I'm at a bit of a loss to see the relevance, but I suppose they meant well!

Me too then

How many years has he been buried there....?

I wonder what idiot thought that one up.

Was it supposed to be malicious do you think?

Good grief - where do they find these numpties?

must be too much

Since 1485 so that's 528 years. A long time to wait for a new job to come along. What a stupid message.

Perhaps they are trying to suggest there is always hope? Wierd. I was under the impression there was not a haystack full of jobs to be looking though

It was ever thus with employment agencies. I insisted they never messed with my CV as they tended to be far less literate than me.

I suppose it was just a way of saying never give up hope.

Richard III gave up hope 528 years ago.

Hearing the archaeologists talking, they only did the dig because the Richard III Society funded it and wanted it done. They really did not expect to find anything. So to find the body of Richard III on the first day really was a chance in a million. I think that is probably the point the jobsite was making

However the rule is, if you are going to make oblique references, make sure those you are sending the reference to, know where your coming from. As an amateur archeologist I got this one. If it had been a reference to physics or astronomy I would have been uncomprehending.

I still feel it's not exactly inspiring for jobseekers!

One of the sites I subscribe to is always banging on about the "thousands" of sales positions it has each week. Great, so I put in my postcode, hit enter, nothing. I then play this game several times, increasing the distance each time, and having a little bet with myself as to how far a distance I will have to put before anything comes up! Such fun! (NOT).

I have bitten the bullet and applied for JSA, have an appointment for 11am tomorrow.

My perverse logic is that the minute I start claiming, some sort of job will turn up.

Bit cross with myself though as you can only back date a claim by up to 3 months, so I have missed some benefit that I was entitled to.

Is it still means-tested after six months?

Not sure, they asked me if I wanted to claim contributions based JSA or income based, I said contributions based.

It's not very joined up, I remember from my last lot of attending the Jobcentre that the staff there are not benefits trained, so they are unable to answer benefit related questions.

I know already who the advisor is that I will see, as he is the specialist for the over 50's. He will be disappointed to see me back.

He was my advisor when I was made redundant for the first time (2005) and again for my most recent one.