Jobhunters swamp Telford firm after Star plea

Hundreds of people have rushed to apply for jobs at a Telford firm – 24 hours after bosses revealed they had been unable to fill 30 vacancies despite advertising them for almost a year.

Yesterday the Shropshire Star revealed Unique Copiers, in Donnington, was struggling to fill new posts despite offering training and salaries ranging from £12,500 to a possible £60,000.

Bosses at the firm, which deals in photocopiers and printers, said they had only filled 10 out of 40 vacancies since January.

But now the firm has been swamped with people trying to secure a job, receiving 250 emails and 100 applications and 30 people visiting its site in person thanks to the appeal in the Shropshire Star.

Managing director Adrian Casey, 44, this afternoon said the response had been fantastic and praised the Shropshire Star for highlighting the problem.

Mr Casey said the response had been so huge bosses would now have to organise block interviews.

Staff member Laura Robertson said the phones started to ring at about 12.15pm, shortly after the Star hit the streets, and 'never stopped'.

She said: "It has been manic ever since. I arrived at work today and could not turn my computer on for at least 20 minutes because the phone never stopped ringing. It has been constant."

Regional manager Jason Hill said he arrived at the firm, on the St Georges Road Industrial Estate, at 7.30am today and spent the first two and a half hours dealing with inquiries.