Sarina Russo Job Access

After being registered with Centrelink while on unemployment benefit for a certain period of time you get sent along to an employment agency. It turned out you can choose from a variety of agencies that Centrelink deal with, which was kind of nice, but I didn’t know anything about any of them. So, for no better reason than that Sarina Russo was located in the same building as the Centrelink office at Ringwood, I chose them. I now believe my choice was a mistake, and I should have gone elsewhere.

The staff at Sarina Russo were very welcoming, and I wanted to take advantage of anything they could offer. I soon learnt that my time spent there was largely a waste of time. They provided little help, and I felt that the organisation was staffed by people of limited experience, or at best narrow experience. I continued to attend only because if I didn’t show up they would report my absence to Centrelink, risking my dole being cut. I eventually left when I got a job. My time spent with them was a relatively negative experience, leaving me feeling that other organisations were more obliging. The job that I eventually got was procured by using my own methods and my own application style and writing skills. The Sarina Russo organisation contributed nothing to assist me getting work.

Their office had computer facilities to assist clients find work. This would have been a great service if you didn’t have your own computer, but if you have better facilities at home, and have to spend time hanging around their office because other people were using the computers you tend to get a bit frustrated and annoyed. There were several training sessions, which may have been good if you weren’t sure (ie. didn’t have a clue) of how to apply for a job. I found the training sessions lacking, and there was little attempt to cater for people who wanted to improve their skills. There was some attempt: They ran a seminar with guest speakers, who were actually very good value. They also employed a consultant who purported to assess your interview technique – sounded good, but was a dead loss. Those were the only positive moments I recall.

The training pushed the idea that job applications should be written on one page, followed by your CV. That was basically it. Nothing else. They had a very closed idea of what an application should look like, and how employers deal with applications. They also pressed upon us the need to apply for a certain number of jobs every time we came into the office, and I think it was five jobs, if I recall correctly. The staff trainer I had, had never heard of selection criteria in a job application. That’s astonishing. Almost all the positions I have applied for in the last 15 years have had between 5 and 7 statements in the selection criteria. Responses to these items have to be worded carefully, and an application you care about can take several days to prepare; often more. The idea of applying for several jobs per day is not possible.

There came a point when my household income began to rise. I was still looking for a job, but because there was now money coming in Centrelink stopped my payments. I had still been going to Sarina Russo regularly, and as I had reached the point when one of their staff members had been assigned to me for personal assistance, I was happy to work in this arrangement as I definitely wanted a job, and I wanted to see where this service led. It didn’t lead anywhere. When Sarina Russo realised I was not being supported by Centrelink they refused to provide the personal service.

Given my new situation, I asked if I could continue to use the facilities like the photocopier, printer etc. but they denied my access to all services. As it happened there was a different employment agency a short distance down the street. The opposition. I stepped into the building, and explained my experience with Sarina Russo. The rep was surprised by this behaviour, and offered the use of their facilities (ie. computers, photocopying), despite me not being registered with them.

The Sarina Russo staff didn’t say, but you can guess, that they dumped me because this became a funding issue. Their government funding would have stopped with respect to services provided to me. They weren’t about to provide a service to anyone who wasn’t being funded. I wasn’t an income earner to them and they dropped me like a hot potato. I think that’s it in a nutshell. Sarina Russo are not particularly interested in assisting anyone get a job. If they do manage to find someone work, then that would probably be okay, but their prime purpose in this world for Sarina Russo is to generate income by keeping the government coffers flowing.

Centrelink

I spotted a job ad in the newspaper a few weeks ago. It was from Centrelink. The ad has been playing on my mind since then. I can’t recall the job title exactly, but they were advertising to fill a position in their organisation to investigate fraud. On the face of it, no decent, law-abiding citizen would object to such a notion. A minute later the penny dropped: Centrelink wanted some help in detecting individuals who were claiming more than they should have. I expect they wanted to recoup payments made to single parents if, for example, they had a cash windfall that week (ie. casual work they hadn’t declared), or students who had to change their enrolment and were no longer eligible for austudy payments. To me, that’s not so much fraud as people just trying to get by on the little they have. It’s difficult enough trying to live on the edge, when you are just making ends meet, and then Centrelink employs fraud investigators to check up on you. Yes, I know there are real fraudsters out there, but Centrelink does spend needless effort checking and haranguing honest people and not actually helping them.

Why does the government spend such an effort trying to save a few dollars like this and then drops millions in the drink on other projects. Today the Australian Government announced it had allocated $2.9 million to search for the HMAS Sydney, which sank off the WA coast in 1941. I find it difficult to reconcile government policy that will prosecute people who are struggling and might stretch the truth on their dole form, and the spending of millions of dollars searching for rusty metal at the bottom of the sea. And this funding is in addition to the $1.3 million that has already been allocated toward the search.

Anyway, let me continue. I was unemployed not so long ago, was keen to get back into work, and to help me get by I registered with Centrelink. I tried to adopt a receptive and co-operative attitude, but there is something within that organisation that kicks you in the guts. Of course, my experience with Centrelink was only with unemployment benefit. It’s possible that the recipients of the range of other benefits that Centrelink provides may well have a pleasant experience. I don’t know. I can only refer to my own experience, and it was none too agreeable.

From my first encounter with Centrelink, which involved a ‘seminar’ through to the dreary fortnightly queue in which you have to hand deliver your claim form in order to receive your benefit, the memory of the experience almost makes me shudder. To anyone currently going through this, you have my heartfelt commiserations.

The ‘seminar’ established a them-and-us attitude, that I suspect did more to alienate people than welcome us into a support network. The seminar included the screening of a video which emphasized the consequences of cheating the system, rather than providing a caring environment. Okay, I’m an optimist, but Centrelink was going flat out to turn me against them. The presenter was patronizing, dictatorial, and showed his disdain for the people present. I found the emphasis by the staffer presenting the ‘seminar’ that the benefit was provided by taxpayers and we should be grateful. That’s offensive. My immediate thought at the time, given the age of the staffer, and my own age and years in the workforce, was that I probably had more tax deducted from my salary during my working life than this guy had actually earned as salary in his lifetime. Unemployment benefit is not a gift or simply a handout; it’s a right, and there should be no guilt felt in taking it.

I can empathize with the staff, to some extent. Running these ‘seminars’ must be boring for the staff; the same thing week in week out. And the staff working at the front desk faced with such a variety of emotions from the people making claims must be mind-numbing. Centrelink, you do have an attitude problem. Perhaps you should review your staffing policies. Or do you select your staff to behave the way they do? Thankfully, there are a few decent people there, but too few in my experience.