Thousands of job hunters gather outside Countdown Manukau

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Thu, 21 Jan 2010 11:20a.m. UPDATED: 1:42PM

More than 2000 people have gathered outside the new Countdown in Manukau in the hope of finding a job

More than 2000 people have gathered outside the new Countdown in Manukau in the hope of finding a job

By Jerram Watts / 3news.co.nz staff

Thousands of job hunters have gathered in the hope of finding work at the new Countdown supermarket in Manukau.

The Progressive Enterprises supermarket, located on Great South Rd, will be opening soon, and at least 1,000 people have descended on the supermarket's temporary office on nearby Kerrs Rd in the hope of finding work.

Only 160 jobs are available, meaning many will be turned away disappointed.

The supermarket has been conducting interviews since 9am for positions at Progressive's first new supermarket in five years.

Police are at the site and are monitoring the area.

Cars have lined Kerrs Rd but no roads have been closed.

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Comments

24 Nov 2010 09:01p.m.

Navdeep kaur wrote:

186 calevdon rd papakara

05 Jul 2010 12:00p.m.

ridley wrote:

Its sad really, its definitely a sign of the times.Yet as this is going on the politicians give themselves a 10 percent pay rise this on top of all their other perks..

23 Jan 2010 07:17p.m.

Chris wrote:

Ha ha, better be careful about what you post, Alien....they are always watching!

Regarding the story, pretty depressing stuff really. But it shows that not everyone who is on the dole wishes to stay there.

22 Jan 2010 04:59p.m.

Get a haircut wrote:

Oh come on people, blah blah blah...my hat goes off to these people that stuck around to be interviewed. I'm sorry Glen that the day was not right for you but the recruitment days were advertised early enough for you to get family members to baby sit for you. I hope it works out in the long run...good luck. As for myself I was one of those job seekers that saw the line that first day and it was not funny I also decided to go back today (friday)early 7am and I was finally seen at 11am. Speaking to the people near you makes the time move a little faster, I hope all goes well for them and everyone else...full credit... :)

22 Jan 2010 03:44p.m.

charlotte wrote:

Some people were still there from 9 to 5 The staff obviously didn't expect the outcome. What did the expect though. When you read the advertisment it's pretty much saying everyone come in and thats litterally what happened.
They weren't prepared for what happend with 2000 or more people turning up. on the first day and only choosing 150 people. I was there from 12.30 till 5.45 and got tired of standing around.
The amount of people that turned up there makes it news yes but I don't think it's breaking news.
But it just shows that there are people out there that are looking for jobs. Sorry if this sounds horrible but that what happens when these people from over seas come they get first dibs into jobs. And that leaves the Nz born out. and then there those jobs that only want experenced people( how the hell are you meant to get the experence if they wont give them the chance. Hopefully they would be a little bit more organised and prepared if they do that sort of thing.

22 Jan 2010 12:47p.m.

Glen Vickery wrote:

Firstly the interviews started at 9am, I was there in line at 8:45am for two hours on Thursday with my two children, before giving up and leaving as we would have been in line for at least another two more hours. I am just glad it wasn't raining, as their was very little shelter! I returned the following day earlier at 7:45am only to find the line was just as long again. I didn't even bother getting out of the car! The way in which this process was run was disgusting for possible future employees and customers to be treated in this manner! It's 2010 an we have what is called the internet and phones, I mean seriously why couldn't people just email their cv's into countdown so they could filter through them and choose people to do telephone interviews with and then whom ever was chosen from these two processes, they could then invite them to a private job interview at a specific time. Rather than wasting peoples valuable time standing in line for hours. I rang Count Downs head office to ask if we could send my childrens cv's via email and they simply said "we don't do that"! I say "Get with the time Count Down" or was this all simply a publicity stunt for the new Store that's opening by using the unfortunate unemployed as a tool to promote Count Down? I hope not.

21 Jan 2010 05:11p.m.

Bazza wrote:

First new supermarket in 5 years??? I think not. Coutdown opened a new supermarket in Tauranga 9 months ago. Same volume of people qued for jobs as have done in Manukau. Given the population difference I would say Tauranga had it worse per capita......

BTW This is hardly 'breaking news' Simply news albeit a news filler

21 Jan 2010 04:07p.m.

Alien wrote:

ah no robbie, it's a sign of how the global recession has hit NZ. A few months ago in the US there were ten thousands applications at one company for a hand full of jobs.

21 Jan 2010 03:42p.m.

Cameron Gale wrote:

I have Just Got back from there. there is differently 1000's of people lined up we got there at 8:45 and only left at 2pm

21 Jan 2010 03:36p.m.

robbie wrote:

yet another example of how bad administration of this country is turning people into beggers..like dogs..what a disgrace..