Job seekers have reignited their love affair with casual positions as vacant posts receive an unprecedented wave of applications, Employment Office reports.

More than 1,200 job seekers have applied for thirty casual process work vacancies with the Australian Wool Testing Authority, resulting in tough competition among candidates.

Within 24 hours of being advertised the seasonal process worker roles had received 279 applications, an average of 12 new applications every hour.

The surge of applications coincides with revised government figures revealing that the number of people in full-time jobs was down 21,900, with the current unemployment rate increasing 0.1 percentage point to 5.8 per cent in June.

Part-time work was up 400, as those wanting a full-time job were opting for casual work rather than face unemployment.

Employment Office Managing Director, Tudor Marsden-Huggins, says the campaign for wool testers was not alone in generating a staggering response.

“We are finding an increasing number of quality applicants for each casual recruitment drive we create,” he said.

“We are currently running a recruitment campaign for meat process workers, which have received almost 860 applications within the first few weeks of advertising”.

However, Mr Marsden-Huggins says it is not just the manufacturing industry that is experiencing a surge of applications from shift seekers.

The hospitality industry, renowned for seasonal work, is also basking in a rush of applications from quality candidates eager to take on casual roles.

“A campaign for casual function staff in Sydney generated more than 680 applications, which just shows the number of people searching for opportunities in an over crowded market,” Tudor Marsden Huggins said.

Rod Agar from the Australian Wool Testing Authority said the surplus of job seekers is certainly something for employers to take advantage of.
During their campaign for essentially ‘unskilled’ process workers, Mr Agar’s was able to use his twenty years of short listing expertise to hone in on the best candidates.

“I was looking for people that had process experience, a stable work history and an adventurous streak. I did pick some people with non-process experience as they had an interesting background, like jackaroos and jillaroos”.

“It’s a great time to recruit,” he said, “There’s so many good people out there and you can really pick and choose”.

The sheer volume of applications has placed Employment Office’s short listing services to the fore, as the process of whittling down to the strongest applicants becomes increasingly challenging for employers.

“We have always been confident in our ability to provide our clients with a skilled pool of applicants,” Mr Marsden-Huggins said.

“However, the current job market has changed our emphasis from finding this talent pool, to uncover the best possible applicants within an ocean of impressive candidates”.