I went to sign on at the Jobcentre today. Successfully entered into a Jobseekers' Agreement (ie the committment to be pursuing work). However the downside is that i do not get a penny for it. I am neither poor enough and nor have I worked the number of years to amass enough national insurance credits. I was pursuaded from my lofty aims of secretarial work, towards the more realistic 'shop assistant' category. I was also asked what i was hoping 'to do' with my history (of my history degree), at which point i could think of several rude suggestions. I was also given details of a careers fair. Now, Spacecadets will be familiar with a certain kind of jobs fair: the glossy sharp-suiting trades of investment banking and corporate management. This fair (fayre, i thought was the traditional English) is populated by the high street MacDonald's and others looking presumably to employ minimum wagers (the whole premise of the careers fair seems spun to seem more prestigous than it really is). I am not making a complaint, but the comparison sets the job-seeking in striking relief with the University milkround.