonder how much trainee belly dancers get paid?
I may be sent to places???? And have to attend regular meetings with my advisor. While I am on the scheme I must ask permission to leave the country. The maximum block of time away that I could receive would be 7 days, with a maximum total of 35 days away per year.
I signed more documents and the lady told me that as part of the scheme, I could not turn down any reasonable offer of work.
Another phone call was made and I have my first meeting with my assigned advisor next Monday morning at the INSTEP office in Foix.
I think that this might be the first time that I have ever been in step in my life. Still, "the game's afoot" as Sherlock might say.
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