jsa - 13 week review interview.

After your initial Jobseekers' Allowance interview, and the fortnightly follow up interviews.

After about 13 weeks - if you have not found a job, you will be called for a more 'intensive' interview/meeting. Again, this interview is meant to help you find a job - not to try and stop your benefits.

It will be much the same as you previous five or six fortnightly interviews, but it will take a little longer. This time it will be more of an in-depth review of what you have been doing, and discussions about how to improve your chances of finding a job.

You will need to prove to the advisor that you 'have' in fact been trying to find work - even if there is no work available in your area - possible!

If you have kept a record - like we suggested previously on the initial Jobseekers Allowance Interview page - this will help. If you are not a good writer or organiser, then you should get a friend to help you keep this record. We are not talking of a ship captain's log of events here, simply some notes of when you have been looking for jobs and where. Maybe you look at the jobs vacancies board or classified ads every day. Good - make a note write it down - with dates.

Your reviewer/advisor might now start to make suggestions how you can change things to give you a better chance of finding a job. They will have got to know you a little bit better after five or six meetings previously.

Perhaps you have a few ideas of how they could actually help you a little more. Additional training or whatever. ASK! It will show you are interested, and genuine about your Job seeking. They will like that!

After the next 13 weeks - 6 months in all - if you still have no job (quite possible) then you will need to attend another meeting/interview. (It is a good idea to think of these as 'meetings' between you and your advisor. They are paid to help you and advise you.) The next 'meeting' at 6 months, will dig a bit deeper to make sure that you 'are' trying to find a job, and that you 'are' taking heed of all the advice they are so freely giving you. If you have been ignoring their advice, then you might find things getting a little bit more intense. You may even lose your benefit!

Back to The First Jobseekers' Allowance meeting : The six month meeting/interview.