I'M NOT surprised that unemployment continues to rise. Yes, I know the Government say it's falling but no one believes that do they?

Biggest problem, of course, is that firms, especially the big ones, are still restructuring at an alarming rate (that's sacking folks, by the way).

Second biggest problem is that many of those on the dole just don't want a job. Many reckon they are better off having a lie-in and picking up a few quid from the state (that's you and me) to cover their beer and fags - or nicking the odd radio from a parked car - than working all week for less than £100.

Why get up as dawn breaks, wait in the dank mist for a bus, fork out a couple of quid for the fare, slog all day at some dead-end job, stagger off to the bus queue in the gathering gloom and pick up a pittance at the end of a week's graft?

The point I want to make here is that too many "job-seekers" have totally the wrong attitude. Some of them will never land a job and I have every sympathy with bosses who have to waste valuable time interviewing these wretches.

A friend runs his own company and his experiences are typical of so many others. He had a half-decent job on offer; nothing very grand but the pay wasn't that bad and there were some prospects.

It took him a week of aggravation to sort it out. And he was less than pleased with the local Job Centre responsible for the string of, er, applicants. The first lad just didn't turn up for his interview, nor did the second. That was an hour wasted. That afternoon he interviewed, briefly, a tattooed skinhead with a ring through his nose and a girl who couldn't string together more than two coherent words.

On the following day two more didn't turn up, one actually took the trouble to phone and cancel, and the next lad walked into the interview chewing noisily on a wad of gum. The next one admitted frankly that he didn't want a job but could he have a note to say that he had turned up.

The next lad, a young Pakistani in a cheap but clean suit and with a refreshing eagerness interviewed well. He gave the right answers, asked the right questions and had a string of GCSE passes. Two more, both girls, didn't show, the next turned up late wearing a Manchester United T-shirt (that ruled him out straight away) and with that faraway look that tends to indicate an association with illegal substances.

Guess who got the job?

Now, don't get me wrong. I've been out of work two or three times and my old man, a time-served engineer, also had spells on the dole. It was hard. And I have every sympathy with someone desperate to get back into employment. But when we went looking for jobs we made a bit of an effort. That's all it takes to put you head and shoulders above most of the opposition.

Look the part. Get scrubbed and polish your shoes. Shake hands firmly and look 'em in the eye. Don't mumble. Never use words such as: "Well, like, you know, er, um".

And NEVER wear a United T-shirt!

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.