That's crazy. It's only a retail job, why can't they hold the interview in the shop the vacancy is at?

There's a lot of inconsistency nowadays. Last year I was working at a small airport and had a nice job (dealing with Bizjets, Helicopters, bit of maintenance etc) but a PCSO job came up at Thames Valley Police. I applied, got given an interview date but had to cancel as a relative of mine was ill (she's okay now) So I have to wait until they have another intake of PCSO's or PC's. This year I lost my job at the airport (company closed down) and I have applied to my local IKEA 3 times; it's in walking distance and a friend of mine works there. All 3 times I've been rejected so far. My mum got 2 rejections from there (both of us have retail experience) and last week (my recent rejection from them) my mum got an e-mail from them asking if she could phone them as they'd like to give her an interview (weird, as her last rejection from them was about 2 months ago and she's since secured a job at Primark) literally 2 days after they had rejected me for a shop floor job.
So all in all, Thames Valley Police felt I could be potentially good enough to deal with offenders, but IKEA feel I can't sell flat pack furniture.

I feel so sorry for people looking for jobs. Gone are the days when you could simply walk from shop to shop, or factory to factory or office to office and ask if there are any vacancies. It all seems to be online nowadays and so complicated.

And there are so many obstacles. I know someone who's been offered a job but hasn't got a CSCS card. Booking and taking the test is something like £40, you need to get hold of a book first to learn what you need to pass the test. He's failed it twice so far. He's not academic, but can't even get a labouring job until he passes this test.

The unemployment and job situation in this country is far worse than is being revealed in the 'official statistics', of that I am certain.

What sort of society is it that puts the fate of the genuinely vulnerable, ill, disabled etc in the hands of a foreign owned private company for a start ? The government are so far out of touch with reality it is frightening, and that's just ATOS. The governments own employees charged with pushing through this 'universal credit scheme ' are also deeply concerned :

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/201 ... hip-reform

Don't even get me started on the growing trend for 'zero hours contracts' , often operated by companies who can well afford to pay a reasonable living wage, and if they can't, then they have no right to remain in business being subsidised by the tax-payer. Let them go to the wall and lets see the true dire state of our economy.

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfre ... -contracts

I suspect some folk will read this and say oh, yes, but these are articles from the Guardian, so be expected. There are plenty of similar articles from other sources available on the internet though. I'm just too tired and worn down to find and post them.