I have a real problem with the job bridge scheme, in theory it’s a great idea but the basic rules are very flawed. Actual jobs could be created instead of these schemes in a lot of cases, but companies are taking advantage of free labour.

Access to the scheme is also limited or impossible for people with children. There is no provision for a childcare supplement and €50 per week just doesn’t cover it. Childcare places can be provided for people on useless Fas courses but not on JobBridge?

I could go on…

The other 62% are doing jobs on Jobbridge that could be proper jobs but the company’s are too cheap to pay the people and instead use and abuse the Jobbridge scheme for free labor. The scheme is flawed and has to many ways of being abused.

Last autumn i had an interview for a job bridge internship and i went to it with an open mind. The employer was giving out about Tesco abusing the scheme and a few others who don’t offer relevant experience. So to cut a long story back a two days later i got offered the internship but i said give me a day or so to think over.
That was ok so i went on facebook and saw they had a page and i went in and had a look, turns out the employer wasn’t entirely honest in the interview he said they might be a good chance of a job at the end of this and this was a nine month intership. Well two women in the company were going on a maternity leave and i was being used as free labour to cover them and there was no chance i was ever being kept on. The rules of Job Bridge are clear an employer cant replace a worker with an unpaid intern but this employer was doing this and this is one of the major problems i have with the program that its not properly policed and the employer even tried to bribe me to take the job with might be some money at the end of the program bull****.
Well i turned it down and he got angry and even went as far to make threats about getting me knocked off social welfare until i told him that i have proof that he was using me to profit his own company and save money as he was flaunting the rules and the proof was on his facebook page for all to see. That ended that but over all i think Job Bridge is a good idea but it should be no longer than six months long and you should have an independent referee to talk about any concerns are abuses.

And how many of the others simply emigrate?

The spin doctors stayed up all night for this one.

Little miss can’t do wrong.

Surprised nobody has commented on the state of Joan’s hair in that photograph.

I do not believe her.

Leaving 62% still on the dole . . .

If the figures above are correct then, 8000 finished out of 24000, of these only 2300 got the luxury of a paid job at the end.
Business got 24000 free workers!
these programs are a disgrace, they are am anti-tax on business, taking money from the exchequer and using it to pay employers to displace employees with slaves

it does not say what industry these jobs are in or even what area of the country. My guess is the 8%, as SO’K rightly pointed out above, actually emigrated for those full time jobs….Australia maybe?? Would be good to hear from someone who successfully found a full time job as described to believe it at all.

Jobsbridge is theory is a good idea, however it needs to be policed more. I like many others know of employers taking advantage of the programme. I feel sorry for the participant who knows they are completing a job they should be paid for from day one but because of the economy they must put up and shut up. It’s must be soul destroying.

Day dreamer Joan zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

….And the social welfare claimants are doing so well that we are about to cut their payments by 1/3, they too could take a walk on that Job bridge and we can see how many make it over to the other side and how many jump off the edge.

some grammar errors there i see sorry…

I think the scheme is great in theory. I would have loved to have had the opportunity to gain relevant experience when I left college rather than spending my days sending out applications for a soul destroying period of time. However employers are using it to exploit people that are desperate to better themselves. If anything, the scheme is putting actual jobs at risk.

I work in a company with 4 employees. We have taken on an intern that the directors are boasting about trading in every 9 months to get free labour. I have to train up the intern to do my job which I have done because I genuinely want to help them out but I am essentially digging my own grave. Already the directors are visibly resentful of the fact that I am taking a wage when they have someone doing it for free. They would be delighted if I left. Thats one salary they wont have to pay anymore. In addition, every time a staff member has left they have tried to replace them with an intern from the scheme. So even when they have a genuine vacancy they are trying to fill it with an intern.