Crowds force Trust to change job criteria
Rodney Edwards • Published 2 Feb 2012 13:00
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THE Western Health and Social Care Board has admitted to changing the criteria of a job they were offering at a recruitment drive in Enniskillen this week, and acknowledged it was "disappointing" for those who attended the two day event.
The accusation was initially made by a number of people who contacted this newspaper claiming they were informed of the change of plan after queuing outside the Clinton Centre on Tuesday for hours.
One unemployed Enniskillen man who joined the queue at 8.30am in the hope of landing one of the 100 support staff jobs on offer said he learned the news five hours later.
"When I finally got in I was told that earlier that morning they had to increase the criteria for the porters job which meant I didn't have the experience to apply.
"I am angry, because I was waiting for so long. Why didn't they come out and tell us sooner? Apparently they increased the criteria because of the huge volume of people. They obviously didn't expect so many which is pretty stupid. Maybe they should have opened it up to just unemployed people, and in a different venue," he said.
Another man, who has been out of work for nearly three years, said: "Not one person came out and told us in the hours we waited there; we relied on information being fed back to us from people who were inside. It was only when I got inside that I knew about the changes. We would have been far better getting on a bus and going to Stormont to demand action from the politicians who are supposed to be representing us".
Another man said he had no choice but to leave after several hours because he didn't have what was now needed. He intends to make a formal complaint.
In a statement, a Western Health and Social Care Trust spokesperson said they were "delighted" with the level of response to the recruitment drive, and confirmed that they did indeed make changes.
"When the response to advertisements is large we do invoke the predetermined desirable criteria in order to make the process manageable and to focus on the most suitable candidates. This occurred for the position of Porter only and did not exclude those attending from applying for the other positions on offer. We acknowledge that this was disappointing for those who took the time to attend".
Meanwhile, back on the street there were incredible scenes outside the Clinton Centre. There was the couple who lost everything when their shop was forced to close. There was the painter and decorator who hasn't had one job in 18 months. There was the tradesman who queued for five hours only to realise he didn't have enough qualifications to apply.
Men and women, old and young, stood in the cold for hours after the Western Health and Social Trust announced they were looking for porters, cooks, housekeepers and catering staff.
Outside the crowd huddled together; sharing stories of how they became unemployed in the first place; sharing their frustrations at the way the economy has gone; demanding more support from the Government, while hoping, really hoping, that this was finally their chance.
Inside over 50 members of the Trust took their places, 30 of them split up into pairs and carried out interviews in 15 rooms. Downstairs the men and women were filling out forms, finding out more information and holding on to their number.
Belleek resident Elaine McGarrigle said she was keeping her "fingers crossed".
"I am in the same boat as everybody else. It is unbelievable at the moment but this is what's happening in every job - you are up against many others. I am applying for anything, whatever is going I'll put my name to it. It's just the luck of the draw," she said.
Zoe Osbourne from Carrickfergus said she has been out of work for about a year.
"I have been applying for so many jobs, and have put my CV is every single shop. I think it's harder because I don't know anyone down here. The climate we are in has a lot to do with it. 80 people applied for one of the jobs I was looking at," she said.
Claire Woolley said she was "horrified" to see so many people queuing outside.
"It shows you the state of the economy, I think it's appalling and sad. I am in shock and in disbelief, but this is the reality of what people are up against at the moment".
This article appeared in Impartial Reporter 02 Feb 12
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