Employer swamped by CVs

By ANGELA McCARTHY

An employer whose policy of hiring immigrants and the long-term unemployed featured in the New Zealand Herald is "surprised and amazed" by the response.

Within hours of an article appearing in WorkPlace last Monday, Rod Giles, managing director of Warehouse Contracting, was swamped with phone calls, CVs, emails and people coming off the street to meet him. By Thursday morning he'd received around 80 calls and emails from job-seekers.

"What impressed me is the trouble people have been taking to find my email, phone number and address," said Giles.

At least 20 employers also contacted him, some applauding his approach and talking about broadening their own employment strategies.

Most calls, however, were from job-seekers, including two mothers ringing on behalf of their sons, a 39-year-old alcoholic and a 21-year-old unemployed man. The alcoholic wasn't interested in meeting Giles, but the 21-year-old now has short-term work.

"We met and I told him to pull his finger out. He knows if he messes about, he's out on his ear."

He has also given a short-term job to a Mexican immigrant who walked in off the street to ask for work.

Hiring immigrants and the unemployed wasn't about being a soft touch, said Giles.

"I put boundaries in place, and I'm demanding, but I believe in treating people the way I would want to be treated. I will never ask someone to do something I wouldn't do myself."

He thinks people responded strongly to the article because it offered a rare positive view of immigrants and the unemployed.

"There is so much negativity about immigration. It [the article] showed the worth of immigrants."

It also showed a way to find some of the skills employers are so desperately seeking, he said.