Mr. John McKeon:

The guidance interview is an initial guidance interview, in which the caseworker and jobseeker sit down together. It is the first detailed discussion with a person about his or her skills, background, competencies and the type of jobs he or she might find suitable. He or she will be given advice on developing a personal progression plan. It outlines how a jobseeker might improve his or her prospects of getting a job. The follow-up interviews will possibly take place one to three months later, depending on the case officer's judgment of the client and the profile result, to which Ms Vaughan referred. In the update interview we will look at how the jobseeker has progressed in terms of the things he or she was planning to do for the personal progression plan and what the caseworker has done. If the caseworker has agreed with the jobseeker to try to have him or her placed on a training programme or a Tús programme, what has he or she done for the jobseeker in that month? International experience shows that the update interviews are critically important. The initial interview is important, but the progression rates improve dramatically if there are frequent update interviews.