A carpenter has revealed her fury after she applied for a job at a construction company and was offered the position of receptionist.
Charlie Dawe slammed the company’s “sexist” bosses in Warrington, Cheshire, and told them to “reject the offer”.
The 24-year-old said The interviewers did not ask any questions about his university degree in carpentry or his experience as a construction tradesman.
Charlie believes she only got the interview because the company mistook her for a man after seeing her name.
She told MailOnline: “It made me think the world is full of sexist pigs, so what’s the point of me trying to look for work?”
Charlie Dawe believes company bosses in Warrington, Cheshire, mistook her name for some guy’s and were therefore “immediately not interested” once she turned up at the meeting.
Charlie says that no one would offer her an apprenticeship during her three years at university, even though she passed all the modules, and suspects this is also due to her gender.
She said: ‘I had studied three years at university to be a carpenter, not to sit at a desk and answer the phone and emails.
‘When I arrived for the interview, they seemed confused and didn’t know why I was there, so I explained that I was there for an interview to be a carpenter.
“When they sat me down, they just spouted nonsense that weren’t typical interview questions.
‘They were not interested in my qualifications and I immediately got the impression that they were not interested in me.
‘A couple of weeks later they called me to say they had a receptionist job for me. I told them “you can screw that stuff. I don’t want a receptionist job.”
‘My bubble burst and it bothered me, but I tried not to let it get to me because it’s just one person and there are a lot of other people out there.
“It was sexist for them to think I’m better suited for that than what I’m qualified for.”
The 24-year-old says interviewers didn’t ask her any questions about her university carpentry degree or her experience as a construction tradesman, but offered her a receptionist job instead of the “carpenter” job she applied for.
Charlie says that no one would offer her an apprenticeship during her three years at university, even though she passed all her modules, and suspects this is also due to her gender.
Charlie, who only takes jobs in Warrington, says he is booked up for the whole month and much of next, so he is struggling to keep up with the number of job applications.
Charlie, whose interest in DIY stems from helping her father as a child, worked at a construction company while at university and for a few years after leaving in 2019.
She accepted that her carpentry degree would “probably be wasted”, but things changed when she became an IT technician and realized she didn’t fit the role.
In October she founded The Handywoman and is now a successful full-time carpenter, working in her dream trade and helping out with odd jobs.
Charlie, who only takes jobs in Warrington, says he is booked up for the whole month and much of next, so he is struggling to keep up with the number of job applications.
She said: “I resisted the construction trades because I wasn’t stable enough to work for myself, but in the end I just said, ‘I’m going to have to give it a try.'”
“The first time I set things up it was nice and stable, but now I’m all booked up for this month and most of next month.”
Charlie believes the company that offered him the receptionist position has since closed.