I used to employ 12 people, now I can’t get a job on the shop floor at M&S

It took me an hour to apply for an M&S “Customer Assistant – Fashion, Home & Beauty” job at their Street Outlet in Somerset. I spruced up my CV, sent the application through the M&S online career portal, and it asked me to complete a lengthy AI Q&A featuring work scenarios with multiple-choice answers. I enjoyed applying, and even doing the Q&A. I knew I’d done well at the application, as – to blow my own trumpet – I’m expertly proficient at tasks like this. I also knew that, were I to get the job working 20 hours a week on the M&S shop floor, helping customers, arranging stock and working the tills, I would shine in the role. I have oodles of shop experience. This time 10 years ago, I had my own shop. I had a team of 12 working across my online clothing store, Selfish Mother, and my real-life shop, The FMLY Store, in Bruton, Somerset, where we sold T-shirts, sweatshirts, kids’ clothes, bags, candles, skincare, and books. Since the shop closed in 2020, I’ve missed having an outlet to engage warmly with customers. I liked the idea of the M&S part-time role, as it’s fun working in a shop and I enjoy chatting to people. Also, I love M&S; I was brought up on weekly trips to the clothing department with my mother, and now I’m addicted to their food haul. The part-time job looked ideal for me, as I desperately need to top up my journalism income with another income stream to help pay my bills, mortgage and feed my three kids. Life is expensive! This job would help enormously, and mainly, the weekend hours wouldn’t disrupt my ability to do the school run. Shorts But, after I applied and before I logged out of the portal, I saw the word “regretted” next to my application. I wondered what it meant. It couldn’t possibly mean they were going to send me a “I regret to inform you” email, could it? That would be crazy, seeing as it was only two seconds since I’d finished the application process. What’s more, my CV was brimming with fashion and shop experience. They wouldn’t possibly turn me down without an interview, would they? I knew not only that I could do this job in my sleep, but also that I’d enjoy it. With all my experience, M&S would be lucky to have me; it would be a match made in heaven! But yes, when I checked my inbox just two minutes later, an email arrived that said: “Unfortunately, on this occasion, your application was not successful.” I’d been rejected instantly. So fast that it had to be by a computer. I felt like I’d been winded: AI had rejected me. A human careers person would never even see my application. Why had I been rejected? I wondered. It smarts. It smarts on many levels, not least because in the past I’ve been really good at getting jobs. In my 20s and 30s it was my forte. Not just jobs on shop floors, like I did in my late teens at Oasis, The Gap, Karen Millen, and – the piece de resistance – as Saturday girl in the shoe department at Gucci on Sloane Street. I got my first job at The Guardian as fashion assistant before I’d even finished my degree. I went on to work as a fashion writer at The Daily Telegraph, shopping editor at ES magazine and, after I went freelance, I revelled in a maternity cover role as editor of Net-A-Porter.com. Then I started my brand Selfish Mother, an online shop which sold so many tops that I raised £1m for charities through sales. To top this off, I ran a big, buzzing shop in Bruton for a few years, which was so popular some customers based their family holidays around visiting it. My fashion, beauty and shop work credentials are high, so to not even receive an interview for a part-time shop assistant post at M&S is… humbling. It’s not even like I’m applying to Gucci. If only this was a one-off! Last year, I applied for a features editor role at the Cats Protection charity magazine. I love cats, and I’m an expert writer and editor, but I was also rejected pre-interview. At 48, and with tons of stellar career experience, have I lost my touch or am I – gasp – unemployable? It’s not just me, though. This issue is the talk of midlife women. Freelance journalist and artist Stacey Duguid has been leading the fray by talking about the shame associated with being rejected for numerous jobs. ‘It’s alarming to think that I’ve been rejected for a role I could have walked into as a teenager,’ says Molly (Photo: David Ryle) The former ELLE magazine section editor and editor of Harrods magazine has applied for hundreds of jobs to no avail. Duguid has been inundated with messages from women experiencing the same. Turns out, there is currently an epidemic of experienced, brilliant women being rejected after applying for jobs, often without an interview. These are women who’ve held fantastic, high-level positions in their working life. Women who are capable and would be an asset to any team. “Today’s hiring system is becoming increasingly flawed; overlooking talent in favour of rigid processes, AI and automated decision-making which feels counterintuitive when recruitment is, at its core, about people,” says Celia Wyndham, director at Sunbird People, a PR and comms recruitment specialist. “I talk to candidates time and time again who led teams, built businesses, and delivered results who are now applying for lower-level roles, only to be rejected in seconds by algorithms that can’t recognise transferable experience or career maturity. “As organisations rely more heavily on automated screening, reduce experienced external recruitment specialists, and hire more cautiously in a challenging economy, nuanced careers are increasingly filtered out before a human ever sees them. The result is a significant loss of talent at precisely the time businesses need experience most.” What can we do about it? Stacey Duguid has suggested “AI proofing” our CVs, which means taking away key details, and even deleting some of our amazing career history, so that we don’t come across as “too experienced”. In fact, yes, a friend suggested I was over-qualified for the M&S shop floor role. This boggled me, as how can I be over-qualified to chat to someone on a shop floor? In my mind, if you’re qualified, you’re qualified. Some of my happiest moments working on my brand Selfish Mother were working on the shop floor, welcoming customers, serving coffees, behind the till. I revelled in organising the candle display when the shop was empty. So calming. Just like I used to enjoy finger-spacing hangers at Oasis, in The Friary centre in Guildford, when I was 16. It’s alarming to think that I’ve been rejected for a role I could have walked into as a teenager. The difference, of course, is that as teens we simply printed out a snazzy CV and placed it directly into the hands of the shop manager who’d be conducting the interviews. It was rare to get rejected, after smiling directly into the face of the person who could employ you. I’m wondering if there is any way to return to this old-school way of doing things? How can I get my CV directly into the hands of the shop manager? Maybe I’ll print it out now and march it down to M&S, so they can see how serious I am about the part-time shop floor role. AI obviously didn’t let me in, so here’s hoping a human approach works better. Wish me luck!