Whirlpool

Hi,

I had some great contract gigs but... they were contract and ended. I'm a skilled up IT / Designer but no matter how hard I try cannot for the life of me land a job. I thought it would be easy, it always has been in the past.

So while I'm applying for work I'm also getting my business underway to give that a go. Things are, very very slowly picking up. I'm busier *looking* for work than when I'm working! Fortunately my wife is still working.

I'm 36 now, I'm wondering if it might be worth approaching Coles to pack shelves at night. Does anyone know how much it pays? How would I go at my age? Do they only hire younger people?

Any advice/help/thoughts/experience shared appreciated.

Thanks,
Brad.

Mate, i'm struggling too like you.

I'm in I.T. but needed a 2nd job and looked at packing shelves but there are no available jobs at the moment.

Have you tried Bunnings?

I haven't tried anywhere yet. Just had the idea an hour ago.

StiffBiscuit writes...

I haven't tried anywhere yet. Just had the idea an hour ago.
Fair enough. I have toyed with the idea, is it worth it or not is the big question I have too.
Are you thinking about night fill for a reason? What about outbound sales or similar?

GodFather writes...

no available jobs at the moment

OP profile says Brisbane... your profile says Sydney?

What do you mean by outbound sales? Not Checkout I assume.

Night shift because I can still pick up and drop off my daughter, make dinner, build the business, look for work, clean the house....

I don't mind working night and day, its kinda my punishment to myself for getting into this mess. I'll do whatever I can, within reason, to get back on track for my family at the moment. If it means I'll be a little tired I don't care, so be it.

Whats that new acronym...? htfu? hehe.

Does Coles employ inexperienced mature workers?

i worked at Woolworths for 9 months while i did my IT study.

Paid $21 per hour, 4 – 6 shifts a week, 4 hour shifts. Plenty of OT if you were willing to stay till 4am. Shifts started at 7pm.

sunday night you would start at midnight and go till 4am – sometime 6.30 if you were asked to stay back (great OT)

It was boring work, i was leaving just as my GF was comming home – getting home early morning just before she would go to work – we didn't see much of each other.

but it was money, allowed me to study fulltime and get some work done during the day.

if you do it – keep out of the politics of the company, just pack ya aisle and try and make it fun, really pays to keep to ya self and just work. it is the type of work where once you get into the politics or find a small hate – you will hate every minute of your shift!

In saying that though, if i had to i would happily go back and do it again for some extra pay.

All the best

theres a waiting list for unskilled labour type jobs for store type labour jobs. goto there main web site for positions.

undermine writes...

theres a waiting list for unskilled labour type jobs for store type labour jobs. goto there main web site for positions.

?

I worked as a paper stuffer for a while about 10 years ago. Not sure if those jobs are still around, but back then, all the circulars in the newspaper were inserted by hand.

If you're looking for night work, it might be worth your while to get in contact with your local newsies. If you're happy to work during the day, there's always pick and pack work, especially coming up to Easter.

Thanks Dyncom – Very useful.

FYI – I found this: http://www.careers.colesgroup.com.au/default.aspx

I think I'll call them tomorrow. Just in case one of my applications gets back to me in the next hour and gives me an awesome job. :)

I worked at Coles doing night shift packing shelves as a second job up until about 6 weeks ago.

From what I could see, they had no issues hiring older people or inexperienced because it's pretty straight forward and if you have common sense it's easy money. I'm 28 and had never done it before and got a job easy. Probably just good timing but I seemed to find that they preferred older people just because of maturity levels and less drama.

The pay is about $21 per hour so it's alright. 4 hour shifts where I was and they never got you to do more. 8pm to midnight weekdays, 5pm-9pm Sat and 5pm-8pm Sun. Stores seems to vary a little with their weekend hours.

Anywho, give it a go, it really is quite easy for the money.

Cheers

StiffBiscuit writes...

What do you mean by outbound sales? Not Checkout I assume.
Call centre stuff. Have seen a few jobs advertised with no experience required with afternoons and night shift options. Something worth keeping an eye on I guess.

i work for woolworths on weekend as a second job 9have been there for 5 yrs) and i know for a fact that

a) they arent hiring despite being VERY short staffed
b) they have significantly cut back hours and moved work hours out of the penalty rate hours to save money...

in my store the night fill guys used to start at 10 and go til 6 am when the store openned. Now they start at 7 and finish at 3. Only 3 hrs of penalty rates.

But its great work if you can get it...

I think why not if you need the extra cash. In my experience at least in Canberra woolies hire a good mix of mature age people, particularly on the night shift. They did when I was working there throughout uni (and by all accounts still do)

You asked specifically for coles but they are both pretty similar im sure you could score work between one of the two. They know the deal you need some extra cash and they just want people who will actually show up and do the job.

DukeXL writes...

a) they arent hiring despite being VERY short staffed
b) they have significantly cut back hours and moved work hours out of the penalty rate hours to save money...

You can only say this about your individual store. While woolies is trying to cut back due to the "same cost australia wide" gimmik each store has their own budget with their own targets to meet.

To make budget most manager will cut back shifts as much as they can.

To the OP nothing wrong with stacking shelves, but you don't just have to go for a role like that. They are a huge company and have many stores with a wide variety of jobs.

But as a casual you only get back if you put in more. If you can't cope with the heat and other younger staff can expect to get less shifts.

Try factory work... I assembled/ dissembled computers at a factory with no experience necessary when I was 18... paid me 15 an hour and kept me 'in the industry' enough to look decent enough on my resume after TAFE.

They can pay pretty generously to older dudes like yourself and the work is pretty easy most of the time.

Couple of things though, you generally need a pretty good back, and you may/ or may not need a clean urine test.

All the best mate hope things turn around for ya :).

Hey guys,

Thanks so much for your input.

WP is such a great forum; mature, friendly, open honest seems to be the theme.

Again, thanks. Heading down there this afternoon.

undermine writes...

theres a waiting list for unskilled labour type jobs for store type labour jobs. goto there main web site for positions.

Indeed I hear theres an absolute crapload of people wanting these jobs.

I went to register online myself but they want you to nominate referees UPFRONT and theres no way in hell I want word going around old collegues that joffa is now applying at safeway coz he couldnt get a real job blah blah if I dont even GET the job.

If my referees are going to be contacted by someone at woolies et-al its because im about to be offered a job, and not sully my rep in the industry on a first round filtering exercise.

I decided to abort my application because of this.

Having gone from part time checkout and shelves to full time cozy office job there's no way I could go back.

"Ooh, you got here at 9:01... guess you'll be clocking off at 5:01 then!!"

Seriously it's just the lowest of lows.
Like the other guy said, ignore everyone and just do your job and get the hell out!! At least theres hope for you!!

StiffBiscuit writes...

WP is such a great forum; mature, friendly, open honest seems to be the theme.

LOL I think that's the first time I've seen WP described like that.

Yobbo writes...

LOL I think that's the first time I've seen WP described like that.

hehehe... maybe he should visit one of the (now mostly deleted) fanboi religious topic threads. he may never come back.

Don't ruin my illusion.