International body and beauty brand that prides itself on their “open hire policy” took 3 weeks after the interview to tell my I had been unsuccessful.

“Nobody wants to work!!”

Their website explicitly states positions will be awarded to the first applicant. They have only three questions:

1. Do you have the right to work in this country?

2. Are you able to complete 8 hour shifts and lift up to 11kg in weight?

3: Are you comfortable working with customers (not a disqualifier)

This is to enable people who may come from challenging backgrounds or who have little experience to have a fair go at getting a job. It sounds really great, and empowering in theory. In practice, however…

I had an interview with the manager at their nearest store, an hour round-trip from my house. I work and study full time, but I outlined 20+ hours of availability during the store’s opening hours. The interviewer asked these 3 questions, I answered ‘yes’ to all of them, and the manager reiterated the company’s open hire policy and that someone from corporate would be in touch with me shortly.

The role was Christmas Casual and wasn’t meant to start until November, so I didn’t think anything of it when I hadn’t heard from corporate, and I stopped my job search. Finally, 3 weeks after the interview, I received an email stating I was unsuccessful and due to the number of applicants they would not be providing feedback.

Well, I had feedback for them.

Not only did they have an entire webpage dedicated to patting themselves on the back for their open hire policy — they listed corporate partners. So I composed my most professional email to date advising them of this gross oversight and urging them to reconsider their partnership. One partner actually responded and told me mine was not the first complaint of this nature they had received.

I also sent feedback to the company itself expressing my disappointment, and a week later I received a call from the manager I’d interviewed with indicating my availability was the issue. This is despite the fact I’d indicated more than 20 hours of availability around my other job and uni schedule. 20 hours is well and truly above the call of a casual — in fact, in my country I believe that would qualify as part-time.

So, no, it’s not “nobody wants to work”. It’s “nobody wants to hire people who have other priorities and will be anything other than compliant, mindless wage slaves.”