In an attempt to broaden my horizons again, I was interested in the possibility of completing educational courses paid for by the employment office. I was interested in advanced IT education, which is not exactly cheap, so why not take the opportunity.
First, my steps led to the branch of the labor office, where I belong according to my place of residence. It was necessary to register as a job seeker. I entered the rather shabby building and took the serial number from the panel. I was about the fifteenth in line, so I didn’t miss two hours of waiting.
After my number was called, I moved to the glass counter, sat down, handed over my ID and explained to the obviously tired clerk that I was interested in moving up in my career, looking for new opportunities, and would also like to further my education. She handed me a several-page form, which I managed to fill out by hand in about half an hour. The lady checked the form after me, introduced me to the system and started writing out a paper card for job seekers. She scheduled an appointment with the clerk who was supposed to help me look around the job market in six weeks.
Quite naively, I asked the lady if a potential employer could now contact me through them. Logically, I thought that at the time of digitization, an official would enter information into the system and personnel and recruiters could immediately search it. Error. The lady looked at me with a completely uncomprehending look and told me that it doesn’t work that way. I am only registered in their internal system, the clerk informs me about any offers in the six weeks, and if I want to take an educational course, I have to go to another building, which was a few kilometers away, for information.
So I took the card with the date and went to the building where they should have information about courses and retraining. Surprisingly, there was no queue here. Or rather, there wasn’t even a foot. I approached the counter and was taken care of by a somewhat better-tempered lady clerk. I explained my intentions to her and expected a flood of information. Instead, I received a paper form – an application form and a message that I could find all the information at www.jsemvkurzu.cz.
It didn’t work for me and of course I asked for an essential piece of information – what happens if I sign up for a course and don’t finish it? After all, these were non-negligible amounts. Well, of course, anyone could try that, I already knew the answer. In that case, no one will pay you anything. Disarmed by the illogicality and dysfunctionality of the entire system, I went home. I’ve looked through course websites, but I haven’t been able to find any that I’m interested in.
However, a worm of curiosity remained gnawing at me, whether the clerk would offer me some lucrative job in those six weeks. After all, I have education and experience, I counted on at least three offers.
So I arrived on time, now at the office, where a very willing lady clerk took care of me. I presented her with my ID card, she checked it and asked what she could actually do for me. Are you serious? I had the idea that the lady would be ready for a meeting with me, throw information about my future employers in front of me and send me to visit them. Well, it doesn’t work like that either.
The conclusion of the whole anabasis was that there is no system connectivity, employers are not obliged to cooperate with the labor office, and a person who is really interested in working has to find a job himself.
