Cabin fever: Job seekers hope to join the jet set

If you had wandered into the Radisson Blu Hotel yesterday, you couldn’t have missed the long queue of 20-somethings lining up outside the ballroom.

Such was the attention to appearance by the more than 100 people, you’d be forgiven for thinking some kind of X Factor auditions were going on. In the toilets, it was the same thing: one girl more groomed than the other: anxiously checking their make-up, smoothing down their perfectly pressed skirts and glossy hair.

But what would have made you suspect this wasn’t a reality TV tryout, was the sense of solemnity that hung in the air. None of these youngsters were laughing, giggling or flirting. Instead, they all looked as if their life depended on the outcome in that ballroom.