CV Deluge as 1,700 Apply to Nottingham Costa Coffee for Eight Jobs

Desperate jobseekers flooded a Costa Coffee shop with more than 1,700 applications for just eight jobs.

The branch in Nottingham was swamped with CVs from graduates and former employees of doomed former high street giants HMW and Clinton Cards.

In job-starved Nottingham, 3,845 young people aged between 16 and 24 claimed unemployment benefits in the 12 months to November 2012 - 5.6 percent.

The total fell by only 0.6 percent - slower than the national average. A total of 1,565 young people claimed jobless welfare for more than six months.

TUC general secretary Frances O'Grady said the torrent of applications at the coffee shop illustrated how gloomy prospects were for young people.

"These figures show just how desperate people are for any kind of work," she said.

"Ministers claim there are plenty of jobs out there but the reality is that there are far more people chasing those jobs.

"That's why rather than demonising unemployed people as scroungers we need to get the economy growing and support them into work.

"A great start would a job guarantee for any young person out of work for at least six months."

Britain's highest unemployment benefits claim rates by young people was in Nottingham's Midlands neighbour of Birmingham. The Ladywood area had Britain's highest rate, at 10.9 percent.

Heather Davis, 25, who got one of the jobs at Costa's new Mapperley branch, said: "I'm really happy here. This is the perfect job for me. I hope the training to be assistant manager will be completed by May. More responsibility is exactly what I've always wanted. I always want to better myself."