HAIRDRESSER Mandy Shuttleworth asked for help to find a new job -- and ended up with a husband as well!

The Employment Service Direct job scheme played cupid for the 35-year-old Darwen woman by putting her in touch with Tony Butler, 50, who gave her a job as a kitchen assistant at St Alban's Guest House in the town.

Three weeks later he took her out for dinner and two months after that he proposed.

Mandy, who was finding it difficult to juggle training to be a hairdresser with bringing up her three-year-old daughter Lucy from a previous marriage, said: "My whole life has been turned around. I needed a job but never expected to find love too. The Employment Service played cupid." The couple met last November. "It must have been fate because the position hadn't even gone on the notice board at the job centre when I rang about it," explained Mandy, who is now general manager at the 14-room guest house.

"It all happened so quickly. I was interviewed on Saturday and Tony asked me to start work on Monday. Three weeks later he took me out for dinner for my birthday.

"After that we started seeing each other and in January he proposed to me."

Mandy and Tony will travel to Sydney, Australia, to make their vows in October.

"Tony's sister lives out there and her husband is going to be best man. I can't believe how everything has turned out. I'm really happy," said Mandy.

Tony added: "As well as being the right person for the job, it was love at first sight."

Employment Service Direct, a key government-run job matching services, was launched in January 1999.