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1000 applicants for 36 jobs

Managers of a North East shop were overwhelmed when 1,000 people applied for 36 job vacancies. Go Outdoors received a record number of applicants for its new outlet in Stockton, Teesside.

The outdoor pursuits shop, at Portrack Retail Park, which opens on March 26, advertised for 36 staff, including assistant managers, warehouse operators and sales assistants.

“We were at the Job Centre interviewing people for three weeks. We were overwhelmed by the response,” said Liz MacDougall, recently appointed as manager after being made redundant from a similar role at Woolworths, at the Metro Centre, Gateshead.

“We had a lot of people who had been managers and just wanted a job. It’s good news for me, as I have been able to appoint some real quality.”

The North East continues to have the highest rate of unemployment in the country, at 8.4 per cent, with 5,000 people being made redundant in the three months from October to December last year.

Amy Wardlaw, a spokeswoman for the Department of Work and Pensions, said that between November and January, there were 18,772 people in receipt of Jobseeker’s Allowance on Teesside, an increase of 5,177 on the same period last year.

Sandra Duquesnay, recruitment consultant at the Job Centre, said the Go Outdoors recruitment campaign showed that there were still job opportunities for people with transferable skills.

She said: “We know these are testing times, but there are still companies who are bucking the trend and growing despite it all.”

Figures revealed by the TUC showed that the average number of people applying for each available job in the UK has risen from 4 to ten in the past year.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .