Manager rejected 1,620 times
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• Out-of-work transport manager Alan Sherwood (left) has applied for 1,620 jobs in the past three years.
Sherwood, of Forfar, Angus, set out on the trail of a transport job when he qualified as a transport manager in 1985, after a nine-month training course. As well as his CPC, Sherwood holds an HND in public administration and has completed an eight-week course in management skills.
The 44-year-old Scot says: "I knew it was going to be difficult to get a job but I never thought it would be this hard. I have now been unemployed for six years. The majority of applications have been for jobs in transport and distribution administration. I am even prepared to move. I recently applied for a job in Saudi Arabia."
So far Sherwood's administrative skills have been used only to set up the filing system he maintains to organise his ceaseless search for work. Some of this month's rejections were for a job with Wincanton in operations; a public transport manager for Blackpool Borough Council; a traffic coordinator for London Transport Group, and distribution jobs with mail order companies Freemans and Littlewoods.
"I send out 10 applications a week and visit the job club four times a week. It has become a full-time job for me just looking for a job," he says, "but everyone wants two to five years' experience and my lack of it and my age go against me."
He goes on to say that "even the local government scheme aimed at giving people experience by placing them with local firms can't find me a placement. I am encouraged by recent reports that the transport industry may suffer a shortage of skilled workers in the future. Maybe this might get me a job — but then that might mean waiting a few more years."