PLACEMENT SERVICE

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume LXVII, Issue 12825, 21 August 1939, Page 7

PLACEMENT SERVICE

SOME EXPLANATIONS As there appears to be a misunderstanding in the minds of a section of the public regarding the activities and methods of the State Placement Service, the Placement officer, Mr L. H. Armstrong, wishes in a series of three articles to explain briefly, the main points of misunderstanding. The idea that if you enrol at the Placement office you automatically register for unemployment benefits "is quite incorrect. Many men enrolled at the various Placement offices have never been unemployed, they merely seek the aid of the Service in their search for more congenial employment or for a position in some other town or city. They know that the service can give them valuable help because it is specialising in, the job of finding the most suitable men for the- jobs available throughout the district. You certainly do not need to be unemployed to obtain the assistance of the State Placement Service. Only when there is no work available and the enrolee expressly states his desire to apply for unemployment benefit, is he or she referred to the Department affording that class of assistance. Some people think that a person on enrolling at the Placemejit office suffers a kind of “stand down” period before he can obtain work. . The truth is that if work is available, the .worker is sent to it within a few minutes of . enrolling. The “stand down” period refers 'to the .procedure covering the payment of unemployment benefits, and has nothing whatever, to do with the Placement Service. Some people believe that the Placement officer brings pressure to bear oh enrolees to accept positions which they do not want to accept. This is also wrong. The enrolee is free to accept or" refuse any position offered him or her by the Placement officer, but, of course, the Department administering unemployment benefits will not grant assistance to persons who refuse work without sufficient reason. That is the law of the country but this law is not operated by the Placement Service.