Twenty-Five Applicants Chase Every Role At New Portadown Asda

Nearly 25 people have applied for every job at a new supermarket in Portadown.

The Asda chain received 11,000 applications for 450 jobs, breaking its own previous record of 8,000 jobs for the Junction One store in 2010.

In fact, as the County Armagh village had a population of about 22,200 in the 2001 census, a number equal to half the people in the village applied to the new superstore.

Incredibly, the recruitment campaign for new employees began just three-and-a-half weeks ago.

Ulster Bank chief economist Richard Ramsey said it was a sign that people were downgrading their expectations as the recession had sparked a "lack of opportunities".

He said: "The ratio of applicants to the number of jobs is extremely high but not unexpected with the job losses we have seen to date and the lack of opportunities elsewhere.

"What we are seeing here with the lack of opportunities — people are going to have to shift down jobs.

"If there wasn't a recession they wouldn’t be considering these jobs."

The 24-hour store in Edenderry, Portadown will open in November, becoming the seventeenth Asda in Northern Ireland and bringing its workforce here to about 5,000.

Robert Ryans, general store manager at the Portadown branch, told the Belfast Telegraph newspaper he and his Asda colleagues were "completely astounded" at the number of applications.

He said: "We predicted that around 2,000 people would apply, but we were utterly amazed when the numbers stretched to the 11,000 mark.

"We're delighted that our standing as a company, which is committed to our colleagues and the communities we serve, has helped us to develop a strong and positive reputation and continues to help us attract the very best people."

(NE)