Kmart holds mass interviews in Whangarei

Eru Lyndon, regional commissioner for Work and Income New Zealand with Jason Picard, zone manager for Kmart. Photo / John Stone

Retail giant Kmart has checked into Whangarei this week to conduct mass interviews after receiving a whopping 1074 applications for jobs at the new Okara store opening in November.

Between 60 and 80 jobs are up for grabs - full and part-time, casual and seasonal positions - with further temporary positions for the setting-up period at the 5000sq m store.

The HR teams conducted group interviews at the Work and Income headquarters in Whangarei yesterday and continue today, seeing around 100 people each day.

Kmart enlisted Winz as the employment agent with the unenviable task of whittling down the applications to just 200 candidates over six weeks. Of the 1074 applications, 450 were from the Winz database.

Many of the part-time roles were for 30-hour shifts, and more than a dozen full-time roles were available.

Jason Picard, zone manager for Kmart New Zealand, said most of the candidates were from Whangarei and "a mixed bag of ages and backgrounds".

"We now hope to get it down to about 120 people to interview on Friday and Monday. "The level of excitement here is immense," he said.

At noon yesterday, a room of 40 hopefuls were being put through their paces by incoming Whangarei Kmart store manager Sharlene Goberdhan, and the five sales managers, three of whom are from Whangarei.

Candidates completed the group workshop, with managers watching candidates' responses to questions and teamwork skills. Aptitude tests followed and brief one-to-one interactions with managers to decide who would make it to second interviews.

Eru Lyndon, regional commissioner for Winz, said the organisation has been working with large companies, as well as small to medium-sized enterprises to find jobs for Northlanders.

Kmart needs sales assistants, registrar operators and replenishment staff in the clothing and beauty departments, as well as staff for the service areas and the stockroom. The store will carry over 50,000 exclusive products and will open from 8am to midnight, seven days a week. Hill Construction Ltd is continuing to work on-site with the store due to open in late November.