My daughter is looking to change retail jobs. She recently applied to Mothercare for a position in their new store in Lombardy Retail Park Hayes. Her CV obviously impressed them and she was invited for an interview ………in Hook, Hampshire - with around 40 other hopefuls.

The address – a country hotel - requires her to get an expensive rush hour train to Basingstoke (via Waterloo) and then a 8 mile cab ride. The cost? About £50+ for the return journey. All for a job which probably wont pay much more than the minimum wage! (They wont reveal the salary at this stage).

Talk about an employer’s market! Why on earth cant they hold interviews for a Hayes based job a little more locally??

I agree, how selfish of them.

If they want that sort of travel then they should pay expenses.

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Lets be careful out there !

Maybe her dad will run her down there......

I see your point.... If she has the experience and stands out from the crowd maybe they will come back and be more accommodating.....

Can't see many from Hayes taking that trip on the off chance they may get offered a job at the end of it.

I wonder why Hook? When there head office is in Watford.

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Posts often deleted................Why? I don't know.

Can't have employees or potential employees mixing with head office staff.

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Lets be careful out there !

Of course. At a price!

I wonder whether the company have set up some local interviews (assessment centres) which are now full, so any addition candidates are being sent on another already existing assessment centre in Hampshire.

It's a bit odd though. She is happy to travel to their HQ, or anywhere in London, but this is asking a bit much. Thankfully she has a job right now, but wants to progress. I feel sorry for anyone who may stand to lose benefits by refusing to attend this interview (is this possible?)

Is this possible ??

Not only is it possible, it's happening and does not only apply to job interviews, it also applies to ATOS assessments for anyone wishing to claim any kind of benefit. The interview can be held anywhere they choose, and too bad if you are unable to get there due to financial or health issues.

Since losing my job due to ill health in February this year I have so far refused to take part in this culling exercise, part pride, part personal morals, but time is running out. I've had to try and cash in part of my mediocre private pension fund ( supposedly tax free ) just to keep my head above water. I know for a fact there a lot of folk in a far worse situation than me.

In the meantime the bankers are getting bonuses and the MP's are complaining about their 'meagre' daily food allowances if and when they ever attend parliament.

http://metro.co.uk/2013/04/04/we-cant-c ... e-3582887/

I would ask the obvious question of how these people can sleep at night, but the obvious answer is they have no conscience whatsoever.

I could just about accept it if the burden was being shared equally, but it's not. The gap between the haves and the have nots has widened at an alarming rate in the last few years. The figures are widely available out there on the internet. Zero hour contracts are becoming the norm, and tax credits are being used to subsidise the low wages being paid by some of the richest companies operating in the UK.

The unions may have been too powerfull in the past, but the pendulum has swung too far in the other direction now.

I know people desperately looking for work and the situation for them is hideous, not least the cost of getting to interviews etc when you've got no money to begin with.

My Mrs had to go to Maidenhead when she appealed against her benefit refusal decision. She got both her any my travelling expenses. It was a struggle as they also have muppets working there. She sent the form back to Maidenhead as advised on the day, they forwarded it on to some other department who then misread Maidenhead as Maidstone and sent it off to a financial centre in Essex somewhere who sent it back to us wondering why we'd sent it there.
After a few phone calls we sent it to Birmingham, bypassing Maidenhead, and after 3 months they paid it.

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Lets be careful out there !

From reading the above posts it just reaffirms my opinion that late era neo liberal capitalism is a giant scam which is all about jealously guarding and perpetuating concentrations of wealth and power.

When the next crash comes, the billionaires will go trillionaire, the millionaires will go billionaire, and some bellend pop star or footballer will be on a million a week.

When it all goes tits up Mad Max style good f***ing riddance to the lot of it.