Job Centre tells social work graduate to ‘dumb down’ CV

Single mum Rachel Sawford overcame domestic abuse and used her experience to get through four years of university to improve the lives of people in similar situations as she once was.

Having completed an access course and achieving a 2.1 undergraduate degree, Rachel was shocked after a job centre advisor said she should remove her degree from her CV to avoid ‘scaring employers’.

The 29-year-old signed up to study social work to help others with similar stories to hers. But when she went to sign on for Jobseeker’s Allowance for the first time, Rachel was told she may have to remove the University of Portsmouth qualification from her CV to make her ‘more employable’ if she is not able to find a social work job.

Speaking to the Portsmouth News, Rachel said, ‘I knew it was going to be difficult to find a job because they say it’s hard.’

‘I am a single parent as well so I knew it would be hard to find work. I just wanted to go to the job centre to get advice. I thought that is what they are there to do.’ But Rachel’s experience was a little different to what she had expected.

Rachel says she was left ‘shocked’ by what the advisor told her to do on her first visit to the Arundel Street job centre.

‘The contract that you sign says after 13 weeks you will have to look for jobs outside of your remit. When they were building the contract on the computer, they asked if I had my CV, so I gave it to her. She said “this is lovely but you will have to amend it” because, she said, I would be overqualified for some jobs. She said I would scare employers with my degree.

‘In my defence, I said I was not happy with that advice. I have worked really hard for four years. If I did not want to get a job in this area, I would not have gone to university.’

Having built up a student debt of around £30,000, Rachel says the job centre’s approach has made her feel shocked and deflated.

‘They were making it like my degree means nothing,’ she said. ‘The four years I worked really hard for mean nothing. You think that the job centre is there to help you.

Liz Holford, careers advisor for the faculty of science at the University of Portsmouth, said: ‘If people’s circumstances mean they can’t move, it is about seeing what other roles she could consider.

‘A lot of social work jobs say you need experience, but graduates do manage to find employment. I have heard other students say employers only want people with experience but there are a lot of jobs for new graduates, too.’

A Department for Work and Pensions spokesman did not deny job centre staff tell clients to omit the fact they are a graduate, saying: ‘Jobcentre Plus advisors work with jobseekers to ensure they have the best chance possible of moving into work. This may include helping someone to highlight relevant skills, experience and qualifications to ensure their CV is focused towards the job they are applying for.’