The skills shortage may be making life difficult for many employers, but there was no shortage of applicants for a recently advertised job that involved drinking beer.
Concerned son Mike Hammond placed an advert in a Hampshire post office looking for a drinking companion for his 87-year-old father Jack.
He was worried that his Dad had no one to go to the Compass Inn with after moving into a care home where most of the residents are women.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Mike was inundated with applications for the job - which pays £7 an hour plus expenses - and had to devise a short listing process involving telephone interviews, before inviting a select few to an evening at the pub.
Jack eventually selected 58-year-old retired doctor Henry Rosenvinge and former kitchen fitter Trevor Pugh, 78, as the men with the right skills to discuss military history and football with over a few pints.
© Adfero Ltd