Non-job of the week

 

Many thanks to supporters for sending in their non-job suggestions. As ever, there doesn’t seem to be a shortage of them, and although I cannot top last week’s non-contract of the week, there are still some revealing posts being advertised.

The London Borough of Sutton is advertising for a Customer Insight and Performance Manager, paying between £40,716-£43,368 per annum. This is part of the job description:

Working in a vibrant and highly performing new Policy and Customer Services Division in the Chief Executive’s Group, this post is key to shaping change. As the Council’s professional lead for research, customer insight and performance management you will ensure delivery of the Council’s priorities through customer-focused, evidence-based policy and service delivery.

It all sounds rather vague, but that’s not the only offering from Sutton today. For the same salary, the council is also looking for a Community Involvement and Innovation Manager. One of the requirements for this post is ’experience of engaging residents in innovative ways’. How about simply asking them?

Moving on to Reading, the council there is seeking to recruit a Tenant Participation Officer as part of its ‘strong commitment to working with tenants and to make sure that tenants have a say in the services delivered to their homes and local communities’. The successful candidate will also ensure ‘tenant expectations are met and where possible exceeded and the resident experience is continuously improved’.

In other words, if the roof’s leaking, it gets fixed. If the fuse box blows, it gets repaired. Isn’t that a legal obligation for landlords? What else are they talking about? More public sector doublespeak!

To find the winner this week I have been on a journey. No, I haven’t been racking-up expenses on the TPA corporate credit card. Instead I have been on a virtual tour from Medway to Brussels, via Dunkirk and Ostend.

Has anyone heard of the AIMER project? AIMER is an acronym for Achieving the Integration of Migrant Communities. Here are the opening lines on its website:

This Website has been designed to help you if you are new to the UK (Specifically new to the regions of Medway, East of England and Essex), to Dunkirk (in the Nord-Pas-de Calais Region in France) or in Oostende (in the Flanders region of Belgium).

Its purpose is to help you learn about life in the UK, France and Belgium in general, and the area where you live in particular.

Medway Council is searching for a Community Inclusion Coordinator as part of this project, which is funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) within the INTERREG IV A 2 Seas Programme.

None of us want racial tensions in Britain, but does it really need the EU’s involvement to solve any problems that may exist in Medway? Does Medway really need a Community Inclusion Officer to deal with any problems it has? Community groups, working with councillors, are more than capable of dealing with issues when they arise.

http://www.taxpayersalliance.com/waste/2011/06/nonjob-week-26.html