Plans for an Asda supermarket to be built in Longton, Stoke-on-Trent, has already triggered over 100 applications for and inquiries into job roles that will be created, before the store has even been approved for building. Overall, the store is set to create 400 jobs.
The pile of applications is a big indicator of people who are desperate for jobs in the area, as the building hasn’t even been built, yet people are already applying. The Reverend Jeff Short of the Stoke-on-Trent Methodist Church has said he is unsurprised by the large amount of job applications.
“We talk to a lot of people”, he said, “who are out of work here and it’s because there is so much competition for the jobs that are going, and maybe people don’t have the full skill set required for the jobs that are actually going.”
In addition to the 400 jobs that it will eventually generate, the building of the store will create work for many builders. Asda have also requested that in building the store, the contractors use as many local firms as possible to supply materials.
Doug Wilson, head of the UK property communications of Asda said that “Roles at Asda are very varied, and we hope to be able to provide a great and flexible career for as many people as possible in the Longton community.”
The chairman of Queens Park Partnership said that the amount of applications is due to there being “no money in Longton. We are a forgotten area.”
