Post by Sophie on Aug 3, 2009 21:36:12 GMT 10
Unemployment is on the rise, so when I found out a new supermarket is planning on opening up in town, I expected the recruitment day to attract a lot of people. Students like me, looking for a part-time job to get a bit of extra cash. Older people who had lost their previous job and are desperate to get back into work. People like my neighbour, who is fed up with where she works and wants a career change.
What I didn’t expect is for the queue to be reaching back a good deal of distance before the hall even opened. The community centre, where the recruitment day is being held, is at the far end of a row of shops. The queue stretched down the ramp, in front of the car park next door, past two shops, four ground-floor flats, the Co-op, the car park next to that, round the corner and in front of four more houses before ending at the roundabout. Even if you’ve never been to where I live, you’ll know that’s a pretty long queue. Even the queues coming out of the bakery and the chip shop at lunchtimes are nothing compared to how far that one was.
Now there’s one thing to bear in mind; this recruitment day is running not only from 10am until 7pm tonight, but also from 9am to 5pm tomorrow. Yes, people would have wanted to get in early, but with two days to go and apply, it seems pointless to me to join a queue where you’ll be waiting longer than if you were in one for Colossus at Thorpe Park. But in desperate times, people are prepared to do anything to get a job, even if that means standing on the pavement for an hour.
My chances of getting a job there with all this competition is unlikely; there’ll be people who are far more experienced and qualified than me, and who can work more hours. Had this store opened even a year ago, there would be nowhere near as many people looking to work there. But with the recession not looking like ending anytime soon, anyone and everyone is applying to what few jobs come up.
In a way, I’m luckier than most of the other people in the queue. I’ve got a job at the moment, even if it’s not that well-paid and the hours are too early (when you’re getting up earlier on a Saturday than you are during the week, you know it’s not right.) But as the amount of firms going bust (RIP Woolworths) proves, nobody is safe. There are graduates out there struggling to find that first job even with a degree from Oxford or Cambridge. My local high street has become a virtual ghost town, with several empty stores taking up space.
But as the recession of the early nineties proved, it won’t last forever. Employment will rise, the economy will get back to how it was before and we’ll all be spend, spend, spending once more. It’s just a shame we have to suffer the lows to get the highs.
-Sophie
What I didn’t expect is for the queue to be reaching back a good deal of distance before the hall even opened. The community centre, where the recruitment day is being held, is at the far end of a row of shops. The queue stretched down the ramp, in front of the car park next door, past two shops, four ground-floor flats, the Co-op, the car park next to that, round the corner and in front of four more houses before ending at the roundabout. Even if you’ve never been to where I live, you’ll know that’s a pretty long queue. Even the queues coming out of the bakery and the chip shop at lunchtimes are nothing compared to how far that one was.
Now there’s one thing to bear in mind; this recruitment day is running not only from 10am until 7pm tonight, but also from 9am to 5pm tomorrow. Yes, people would have wanted to get in early, but with two days to go and apply, it seems pointless to me to join a queue where you’ll be waiting longer than if you were in one for Colossus at Thorpe Park. But in desperate times, people are prepared to do anything to get a job, even if that means standing on the pavement for an hour.
My chances of getting a job there with all this competition is unlikely; there’ll be people who are far more experienced and qualified than me, and who can work more hours. Had this store opened even a year ago, there would be nowhere near as many people looking to work there. But with the recession not looking like ending anytime soon, anyone and everyone is applying to what few jobs come up.
In a way, I’m luckier than most of the other people in the queue. I’ve got a job at the moment, even if it’s not that well-paid and the hours are too early (when you’re getting up earlier on a Saturday than you are during the week, you know it’s not right.) But as the amount of firms going bust (RIP Woolworths) proves, nobody is safe. There are graduates out there struggling to find that first job even with a degree from Oxford or Cambridge. My local high street has become a virtual ghost town, with several empty stores taking up space.
But as the recession of the early nineties proved, it won’t last forever. Employment will rise, the economy will get back to how it was before and we’ll all be spend, spend, spending once more. It’s just a shame we have to suffer the lows to get the highs.
-Sophie
). They're always looking for new staff and there's always "every day" sort of shifts for all of those people because groceries are the one thing everyone wants, even in a recession.
