Application received
‘‘I need a job. That’s it. I’ve been unemployed for a month and I can’t sit on my bum all day looking at a screen waiting for a job to come by. So I’m out here looking and hopefully I’ll get a job.’’
Her last job as a personal care assistant finished in late January due to financial reasons, she said.
Since then she has been unemployed and has been on a benefit for about a month.
Nicholson also applied for 40 jobs in February and received three interviews. None led to a job.
She said job hunting in Manawatu was ‘‘very tough’’ due to the high competition from students and young people with tertiary degrees.
But being out on the street was her way of showing people she was willing and able to work.
‘‘If you want a job nobody is going to get it for you but you. You’ve got to go out there and do it yourself.’’
She said she was a reliable, hard worker, with years of experience in office administration, customer service and credit control.
Nicholson said the job climate had changed, and employers were looking at her age and lack of a degree, rather than her experience and life skills.
‘‘I’ve been working all my life – you used to be able to walk into a place and get a job, [but] you’re fighting with other people.
‘‘You’re fighting with students. You’re fighting with young people that have left school. Unfortunately, I’m 43 and it’s not like the good old days. For employers out there, don’t just look at education and tertiary, look at their life skills and and experience as well.’’
Nicholson had an interview on Wednesday for a job as a cleaner, after a man stopped to pick up her CV on Tuesday. An interview for another job was booked for Friday, and several other people had got out of their cars to get a copy of Nicholson’s CV.
Many passersby also tooted and waved in support of her bold actions.
Nicholson was confident she would get a job after her efforts and she encouraged others looking for work to do the same.
According to Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment data, the Manawatu-wanganui/taranaki region has shown a solid increase in online job vacancies over the past year, up 13.2 per cent.