Why do we make life so difficult for job applicants?

KUDOS to the Human Rights Commission’s ‘‘End pay secrecy’’ campaign (ODT, 29.8.19).

When I first started applying for jobs, it was commonplace for the pay to be stated in the job ad. Some time in the ensuing time period, the pay transparency inexplicably disappeared from the job ads.

Not knowing the pay on offer until the end of the job interview is a timewaster for both the employer and the prospective employee.

The pay on offer is a kind of elephant in the room. There is no doubt that it is important, yet both parties tiptoe around the issue until the close of the interview.

It is certainly true that there is more to work than just pay, but there is no denying that the pay scale is a hugely important aspect of the process for both parties.

I have applied for jobs, only to find at the close of the interview that the pay on offer simply wasn’t enough to live on. Had I known that at the outset of the application process, it would have saved both parties time and effort, and effort is undoubtedly required.

Applicants these days are expected to jump through all sorts of hoops during job applications, multipage application forms, elaborately presented CVs, psychometric tests, several interviews and so on.

The job interview process was supposed to be a twoway street, where the candidate assessed the employer and viceversa.

Since the advent of the neoliberal economic mindset, the job application process has been skewed heavily in favour of the employer with human resources managers appointing themselves as the gatekeepers to ‘‘untold’’ (literally) riches.

A code of conduct for HR managers would be a very welcome addition to any pay transparency policies that may emerge as a result of the pay transparency campaign. An overhaul of the human rights of job applicants is long overdue. Alastair Watt

Ranfurly ..................................

BIBLE READING: Be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. — 1 Corinthians 15.58.