1,000 people apply for single receptionist job

Rising unemployment and dwindling opportunities prompt scramble for remaining roles

The restaurant trade has been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic, with many people losing their jobs, and establishments going out of business. (Getty Images)

Almost 1,000 people applied for one restaurant receptionist job in 24 hours, offering an insight into the turbulent state of the post-lockdown job market.

The 20 Stories restaurant, operated by upmarket operator D&D, had opened up calls for a receptionist role on Monday, the firm’s director of people Carol Cairnes told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

After expecting to receive about 30 responses, the firm attracted the interest of 963 people by the following morning.

“Going through the candidates who applied, we could see there were a lot of very talented and highly-qualified people that applied for the role, including some restaurant general managers”, Ms Cairnes added.

It comes amid a turbulent period for the hospitality sector, with pubs, bars and restaurants among the businesses forced to shut up shop for the longest stretch of time during lockdown.

And while many have been able to relaunch, a need to adapt to social distancing has seen many operations forced to reassess their staffing to keep their businesses afloat.

Mick Dore, landlord of south London pub The Alexandra, wrote on Twitter: “I don’t want to alarm anyone about the economy or anything, but I advertised two bar jobs at 4.30 on Thursday. [Four days later] we’ve had well over 400 applicants. Gulp.”

Kate Nicholls, of trade body UKHospitality added: “In the past week I’ve heard of 480 applying for 2 bar jobs and 320 for a chef position in a restaurant – a sign of a really tough job market and of the importance of supporting hospitality to kickstart that”.

In mid-July estimates from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) found the number of paid employees in the UK had fallen by 649,000 between March and June, while job vacancies also disappeared.

Job vacancies fell to 333,000 between April and June – almost two-thirds lower than in the same period last year and the lowest level since the ONS began collecting comparable data in 2001.