'I was one of the lucky few to get a job at Costa': Worker picked from 1,700 applicants for just EIGHT jobs at new coffee shop

Average of 212 applications for each post at the branch in Nottingham

Just 3 of the jobs - with wages from £5.40 to £10-an-hour - were full-time

Many applicants had been made redundant by HMV or Clinton Cards

Some rejected applicants had more than 15 years experience in retail

Around 2.5million people are currently unemployed in the UK

With so many people unemployed, Costa always expected a healthy response to its search for eight workers to staff a new outlet.
But not quite as healthy as the response it got.
The coffee chain was swamped by 1,700 applications, the equivalent  of 212 for each post at the new shop in Nottingham.

Desperate times: More than 1,700 people applied for just eight jobs at a Costa Coffee branch in Mapperley, Nottingham, pictured - averaging 212 applications for each job

One of the lucky eight: Heather Davies was taken on as a barista at a new Costa cafe in Nottingham after 1,700 people applied for eight jobs

Caffeine hit: Heather Davies said said she felt 'incredibly lucky' to have been taken on at Costa

A company spokesman said there had been a ‘wave’ of applications from people who worked for HMV and Clinton Cards, both of which recently went bust.
Unsuccessful applicants for the vacancies included senior retail managers with more than 15 years’ experience.
Sham Ramparia, Costa’s area manager for the Midlands, said he was surprised by the huge number of jobseekers who wrote in for the posts – three full time and five part time.

‘It just shows how hard times are these days,’ he said. ‘There have been a lot of good, high-calibre applicants, some with ten to 15 years of experience at the likes of Comet and HMV, who are now looking for work because of big companies going into administration.

Looking for a job: There are currently nearly 2.5million people out of work in the UK - which is still 185,000 lower than this time last year

‘Many applicants were actually hugely overqualified. It seems to be a barometer of two things – the way the current market is and the strength of our brand.
‘More than 90 per cent of the applicants came from Nottingham and we didn’t have to advertise that extensively either.
‘We listed it on only one job website and put a sign up on the building while we were renovating it, but the applications just came flooding in. I was amazed at the level of interest.’

One of the new staff  members at the Mapperley shop is Heather Davies, 25, from the Sherwood area of Nottingham.
‘I feel incredibly lucky to have been taken on. This is the perfect job for me,’ she said.

Many applicants had been made made redundant from the failed music store HMV, which announced the closure of 66 of its 220 stores last month - affecting more than 900 employees

Steven Tomlinson, 25, of Aspley in Nottingham, was successful in his application to be a part-time barista – the name given to coffee shop staff.
‘I’m really excited. I’m hoping to be made full time,’ he said. ‘I’ve always loved coffee so I thought why not go for it?
‘When I heard there were another 1,000 people going for the job I thought I’d struggle – but I thought the interview went really well. Obviously it did. I’m looking forward to working my way up the chain, it seems a good company to work for.’
The wage for the role of barista varies from £6.10 to £10 an hour. The new cafe, in a former HSBC building, opens on Friday.
Unemployment figures released last month show 2.49million are out of work with 30million others in employment – a record high.
The overall percentage in work has fallen slightly however due to  a growing population. Of people aged 16 to 64, 71.4 per cent have a job, compared with 73 per cent at the beginning of 2008.

This graph shows the quarterly changes in unemployment and the unemployment benefit claimant count (aged 18 to 64) between September 2007 to November 2012