Hundred applications: who is to blame?

Who is to blame? 

A business in Wales advertised a vacancy with the jobcentre – warehouse, £8 per hour – and received nearly a hundred applications.  Company director Jean Rasbridge claims that she soon realised that many of them were not interested in the job.

Apparently the reasons for her reaching this conclusion included the fact that some of the applicants lived more than a hundred miles away, and also that some had academic qualifications including PhDs.

I am prepared to believe that applicants who live in other parts of the country do not want the job, but I am not convinced about the academics.

As I understand it, each jobcentre makes its own rules to some extent, and I have heard that some jobcentres require claimants to apply for a certain number of jobs every week.  Suppose you are a claimant and you have to apply for (let’s say) ten jobs every week in order to persuade the jobcentre that you are actively seeking work.   If you can find ten jobs each week in your local area which you can reasonably apply for, then that is fine – but what if you can’t?

You have three options.  Either you apply for fewer than ten jobs and risk having your benefits cut; or you apply for jobs which you cannot hope to be taken seriously for; or you apply for jobs in other parts of the country.

I imagine that the applicants from Glasgow and Peterborough were trying to reach a quota, and did not want to work in Wales.  The same may be true of the academics, as there are not many job vacancies out there for people with PhDs.  Then again, even someone with a PhD might prefer working in a warehouse to being a benefits claimant, but the Jean Rasbridges of this world don’t seem able to appreciate that.

The company eventually invited seven people for interview, but only two turned up, and the person who was offered the job did not accept it.  I will make no apology for either the five people who did not turn up or the person who refused the job, but I am curious to know whether the other person who was interviewed was offered the job when the successful applicant refused the offer.  I would also like to know if any of the academic applicants were among those invited for interview.

Jean Rasbridge claims that she knows of other employers who have had similar experiences, and the comments section likewise contains assertions from employers about people on benefits not wanting to work.

While I accept that there is some truth in what they are saying, I think it is fair to point out that people who are under duress to meet a quota of job applications will apply for jobs they don’t want.  The business community is welcome to lobby the government to amend the rules.

It is also fair to point out that people with PhDs might actually want a job in a warehouse.  One of the biggest problems facing the British economy is the fact that far too many businesses are run by prejudiced overpaid twits.  We deserve better.