Census Enumerator - A job worth doing?
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The Government is advertising in local papers for Census Enumerators - seems fairly decent, £750 for 75 hours over 9 weeks and you can do it outside of your normal job.
Just wondering if anyone has any experience doing this, their thoughts on the job and whether it's worth doing for a bit of extra cash?
Just wondering if anyone has any experience doing this, their thoughts on the job and whether it's worth doing for a bit of extra cash?
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Do you mean a "Special Enumerator"?
https://censusjobs.co.uk/fe/tpl_census01.asp?newms=info2
If you can catch the people in, they may not have filled in the forms, a lot want you to help them with it - its a long form and very time consuming and eats up the petrol.
The time it took getting all the forms back meant the 'wage' wasn't as attractive as it initially appeared to be. I went into houses where the occupant was weird, and it was a bit worrying to be truthful.
I was lucky - I had an area where the houses were relatively close together, but still had loads of long drives and walking in between the houses. It was very tiring all told. I wouldn't do it again.
No, Census Enumerator.
The advert I saw was the one Glen has linked to, Census Enumerator - involving delivery, collection and collation of forms as well as helping people if need be .etc.
Thanks sally7, striing and quatro - this is similar to the feedback ive had from other people... perhaps not as appealing as it first sounds! Plus, I spose I'd get taxed to buggery for it being a 'second job'.
Ok! Sorry about that...
My Dad did the last census, okay, but took a lot of abuse and one guy tried to fill him in.
My Dad was in his sixties at the time and you couldn't meet gentler guy.
Apparently in the late 1800's the Shepton Mallet enumerator had to be escorted by Police for safety.
The Scottish census will be done a slightly different way, and the roles are therefor different. In England there will be a break with tradition in that forthcoming Census forms will be posted out, not hand delivered. People can then post them back or opt to do it online. People will have to fill it in following guidelines enclosed, and there will be help sites etc online.
Address checkers have already identified places where it will be harder to ensure each person receives their form (multiple occupancies like halls of residence etc), or places where mail has to go be screened before it reaches the individual (prison, armed forces) or places where individuals may have difficulty completing their form (elderly in care homes, asylum seekers in hostels etc) . Census Enumerators (in England) are then tasked with the role of taking forms to, collecting forms from, and helping these establishments in the first instance.
If a normal household doesn't return their form within the alloted time it will then be followed up by a Census Collector(different role), who will establish why it hasnt been filled in and help people complete it. If they still don't complete it this will be followed up by a Non Compliance Officer (different role again).
TBH, as an address checker it was hard enough to get people to confirm certain addresses (95% of which could be done without knocking on doors) without having to engage with people face to face over a form they don't want to fill in
As an overview for anyone who is thinking of doing this: Basically if you are hand delivering forms you will be covering similar territory to that we covered in the first place as address checkers. You will be walking at least 3 miles a day, plus driving to and from your 'patches'. It was hard work, sometimes frustrating, sometimes boring, but the bonus was we were doing it May-Aug, so at least we were out in the sun all day and the walking kept me fit:). There is a huge amount of map reading, planning routes, paperwork so you need to be well organised and very flexible regarding your hours. There are streets where you can do a hundred houses in an hour, but the following day it may take you 9 hours just to do 50 farms spread out over the moors ! You will constantly be trying to keep abreast of targets you have to reach, as you will have regular team meetings to collect/hand in stuff, and online commitments to submit data.
I did it for 16 weeks and by the time it got to the end I was getting a bit jaded
I've done a similar job for the council with the Register of Electors, a few years ago, when in my area they used to get you to drop off the form and collect it (they get you to post it back nowadays or do it online) or get people to fill it in on the doorstep.
It was when my kids were younger and I needed the money. tbh I wouldn't do it as a second job because firstly you'll get hammered with the tax and secondly it's time consuming.
Oh and the area I did had a lot of farms and therefore farm dogs who enjoyed scaring the living daylights out of me!:eek:
Sorry if that's not what you wanted to hear but I'm just being honest.
I am still on the council's list for polling clerk though! Not for the money but it's good fun and you get to meet people in the village you haven't see for a long time!:D
Lol, yes
You knew it was going to be a tough day when you turned the corner of an unknown street to see any of the following in no particular order !
dogs roaming
mattresses in gardens
boarded up front doors
unlit alleyways leading to back to backs
kids in school uniforms hanging out windows at 11am
That really depresses me. :mad:
Why would people be giving people like your dad abuse. Are they that lazy in that they couldn't be bothered to fill out a form?
Just saw an advert on DS advertising a job collecting censuses in the Toxteth area of Liverpool... err no thank you