Alfreton roofing firm offers dad full-time job following LinkedIn rant

An impromptu LinkedIn rant has turned into a full-time job at leading Derbyshire roofing firm PermaRoof for dad-of-one Lee Moore.

The 36-year-old, from Kirkby in Ashfield, Nottinghamshire, was between jobs when he signed up to a temporary work agency and was placed on the 6am until 2pm shift at a local food packing manufacturer alongside four other workers. However, by 7am, Lee was the only agency staff member still standing, with the other four quitting in the first hour.

Shocked by what he saw, Lee took to LinkedIn to vent. His post ended up going viral, racking up more than 120,000 likes, 5,000 comments and hundreds of job offers – including one from Adrian Buttress, managing director at Alfreton-based PermaRoof.

Lee, who has a nine-year-old son, said: “I had been unemployed since mid-February and was in the middle of interviewing for a role at a company in Chesterfield. However, this got pushed back due to Covid, so the recruiter said they could sign me up for some temporary work with an agency.

“I couldn’t believe it when an hour into my shift, the four other temporary workers I’d arrived with had already given up – one refused to wear a hair net, another said they didn’t want to use a computer and the remaining two said the work was too boring. I was amazed that people out of work could be so picky; for me, a job is there to keep a roof over my family’s heads, pay the bills and provide food, so I was proud to wear my hair net!

“I vented my frustration on LinkedIn – it was only supposed to be a rant, but it ended up going viral. In fact, I am still getting notifications for it today, more than a month later. It was mind-blowing to see how far it ended up travelling; I had hundreds of messages from people offering support and opportunities.

“One of them was from Adrian at PermaRoof saying he was interested in having a chat. I had a couple of interviews and he made me feel the most wanted. He was very transparent about where the company was heading and really went the extra mile, showing me around the PermaRoof headquarters, which ended up being just a few miles away from my home.”

Lee – who previously worked in sales for hire and construction companies – has now joined PermaRoof as a specialist products manager. As part of his new role, he will be working in the firm’s modular division, a sector PermaRoof expanded into during the pandemic after supplying fast flat roofing solutions to four emergency NHS projects during the first month of lockdown.

Adrian said: “I believe in hiring on attitude as everything else can be taught. When I came across Lee’s post on LinkedIn, I knew I had to speak to him. When I discovered he had previous sales experience and lived just down the road from our head office, it seemed like fate. Lee had hundreds of job offers, so I am truly delighted that he chose to come and join the PermaRoof team. We’re extremely happy to have him with us and know he’ll do a fantastic job building our customer base for the modular division.”