The realities of looking for work as unemployment rises
Morning Report
Job seekers have described feelings of fear, frustration and failure as jobless figures soar to record highs.
The latest statistics suggested that unemployment had climbed to its highest level in more than a decade, as growth in the workforce outpaced the number of jobs created.
Sheryl has applied for 90 jobs since being made redundant last November.
Despite decades of experience in human resources and being desperate to work, so intense is the competition for jobs that she’s struggled to even get a response to many of her applications.
Sheryl told Morning Report she was at the midway point in her career and believed she was getting nowhere.
“It’s demoralising, your self-worth takes a hit, self-doubt starts to creep in.”
She felt sorry for those starting out and believed she was fortunate to have a part-time contract that helped with basic weekly costs.
“But it doesn’t cover anything else.”
She was using her savings for extras such as rates and insurance.
“I would absolutely hate to be a young person starting out or a graduate starting out. At least I have a few resources but it’s still tough.”
Sheryl said she wasn’t part of the unemployment figures released on Wednesday and did not believe they reflected the scale of the problem.
“There are tens of thousands of us that the government doesn’t know about – so that is just an indicator, it is not the real unemployment in the country.”
She had not yet applied for the unemployment benefit but it was getting close to that point.
Sheryl was working with some agencies who were trying to help her.
She has applied for one role that attracted 250 applicants and made it to the long list of 18 and the agency was trying to get it down to five.
There was a shortage of senior level jobs and in the “crowded middle” and some people she was upa against had had “stellar careers”.
“There is a lot of competition … It’s extremely crowded. There are simply not enough jobs, simply not enough economy.”
Every day she had to wake up determined “to change the situation”.
She had to live by rules – find a job, reduce costs, sell anything to make some cash and do something such as more training or education to help her land a job.
She was grateful her children were employed.
Graduate applies for nearly 200 jobs
Recent graduate Summer Peden said she had applied for almost 200 jobs since November last year.
The 22-year-old said she had only had about six interviews.
Recent graduate Summer Peden has applied for almost 200 jobs since November last year.
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“These are ranging from administration, to healthcare, to teaching, to part-time work. I went out onto the streets handing out an A5 cardstock of my CV to every employer, mall, person I knew,” she said.
Peden was on a job seeker benefit, but this has been cut as she recently moved to Dunedin to live with her partner, who earned “too much” for her to qualify for assistance.
She said her share of the rent was $300 per week.
“I am quite frightened actually. I don’t like to ask for money from people, but I’m currently having to ask my parents to help me, support me financially and that’s a bit of a burden to me considering that my dad is about to become a pensioner.”
At the other end of the spectrum, Justine had been in her role as a practice nurse for 17 years when she felt it was time for a change.
The registered nurse had worked for 37 years, but was struggling to find a new job.
Justine has worked as a registered nurse for 37 years but is struggling to find a new job.
Supplied
“I didn’t realise it would take this long to try and find another job, and I just thought, ‘Is it because I’m nearly 60, am I too experienced?’. As in, I would be expected to be paid more and maybe they’ll be hiring a more junior nurse who doesn’t expect to be paid as much,” she said.
“You would think they would want an experienced nurse. They don’t tell you when they email you back, they don’t tell you why you didn’t get the job, they just say ‘We’re so sorry and thank you for your application’, so you never know. I’m waiting hopefully for an interview, waiting, waiting. It’s really frustrating and it just feels, I feel… like a failure.”
Yet, Justine said she still felt lucky.
“Luckily my sons are adults and they’re grown up. Luckily my husband has a good job and his pay is quite good, so we’re okay,” she said.
“We’re okay, but it’s quite funny because we went to apply for one of those one percent home loans… and my husband said, ‘Oh, no, we can’t because you don’t have a job’. I was just like, ‘Oh, God, I’ve never not had a job’. It’s a horrible feeling, you know, like, ‘oh, I can’t get a loan because I don’t have a job’, you kind of feel like a bit of a failure or something.”
‘Scarring an entire generation’
Bernard Hickey discusses latest unemployment figures
Morning Report
Economics commentator Bernard Hickey said the apparent recovery was “very jobless weak and wages weak recovery”.
Bernard Hickey
RNZ
There was something going on that meant the economy was not growing as expected and was not growing in a way that normally helped young people.
It was the first time in 26 years that the retail sector saw zero wage growth.
The jobless figures revealed an under-utilisation rate for young people was at 37 percent.
That figure included those who were unemployed, or were working part-time or did not have a job with enough hours.
“It means we’re scarring an entire generation,” Hickey said.
“At the same time as that generation is being scarred, we’re actually awarding work visas.”
More than 110,000 had been awarded in the last year.
There had not been growth in the economy, mortgage rates were rising and the inflation rate was at 4.1 percent.
“I think even the government itself doesn’t quite understand why the economy isn’t getting going. There are some obvious things, the energy shock but it’s much more than that.”
New Zealanders shut their wallets when the housing market wasn’t growing. They weren’t spending, or employing and they weren’t investing yet the government was reducing its involvement in the economy.
“We’re in an economy that’s stagnating … and the government at the moment is stepping back and people are not stepping forward to fill the gap.”
Use of artificial intelligence
Tribe Recruitment’s Sarah White said some candidates using AI were overlooking the importance of “the individual voice” in their application letters and CVs.
Proof reading wasn’t being done and individual achievements weren’t being included in “a spray and pray” approach to job applications, she told Morning Report.
Employers wre using an AI tool to screen people out.
“Clients tell us that over half of applications look and feel the same then they’re not going to make it through the door to the screening process. It’s about sounding individual as well.”
Every application needed to be tailored to the job rather than having a blanket cover letter, White said.
Job numbers had plateaued this year, because of international events, White said.
However, employers needed to grow their businesses and replace roles so they were “starting to put things in place” while others were remaining cautious.