Jobseekers lashed after 'disappointing' number of Aussies fail to even show up for interview

While some Aussies are applying and getting rejected for dozens of jobs, a staggering number of jobseekers aren’t even bothering to turn up for an interview.

Since the beginning of the year, Superior People Recruitment received nearly 2,000 resumes from Aussies looking for a job. Out of that batch, only 32 per cent (roughly 600 people) had the skills and relevant experience to be contacted for an interview.

The company’s Graham Wynn told Yahoo Finance that, of the candidates who progressed to the interview stage, 35 per cent didn’t even respond. Not only that, but a quarter of the jobseekers who set up a time for an interview didn’t even turn up.

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Wynn said it was “disappointing” to see so many people stuffing the system around.

“That’s my time, I allocate my time to do these interviews,” he explained to Yahoo Finance. “But it also means that people who are genuinely wanting to slot a time for an interview, sometimes are unable to because our schedule is so full.”

The recruitment expert said he understood circumstances could change for people and that might be why they were not responding to the first stage of contact, but to not turn up for the interview was fairly baffling.

Wynn suspects he knows why there might be so many people submitting applications and then ghosting the system.

“I do know that some people may well get other jobs in the meantime and just don't tell us about that,” he said. “That can happen. But we do know that there's still a lot of people just putting resumes through just for their mutual obligation they have to do to get their benefits.

“That still happens more than we'd like it to. That's still an ongoing problem. That same person will pull through 10 resumes and never get back to us because that's the mutual obligation, basically.”

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He added that it had never been a harder time for recruiters and employers to find good talent.

“If you talk to most employers or recruiters, we’ll all tell you the same,” he told Yahoo Finance. “We've never known it as difficult as it currently is to find candidates. I've run this business now for 15 years, and I've never found it as hard as it currently is to find job seekers for jobs.”

He said that was due to a range of things like the salaries being offered, jobseekers pushing for more senior roles that “aren't as prevalent as they were six months ago”, and a major Aussie skill shortage that used to be plugged by overseas workers.

“We've got a real skill shortage. There's no, ifs, ands or buts, everyone admits that,” he said.

“And we were sort of filling that skill shortage with overseas workers. But, when that was cut off, it highlighted how much of a skill shortage we did have locally. And that certainly is still a problem.”

Millions considering a second job

Wynn’s revelations come after new research found the incredible number of Aussies considering taking on a second job during the cost-of-living crisis.

Finder interviewed nearly 1,100 people and 32 per cent (equivalent to 6.7 million Australians) said they were feeling pressured to get a second job to make ends meet. ABS data shows close to 1 million Aussies work multiple jobs.

"Many have no option but to take on a second job to keep their head above water,” Finder money expert Rebecca Pike said in a statement.

"The cost-of-living crisis means many are in financial strife and are finding it difficult to pay for rising insurance and energy bills."

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