The Brutal Hunt for Low-Paid Work: 'It's Like The Hunger Games'
Securing employment that pays at or near the minimum wage was once a relatively straightforward process. However, the landscape has dramatically shifted. With a shrinking number of available positions, jobseekers now confront an array of demanding and often bizarre recruitment hurdles. These range from personality assessments and trial shifts to constructing towers from marshmallows and spaghetti, creating what many describe as a brutal competition for entry-level opportunities.
Grueling Interview Processes for Basic Roles
At 10:30 AM in a Preston business centre, Zahra, aged 20, found herself attaching marshmallows to sticks of uncooked spaghetti. She was one of thirty candidates in a grey-carpeted room, divided into groups of five, competing to build the tallest food tower. This was merely the culmination of a morning that had already included solving anagrams, completing quizzes, and ranking kitchen items by importance. To even reach this two-hour interview round for a crew member position at Wingstop, a chicken shop chain, Zahra had submitted an extensive online application requiring ten paragraphs about her work experience.
The role offered £10.80 per hour, just 80 pence above the minimum wage for her age bracket. During the assessment, she felt intensely observed. "A woman with a notepad was staring at us, and all the shift managers were watching. It was so awkward," Zahra recalls. A week later, a brief rejection email arrived. "It felt like a waste of time," she says. "What a joke." This experience is far from unique for Zahra, who has endured numerous lengthy and tedious recruitment processes for jobs paying around minimum wage.
A Competitive and Shrinking Job Market
Recent figures reveal the UK unemployment rate has climbed to 5.2%, its highest point in nearly five years. For young adults aged 18-24, the rate has surged to 14%, another five-year peak. The market for entry-level positions has become fiercely competitive. Experts attribute part of this shift to increased costs and risks for businesses. "There's been an increase in the minimum wage and employer's national insurance, against a backdrop of really challenging trading environments," explains Martin Warnes, Managing Director of Reed.co.uk.
Warnes believes this economic pressure is driving companies to "de-risk the recruitment process" by emphasizing pre-employment screening. "The flipside is that more burden is put on the individual seeking work, creating a mismatch between the effort of the application process and the pay rate," he notes.
Public Speaking and Fashion Challenges for Shop Roles
Eve, a 19-year-old from London on a gap year, applied for forty jobs online after distributing her CV to thirty local employers with no response. One application was for a shop-floor sales assistant role with Inditex, parent company of brands like Zara and Pull&Bear. She was invited to a 90-minute group interview with approximately twenty other candidates.
The session began with candidates introducing each other to the room. Eve was then placed in a smaller group, handed an iPad, and instructed to create an outfit for a celebrity like Lady Gaga before presenting it to everyone. "It was a bit weird because, realistically, this wouldn't have anything to do with the job," she observes. Subsequent tasks involved describing how to handle shop scenarios in front of the group and identifying clothing items from Inditex brands.
"You're having to find a way to get a word in over other people who obviously want a job as well," Eve says. "It's like The Hunger Games, but you're all trying to get a job in a shop where you're going to be folding clothes all day, for just over minimum wage."
The Rise of Group Assessments and Unpaid Work
While group assessments have long been part of hiring for graduate schemes, their use in frontline customer roles is expanding. Warnes suggests companies aim to evaluate teamwork and communication skills crucial for such positions. However, for unsuccessful candidates, it can mean losing half a day without compensation, a scenario often repeated across multiple applications.
Alice Martin, Head of Research at the Work Foundation, argues some employers exploit the high number of jobseekers. "We have a high number of people looking for work and a shrinking number of jobs available. That puts power into the hands of employers to be quite selective," she states. Group interviews offer efficiency, allowing companies to assess many candidates simultaneously.
Yet, when tasks lack relevance to the actual job, they may test the wrong skills. Warnes cautions, "If we're asking people to do presentations to groups, and that's not part of the role, then you're testing the wrong skill."
Unpaid Trial Shifts and Ghosting Candidates
Maya, 22, a neuroscience graduate, encountered a four-hour unpaid trial shift at a tuition centre while seeking part-time work. The company also failed to reimburse her £49.50 for an enhanced DBS check, as promised. In another instance, she spent £30 on train fare for what was advertised as a marketing job, only to find herself practicing door-to-door sales for four hours without pay.
Zahra's experience with TK Maxx involved a personality test followed by a supposed group interview where only three candidates showed up alongside four senior staff. They were tasked with organizing sections of the shop floor. "It wasn't even an interview," Zahra says. "We were basically by ourselves, making their merchandising look nice." After an hour, the process ended abruptly. "I never even got rejected. I just got ghosted," she reports, avoiding that store ever since.
Legal Grey Areas and Employer Responses
UK law stipulates candidates are not entitled to the national minimum wage for brief, proportionate assessment tasks. However, the line between assessment and actual work can be blurry. Warnes clarifies, "The law is quite clear that if someone is doing real work, they should be paid."
Grace, 20, spent ten hours on recruitment for an admin assistant role at a nonprofit, including rebuilding an Excel database she believes the organization continued to use. "Even if I didn't get the job, I think they'd be building on my work," she says, viewing it as unpaid labor. She secured the position but found the job itself "very easy" compared to the strenuous process.
Martin notes that in low-paid, transient work sectors, employers often use recruitment to provide initial training, as they invest little in long-term development. "Workers tend to cycle in and out of jobs," she explains, due to redundancy or seeking higher pay.
Company Statements and Jobseeker Resilience
After being contacted, a TK Maxx spokesperson stated store-based work is not part of their interview process and the described practices do not reflect their norms. A Zara spokesperson defended their group interviews as "open, inclusive and accessible," using informal activities to assess communication and teamwork. Wingstop asserted assessment centres are common in hospitality to evaluate personality, teamwork, creativity, and service mindset, with all tasks relevant to their values.
Ultimately, Zahra secured a cafe server job after an online interview and paid training, though without a contract and often working long solo shifts. She quit after five months for a supermarket role obtained through a 20-minute interview. "It's above minimum wage, but it's not my passion," she admits. "I just needed a part-time job to make some money. And everyone else is being stingy about hiring people. So I'll take anything." Her hope is for an improved job market by the time she graduates, a sentiment echoed by many young Britons navigating this challenging landscape.
