I decided I wanted to become self employed but had no idea how to do this until someone pointed me…read morein the direction of Chapel Town's Urban Biz. Its social aim is to help marginalised or disadvantaged people return to employment by getting them the help they need whether that is through advice, the right training or help creating a business plan. It is based in Chapel Town - a predominantly Black and Asian community - as they work with BAME (Black and Ethnic Minority) groups. But the fact that I am a white girl did not prevent them from giving me free advice about how to get started. I had called them up and was able to arrange a meeting the next day. My advisor was positive and helpful and gave me his card so I could call him any time I needed more advice on my next step to setting up my own business.

I would go as far as to say that the University of Manchester careers Service is one of the best…read morethings about the University. If you want direction in your career they will provide it for you. Not only do they allow you access to hundreds of great jobs, graduate programs and internships, they'll actually meet you if you book a one to one session and sort your life out for you. Personally I'm doing a masters, but so many of my friends are now in careers, almost all of which they got onto through this wonderful service. If you're like me though, and don't need a career just yet, they still provide services for you. They have hundreds of great part time jobs advertised through the careers service, so that businesses can get students or graduates of Manchester University to fill their posts. In fact, its how I got my job for Yelp (which is amazing)!! Its also a great place to advertise jobs if you run a business because you can guarantee that all the applicants will be graduates of a top class university. A wonderful service that works to benefit all parties, I too am thankful that I have access to this joyous opportunity!

All universities should have a careers service, but a quality careers service is a little harder to…read moremeet. I don't know, judging from my time at University of Leeds, they're both pretty good. I've made use of the literature, the newspapers, the information booklets, the CV help service, the psychometric tests books, all a lot of good information. However they run a mock interview session if you get a job interview but never seem to have any sessions free. They insist that you have an interview secured before you can make an appointment but most of the time interviews are short notice and I'm always always missing out. However the advisors are pretty good on giving general advice and for giving you a confidence boost and you can really tell that they want you to genuinely get the job. There's many talks and information sessions to attend and you get the regular emails to inform you of the new things going on as a current student. There are actually forums and blogs that you can keep up to date with if you're a fan of the online. Overall having the careers service there gives me the confidence that I'll get somewhere as a University of Manchester graduate. Thank god.

I've never seen a job centre located in an attractive building. This is certainly no exception. "Do…read moreya know where the job centre is?" is a question I have been asked on numerous occasions whilst shopping in Chorlton Place. It's tucked just around the corner past Quality save and is not obviously signposted. When I was unemployed last year I made an appointment at this jobcentreplus. I was pleasantly surprised by the size and layout of the interior. There are quite a few machines where you can search for jobs, print out the details of jobs you are interested in. The whole centre is open plan, which made me feel a little less like I was being dragged into the head teacher's office for being naughty and lazy. My appointment was late, but the centre was quite busy. The lady I spoke to was friendly and genuinely impressed that I had written books that had been published. She decided (without really asking me) that I was going to be an author, but seemed confused that there weren't many authorial jobs on her database. She helpfully handed me some printouts about copywriting jobs that I was pretty under qualified for, and told me to come back next week. Thankfully by the time my next appointment had come round, I had been offered a job!

you have to lie to job centre to make sure u get paid otherwise they will place a sanction on your…read moreclaim i don't understand when u lie u could liable for prosecution as you are cheating the system. however i was honset to say to the job centre staff that i didn't apply for this job as i have not got the experience for this role. they have placed a sanction on my claim for been honset with them. "saying that i am not looking for work" how can they say that or even prove that am i not looking for? please please make sure u lie to get what you want from job centre and dont feel that you are doing any wrong. because if ur honest to them they will impose some form of sanction. for been honest i have not been paid from the 30/10/12 as they have but a sanction for not looking for work till feb 2013. where is the justice in that? crime pays!!!!! if u are treated this way i have given this a 5 star so people can see the truth. if i gave one star it will end up at the bottom of the review list thank you m.ali