Good news for pandemic jobseekers! The employers with HUNDREDS of vacancies

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The pandemic has wreaked havoc on the employment market – but there’s a light at the end of the tunnel for struggling jobseekers. 

The world’s largest job site Indeed is launching a two-day virtual hiring event next week, where more than a dozen major firms will have over 2,000 roles up for grabs across England and Scotland on November 10-11.

Employers including Morrisons, Amazon, Lidl, DHL and some of the UK’s biggest care operators can interview and make on-the-spot offers to impressive candidates.

The hiring drive comes amid a jobs bloodbath with more than 9,500 put in jeopardy at some of the biggest High Street names this week as England went into its second lockdown.  

Yesterday the Bank of England pumped another £150billion into the economy and Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced an extension of the furlough scheme until March in a major Government U-turn – though unemployment has already risen to its highest level in three years.

The job furlough scheme had been due to end on October 31, but workers will now be able to get furlough at 80 per cent of their usual wage until the end of March, up to a ceiling of £2,500 a month, with employers only having to contribute national insurance and pension costs. Sadly the announcement came too late for many who had already lost their jobs.

At the free virtual hiring event, jobseekers across the country will be able to interview for thousands of roles from the safety of their home. 

Among the firms offering jobs at the virtual hiring days are Amazon, M&S and the charity Affinity Trust.

In the retail sector there are around 300 jobs available at Morrisons and Lidl, and over 460 at logistics companies DHL, Yodel and UPS. There are also 100 jobs at insurance firm Direct Line Group. 

Major employers taking part from within the care sector are Care UK, Bupa Care Homes, HC-One, Elysium Healthcare, Four Seasons Health Care, Voyage Care, Sunrise Senior Living, Priory Healthcare and The Orders of St John Care Trust.

After registering, people can book their individual interview slots for roles within a range of sectors including retail, logistics and care – and will even wait for their appointment in a virtual ‘lobby’. 

The online setting means that those living under newly imposed Covid-19 measures are given the opportunity to connect to potential employers.

And it benefits both parties; for employers, the National Hiring Days remove technical hurdles and speed up the interviewing timeline by delegating the administrative tasks to Indeed. 

It reduces the time to hire from an average of six weeks to a matter of days – or if they’re sold on a candidate, they can even make on-the-spot job offers. 

Bill Richards, managing director at Indeed, said: ‘We know these are anxious times and with millions of people facing unemployment many will be left wondering what to do next. 

‘Indeed is here to help and our virtual National Hiring Days easily connect jobseekers to employers so they can quickly find work or make new hires. 

‘Our research shows finding a job is one of the top priorities for people in the UK and our technology makes it easier for people from all backgrounds to interview for and even be offered roles.’

John Hardman, chief people officer at Yodel, one of the employers taking part in the virtual hiring day, said: ‘As we prepare for the run-up to Christmas we have a number of vacancies across the business and we’re excited to be working with Indeed to help those looking for their next role. 

‘As part of this, we have introduced our virtual interview process, ensuring convenience and safety for all. 

‘At Yodel we pride ourselves on our people, and our colleagues all enjoy the team spirit and opportunity to play a part in important community initiatives such as delivering food to NHS hospitals.’

Jeremy Richardson, chief executive officer of Four Seasons Health Care, another employer on board, added: ‘Whilst care homes continue to face enormous challenges, Four Seasons Health Care remain committed to looking after the overall wellbeing of our residents and maintaining the very highest standards in safety and care by investing in its teams.

‘We’re currently recruiting more than 1,000 roles and virtual interviews have been a really safe and effective way of finding the right people for our homes during the pandemic. 

‘Real-time face to face conversations and more flexible interview times to fit around the individual provide a great candidate experience and have speeded up the whole hiring process to help us get the right people into the right roles quickly and efficiently.’

To book your slot, visit https://events.indeed.com/virtual_hiring_day/44/   

High Street bloodbath: More than 9,500 jobs in jeopardy

John Lewis cut a further 1,500 jobs this week, adding to the 1,300 axed when it permanently shut eight stores in July.

Lloyds Bank is to make 1,070 more staff redundant on top of the 865 earlier in the pandemic.

And Sainsbury’s confirmed on Wednesday that it will cut around 3,500 jobs across its Argos stores and supermarket meat, fish and deli counters. 

Meanwhile Clarks shoes put the jobs of all 4,000 of its store staff on notice as part of its fight for survival. The brand announced a rescue package that will see the Clark family lose majority ownership of the company for the first time since it was founded nearly 200 years ago.

The dark day was compounded when Marks & Spencer reported its first loss in its 94 years as a listed company.

M&S, which has already cut 8,000 staff since March, has seen its large stores suffer while many of its smaller food halls are located in now-empty train stations and airports.

The gloomy news came after economists warned the UK was entering a ‘double-dip’ recession and would hit a record borrowing deficit of £500billion this year.

More than a million jobs are expected to be lost before Christmas, even before the latest lockdown was announced, taking unemployment past 2.5 million.

The new lockdown restrictions have once again put the future of High Street stores in doubt as they approach their peak Christmas trading.