Having heard many peoples experences of Working Links, I feel the need to write a little something about them here.

Working Links is a private company that you can be refered to from the Dole office when you have been unemployed for 6 months or more. They then take over your signing on and set up a plan for you getting back to work. The Dole office will sell them up to you telling you that they will help you with a CV, buy you stuff such as interview clothes, mobile phone etc.

Working Links make money from getting you back in to work, and are Draconian. Were you aiming for a particular type of work that you find fulfilling? scrap that, Working Links will make you take any shitty job that is out there.

They often sit you at a desk watching over you for an hour at a time making you phone loads of bars, factories from out of the Yellow Pages to see if they have any vacancies , they also tell you that you must phone these places up and offer you services for free for a shift in order to get your foot in the door, That's right unpayed work!

Everyone I have spoken to has said that they really regret going with Working Links, and if they could go back they would take the signing on weekly over it.