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25
Jun
'Extremely frustrating' bogus job applications prompt butcher's business to contact MP
A butcher’s business in Kirkby Malzeard got a mention in the House of Commons on Monday, when Skipton and Ripon MP Julian Smith spoke about the problem of bogus job applications.
For some years, every job advert posted by R & J Yorkshire’s Finest Farmers and Butchers has attracted applications from people who appear to have no interest in working there.
The problem has been so acute that Kate Atkinson, human resources and business development manager at the firm, was moved to contact Mr Smith in despair.
R&J's Kate Atkinson.
She told the Stray Ferret:
It’s extremely frustrating. It happens all the time, with every single job advert we post.
Last week, we posted three job ads, one of them for a delivery driver. Of the 50 applications we received, at least half were obviously not genuine, as they either didn’t have any relevant experience – one didn’t even have a driving licence – or they lived nowhere near here. We’ve had applications from as far away as Blackpool and Glasgow.
Half of the remainder didn’t get back to us when we contacted them, and of the ones who did, at least half didn’t turn up for the interview.
We’ve had this scenario so often. It’s very frustrating when we’re trying to recruit and I’m sifting through applications from people who are clearly not interested in the job. It’s just a waste of everyone’s time.
Julian Smith MP posing the question in the chamber of the House of Commons.
Speaking in the chamber of the House of Commons, Mr Smith said:
R&J Finest Butchers in Kirkby Malzeard has had multiple job applications from Jobcentres from people they think never had an intention of actually going to interview or taking a job.
Can I urge her [Minister for Employment Alison McGovern] to look at how incentives and penalties are matched up to ensure that people do actually turn up to interview and take a job?
Responding for the government, Ms McGovern said it was a problem inherited from the Conservatives and that the government was changing the way the Department for Work and Pensions operated to tackle it.
She also offered to put Mr Smith in touch with his local Jobcentre manager so that he could help R&J.
Employment Minister Alison McGovern responding for the government.
The reason why so many people are showing interest in jobs they’re unsuited to appears to lie in the rules governing eligibility for Jobseeker’s Allowance. In order to receive the allowance, claimants must be actively searching for jobs, attending interviews, and agreeing to a "claimant commitment", which sets out the steps they need to take to look for work.
It is thought that some of the bogus applications are sent by people trying to give the illusion of looking for work.
Yet sanctions can be applied if an applicant doesn’t turn up for a job interview, so questions remain concerning the rationale behind such applications.
Ms Atkinson said:
I don’t know how Jobseeker’s Allowance works, but from a small business point of view, there seems to be something in the system that doesn’t work. And it’s not just us – we know we’re not alone, because other businesses have told us they have the same problem.
The Stray Ferret has contacted the Department for Work and Pensions to ask how common such bogus job applications are, and – in light of the minister’s response in the Commons – how the way the department works is changing to deal with the problem.
Does your business often receive job applications from people who clearly don’t want the job? Let us know at letters@thestrayferret.co.uk.
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