Where did recruitment go wrong?

A pal of mine, similar age lost his job at the end of March when the betting shop he'd run for many years closed.

He's a bight lad, very good with figures, preferring to work out bets in his head than use a computer.

As you might imagine, he has the DWP encouraging him to find a job.

They put him forward for a job with a large employer in Walsall, a plc in fact. I won;t tell you what the job is, until I've painted the picture of what they have him doing.

An English test, a maths test.

Now he's engaged on a course of sixty hours duration which includes digital marketing and he has to create a blog.

If he's successful in that, he might get invited to an interview and probably more hoops to jump through.

As for the sixty hour course, he's not being paid for it.

And the job. A telephone advisor on the maintenance plans this company offers, £ 20k a year.

What happened to the skill and judgment normal people used to use when writing a job description and profile of the ideal person.

I had experience of this company about six years ago, when a job came up doing pretty much what I was doing then and still do now. Copywriting and some video work, mostly internal, where you put managers on the sofa and do an interview.

I really wanted this job, good money and I knew I could do it well. I didn't mind the fact they were forty minutes late starting the interview which I felt went really well.

I took a small tablet with me and showed them examples of my video work and the same with my written stuff.

Later that day a phone call from some starchy twat in HR to provide feedback on why I didn't get the job.

Apparently, I didn't show much in the way of knowledge of the company. I answered the questions they'd asked of me. A plc, what they do etc. Actually, I was convinced they'd got the wrong person but there we are, I didn't get it.

Returning to he plight of my pal. I hope he gets it, because rather like myself, getting a job at 63 is a bit of a miracle, no matter how good you might be. There's always the hurdle of convincing the 12 yr old on front of you with gel in his hair and a big knot in his tie that you aren't a threat to him which is my belief why anyone over 40 finds it difficult to change jobs.

And of course the mercenary twats in the recruitment agencies who think it easier to put a 23 year old into a position over a 43 year old, because all they're after is a commission.