A West Auckland butcher feels he could have built “something to go to Mars” with the calibre of applicants for a meat packer role.<\/p>\n
New Lynn’s Aussie Butcher managing director Reuben Sharples told Morning Report he was swamped with more than 1000 CVs after advertising for a full time staff member.<\/p>\n
The country’s unemployment rate is the highest its been in more than a decade – described as “crisis-level” among young people in particular.<\/p>\n
Sharples said he couldn’t believe the 120 emails he received from applicants for the role.<\/p>\n
“I thought, ‘Oh my God, that’s so many.’ But then our admin said, ‘No, you’ve got another 870-odd on SEEK.<\/p>\n
“They’re still coming through now, so over 1000 … for a meat packers role. So pretty overwhelming actually.<\/p>\n
“It was like, ‘Oh, how do I deal with this?'”<\/p>\n
The interest was crazy he said, as was the expertise among the applicants.<\/p>\n
“I think the biggest difference was I could have started up lots of businesses. I had someone that had 20 years of aviation security experience.”<\/p>\n
Those vying for the job included several rest home workers and a computer engineer.<\/p>\n
“[Could] probably build something and go to Mars … with all the people that actually applied.”<\/p>\n
It was daunting to see people looking for work whose skill sets were “10, 20 times” what was required, Sharples said.<\/p>\n
After trawling through the applications he ended up hiring three people, including an apprentice.<\/p>\n
His advice to young people looking for work was to avoid showing up with parents and also to tap into friends and family networks.<\/p>\n
“And just keep on doing it because you’ve got to come across positive.”<\/p>\n