Morrisons has been swamped with calls from those eager to land a position at its store in Kirkcaldy.
Demand for places at its recruitment open days was so high that potential employees were unable to get through to a hotline set up specifically.
Employment partnership Opportunities Fife, which operated the line, apologised to frustrated applicants whose calls had gone unanswered.
One frustrated job hunter, who did not wish to be named, said: “The number was over-subscribed and a recorded message advised you to keep trying or get more information from the (Opportunities Fife) website, where there is no information about the Morrisons jobs.
“This is extremely frustrating because the 08448 number was charged at 5p per minute from a BT landline. Every time a job-seeker phoned they were connected to the answer machine and charged at least 5p.
“There is a huge logistics failure here because The Courier reported more than 3,000 people applied for 300 jobs at the Dundee Asda. Why were there not enough phone lines available for this Kirkcaldy opportunity?”
Opportunities Fife a partnership including JobCentre Plus, Fife Council, NHS Fife and the local colleges said on its website: “Apologies to those experiencing difficulty getting through to Morrisons recruitment.
“This is due to the high volume of calls.”
It later confirmed all open day appointments had been filled.
A spokesman said: “We are assuming that the problems early on were a result of very high volumes of calls. The line only closed on Thursday so the vast majority of people should’ve been able to get through eventually.”
The store, which is being built at Invertiel on the former B&Q site, should open by the end of the year.