Mike's Minute: The job story is more than just a headline

2500 job applications. That’s got clickbait written all over it, doesn’t it? 

One job supposedly had 2500 applications. One headline added that the company boss was shocked. 

Oppo is your company and in the story of their job they are looking to fill is some good news. Mainly, that the job is here and not long ago it wasn’t. 

It’s a call centre job and the call centre has been relocated back to New Zealand, which is one of those weird job things. 

I thought we went through this years ago when it was broadly accepted that call centres offshore did save you money, but language and actual help on the phone generally was so bad they gave up. 

Anyway, they must have advertised the job globally through international sites because only 44% of the applicants were actually from New Zealand, so 2500 becomes a pretty misleading number. 

44% is still a lot of applicants. But here is the other thing you will have learned in this tight job market of late. 

A lot of people apply for literally everything, whether they want it, can do it, or not, they apply. They waste people's time, are not genuine applicants and are a nightmare for HR.   

Just for the record, this is not to say jobs aren't tight because we all know they are. 

But the inference in these stories is that times are desperate, and they are not. Jobs are available if you're determined. 

Which is the next point – those who have dealt with call centres, and that is most of us, don’t get what you would loosely call a world class experience. 

Like a lot of jobs that are front facing, they are filled with —how do we put it nicely— gormless people, people who have bad attitudes, don’t want to help, don’t know how to help, don’t know what you're asking, don’t have answers and are not empowered to basically do anything. 

A lot of useless people have work. It’s a frightening fact. Are all the people without work better than the useless ones with work? Or are they even worse? 

Also, tragically, that many applications for a low skill job tells you the decay of our economy; too many people with too little to offer. 

Answering a phone is not a career path. 

So 2500 people and shock. Like too many stories, it's not the real story.   

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