We received more than 150 applications for two casual positions we advertised on SEEK for our newsagencies a couple of weeks ago. This was an overwhelming response. Most were lazy applications where people attach a resume and send it without really researching the job. The volume of applications meant had to make some broad stroke decisions, meaning we probably said no to some we should have considered more carefully.
Of all those we said no to, one responded and what followed was an email conversation about how we went about the process and her own situation. This interaction reminded me that each application is a person and that sometimes you have to dig for gold.
The challenge is time and this will get worse if unemployment rises – I can see us getting more than 200 applicants for a position advertised next year. If each application is given fair assessment time, it would take more than a day to review them all. Our next job ad will have some rules which will make it easy to sort out the lazy applicant from those with attention to detail. This will help us quickly cut the list to something more manageable.
While Amita, the applicant with whom I corresponded following my rejection email does not meet our needs because of travel plans, her interaction was gracefully handled encouragement to review our application processes and for that I am grateful.
If only it were as easy to get home delivery drivers.
I find it fascinating that in this day and age retailers still attract a certain type of employee… once upon a time a job in a deli, newsagency, supermarket, shelf stacking etc. demanded no more than personable skills and a good grasp of math… Now we need employees with both of the above and a host of other attributes, to work in our agency we need to train in lotteries, gamble responsibly sa training, ticketek on line ticketing system, tower systems retail, security, administration and core centre responsibilities. But has the callibre of employee changed accordingly? We are still considered as a stop gap job between high school and university and finding a “real” job. As sad as it sounds the average potential employee doesn’t see newsagency as a viable career move.