Thursday, May 06, 2010

Dropping out of subspace into the *REAL* universe

"Work and Income has been asked to explain claims that it told a woman to "dumb down" her CV to boost her chances of landing a job.

Napier woman Natalie Meehan said she was told to delete reference to her political science degree and apply for jobs at Pak'n Save supermarket and fast-food outlet KFC.

Work and Income has confirmed its staff suggested she remove reference to the degree.

The advice has "mortified" Ms Meehan, who says Work and Income staff feared potential employers would be intimidated by her CV. "I am really proud of my achievements and I don't want to delete them. I'm just a kid wanting to start my career and that wasn't the kind of advice I was expecting. I was told to make my CV look like I had no skills..."

WINZ were 100% right.

She was after a scut job, while waiting for another job.

The gave her the right advice for that.

Most employers would see a person with a degree in political sciences as somebody who would 'fit in' with the other underlings. An employer worth a damn tries to recruit perople who will be able to relate to and get along with those they will be working alongside. It's hard enough keeping the workplace wheels lubricated without throwing sand in the grease-gun.

Then there is the potential for overqualified types to become bush lawyers.

This chap has it right:

"Recruitment expert Tom O'Neil said sometimes people had to "bite the bullet" and make their CVs look basic, especially if they wanted only short-term work. "An employer might look at a CV and think, `This is a Ferrari' and they only want a Lada. There is also the risk the employer might feel like the potential employee is a threat to their own job. It's silly, but it happens..."

The last sentence is very true, nowhere more so that the public AKA taxpayer-funded sector.

Paula Bennett hasn't got a friggin' clue.

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