Why you should never apply for a job without knowing the exact location

LisaB85

Got 2 letters this morning offering me job interviews 1 for the local council part time maternity cover which will suit me and another for a an admin assistant.

I applied through their website and it gave an approximate location, found out today there is no way I can to the job interview let alone get their 3 days a week....it is in a location with no public transport AT ALL and not walking distance.

It isn't a job I was matched to through the jobcentre thankfully but they can't do anything for a job I can't get to.

Why don't employers mention 'own transport needed' when they are in locations such as this vacancy?

aliasojo

Is a bike out of the question too? It's a shame something like transport lets you down. A new job might have been the very thing you needed to help you move out.

ILW

Moped......?

DreamerQ

I have seen a number of vacancies that state 'must have own transport' but that is usually with jobs that require driving around.

LisaB85

aliasojo wrote: »

Is a bike out of the question too? It's a shame something like transport lets you down. A new job might have been the very thing you needed to help you move out.

It is at least an hour walking/bike from the nearest bus stop in good weather I know where it is as I have been somewhere on the same road and it really is in the middle of nowhere.

Fingers crossed for the council job I should be able to save a bit towards some driving lessons at least it is a step to learning to drive and not having to worry about location of a job.

LisaB85

DreamerQ wrote: »

I have seen a number of vacancies that state 'must have own transport' but that is usually with jobs that require driving around.

Me too but have seen a few through agencies that mention lack of public transport or if a location is given I can check myself.

Evilm

I've always hated this and if its agency get the agency to check google maps (or phone the client) to see if there are any bus stops nearby*. Either that or I play detective and try to link the addresses used in the advert to a real company or phone the company. I have before now mentioned it in my application to the company that I rely on public transport and therefore I would need further information about their transport links.

I had one from the jobcentre like this and they expected me to take a taxi each way and put me on "further monitoring" because I hadn't considered that! However the jobcentre claim review didn't sanction me for it.

*Its not particularly helpful on where you can get buses from though. Unless you can find a direct route the site it links to is a bit useless.

LisaB85

Evilm wrote: »

I had one from the jobcentre like this and they expected me to take a taxi each way and put me on "further monitoring" because I hadn't considered that! However the jobcentre claim review didn't sanction me for it.

They wanted you to use a Taxi to get to work every day :eek: do they know how much taxis cost?

Should have asked for a BOC but I don't think you would be better off working but spending a fortune in Taxi fares.

Evilm

LisaB85 wrote: »

They wanted you to use a Taxi to get to work every day :eek: do they know how much taxis cost?

Should have asked for a BOC but I don't think you would be better off working but spending a fortune in Taxi fares.

They worked out I would be getting about £5 a week more than jobseekers assuming a 15% discount based on having a regular travel contract with a taxi firm. Promptly told me that since i couldn't rely on jobseekers forever and I only had 2 months left on contributions that doesn't matter anyway and I still should have gone for it since getting a job when in a job is easier. I'm sure that's true but since I would have been working 8-6 that wouldn't have been fun. Thank goodness the review centre had some sense and sanction me.

londonTiger

you should realise a lot of the time these ads are written by inexperienced recruiters, particularly if its a small business, so they forget some obvious things.

though when you're job hunting all this goes with the territory, you have to process all that info, you're going through hundreds of applications a week, so one that's slipped through the cracks should not be a hassle.

Gingernutty

It's not just you, LisaB85. Most of us have some horror story about stuff like this. When I worked in a laboratory on one of the main roads out of Wolverhampton and was waiting for the bus to work, I met a girl who had been sent by a Birmingham Job Centre to a care home further up the road from my place of work.

The earliest bus out along the road where the care home was left Wolverhampton at 08:20. She had to be starting work at 07:00. The alternative was for a bus stop for another route which although started earlier, was over a mile away down a particularly dark and fairly lonely footpath, alongside a busy A road which routinely had lorries roaring past. Some of those wing mirrors zapped past so close to me that they rearranged my hair!

So that was a bus into Birmingham, a walk to the next bus stop, another bus into Wolverhampton (the fastest is over an hour), find the next bus stop and then a pretty dangerous walk of over a mile to work. The Job Centre hadn't a clue but the girl was effectively forced to go to the interview for a job she had no chance of getting to.

I'm not selling anything. I wrote this after a particularly disastrous interview - the recruiting agency were clueless and hadn't even visited the site they sent me to.

http://www.buttonginger.blogspot.com/2008/04/dear-oh-dear.html

I hope it raises a smile.......:-)