A Sydney business owner has taken a bold new approach to recruiting staff after a lack of applicants.
A few weeks ago, Andrew Holloway of Holloway Removals posted a job posting looking for a new sales guru.
After a few weeks, the company had only received a handful of applications.
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It was then that Holloway decided to take a more honest approach and changed the details of the announcement.
“We’re Hiring…Low Pay, Bad Hours, Jerk Boss, Apply Now. #hiring #jerkboss #lowpay #badhours,” reads the advertisement posted on Seek.
Suddenly, Holloway’s inbox was flooded with messages from other business owners praising him for his bold approach.
“I love Andy’s new approach to hiring. It’s all about the culture,” read one of the post’s comments.
Holloway told 7NEWS.com.au he wanted to find something that would make his business stand out from the crowd.
“We had only received a few applications, so we thought we’d try something different,” he said.
He thinks showing potential employees that he can make fun of himself would help break down some barriers and cultivate a positive work culture.
“We want people to think we can laugh a little bit, but also give a sense of professionalism,” he said.
“And I think making fun of me gives people a good vibe and makes them feel comfortable.
“It makes them think: I wonder what it would be like to work for a place like this?”
Holloway said that while the company doesn’t just want to “hire anyone and everyone,” there aren’t many people to choose from. Now Holloway has been inundated with responses from interested candidates, and although he hasn’t employed anyone yet, he considers his honesty exercise a success.
“There’s not an abundance of workers there,” he said.
It comes as businesses across the country are reporting staff shortages.
In a presentation at the jobs and skills summit, Australian Retailers Association chief executive Paul Zahra said Australia’s labor shortages needed to be addressed.
“We are at a crisis point when it comes to labor shortages,” he said.
“With more than 40,000 vacancies in retail across the country, the strongest job vacancy growth is in retail.”
Zahra said a national legal working age framework could enable young Australians to fill labor shortages.
