I have had endless disapointment in trying to secure myself a job here in the Illawarra. I have even approached stores out of the area at around 45 minutes away with no luck. I have not tried every single store int he area, but I have tried every avenue where I am experienced in & yet had no luck.
The worst part of this journey has been the fact that only 1 store, in the whole 7 months of looking for work had even bothered to get back to me & tell me that they had passed my Resume on to HR for future reference. I even registered online with Select Education…. & heard nothing back! This is appalling!!!!
The emotional strain job hunting has on a person is already at high levels. The feeling of disapointment is never ending & the negativity that surrounds it all over several months of unsuccessful searching has put me in a place I never wanted to be.
However things have now changed for the best. My SIL Duff works at a Bunnings store in Sydney & travels back & forth every single day, taking her roughly 1.5 hrs in a one way trip. There happened to be a position become available for her to work 9-5 weekdays which is one of the best situations you can get in Retail! Also a position became available for the same hours & days in the Cafe in the same store. So I applied. I had 2 days notice of the position, then attended the Group Screening they offer. Followed by a 2 on 1 Interview. This happened all last Wednesday. Yesterday I got the phone call to say I was successful for the job & I start Induction training this weekend. Then start in the store next week. I will be doing 2 days of Stock Take which I did a few months ago with them.Then into my position in the Cafe.
I find it amazing that I have managed to get myself a job where I am not 100% familiar with the role, nor is it nearby to home. But at the moment I am fairly desperate. So am pleased to just get the work. The bad part is that I will be spending a good chunk (roughly about a third) of my wages on fuel! Paying half the cost of fuel will be better than the full amount, however it’ll still hurt the pocket. So i’ll be working about a day & a half just so I can travel to work. BLEH!
So now I’m back in the workforce. I will be earning my own money. We will be able to plan things on weekends again as a family. Oh how sweet it is!
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7:35 pm
Great news congradulations.
4:49 pm
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8:28 pm
I is soo excited sittah!!!!! Choo choo!!!!
11:04 am
wooohhhoooo congratulations!! I worry about how I’ll go finding a job when my kids are all at school, it’s a couple of years away for me, I had ALOT of experience before kids, but who knows how I’ll go….
I hear bunnings are great to work for so all the best to you
1:40 pm
yeah i’ve always heard bunnings are really good to work for and look after their staff. Congrats!
6:04 pm
hey do you still work at Bunnings, please let me know, I need to ask a question re: DIY organisers
5:38 pm
Thanks to everyone & their kind words.
It’s been a good few months for me at the store & I am enjoying my position in the Cafe as Cafe Manager.
Kaz, I am still working with Bunnings but not sure if I can or am too late to help you. The best option is to call your local or closest store & ask to speak to the community events prganiser for that store. You will probably have to leave your details for a call back or may be lucky enough to catch the person on the day.
Good luck
10:31 pm
Bunnings Suck!!! i finished working for them last
night as a team member and would never !!!! work
for them again…
7:03 am
Id have to agree with debbie and say bunnings suck. I contracted in their HO and found that while they went on about us all being team members and giving the individual responsibility, in reality, they treated their staff like 17 yr old school leavers, micro managing even senior staff, going on about us all being ‘team members’ not staff..including contractors (then making a big deal out of giving all the staff a tacky looking ‘bunnings’ logoed christmas gift, in front of the 3 or 4 contractors who didnt get one.
My rate was the lowest Ive been paid yet i had to put up wtih my team manager (who incidentaly woudlnt have know how to do the job we were doing if it was spelt out to her) constantly complaining that i was the most expensive person there and how i was being paid more than my team mates (really professional…NOT!)
I’d never work there again.
4:41 pm
Hey Kim and Debby
I have been at Bunnings for a few weeks now and I LOVE it. Everyone is treated equally and everyone is happy. Maybe it’s just that the both of you didn’t fit in. Sounds like it anyway. And as for the rate of pay I guess you only get paid for what your worth to them. I am getting a better hourly rate than some of our friends.
Goodluck finding a better job with all the perks!
Chin up you’ll get there lol……..
9:25 am
Kim and Debbie,
I have worked at Bunnings for a little while now and I have to agree with ‘Harden up ‘. Bunnings is a great place to work. Nearly all of the team members are very positive and actually enjoy their jobs which is not always the way in a large retail store. I have found the management so far to be pretty easy to get along with. The fact is some people will fit in well and some wont, but it is a great place to work. The pay is actually above average for retail.
5:27 pm
On 16 July 2009 I visited the Bunnings Warehouse, Lake Road, Port Macquarie NSW to enquire about an advertised position of Department Manager.
The obvious place to enquire was the Service Desk where I was met with smiles and offers of help, that was until I advised the young lady that I wanted details about the advertised position.
Her response caught me completely, and what’s more the smile and helpfulness rapidly disappeared. “Why would you want that job, it is just soooooooo stressful”.
So the job is stressful is it? What a wonderful representation of the company that pays her wages. If the job is sooooo stressful then why are you still there?
By her own admission she stated that jobs at Bunnings are obviously soooooooo stressful!!! Where is her loyalty to her company? I am pleased she works for Bunnings because if she was my employee and spoke to a customer in that tone she would be dismissed instantly.
What a wonderful introduction to the world according to Bunnings.
It was an absolutely wonderful PR exercise, well done Bunnings.
I was eventually referred to another young lady who I was informed was a Department Manager. Once again I was greeted with smiles and offering all the appearances of wanting to assist. That was until I explained the reason of my visit.
Her tone changed completely also, and so began what I considered to be an interrogation that would have done the Gestapo proud.
She tried to intimidate me by describing how much was involved in the position and how I would have to fit into the Bunnings “team”. Really, I would have to fit into the team irrespective of my qualifications. It really was beginning to sound like an adult version of MacDonalds. The exception being they are taking to adults not some pimply faced 15 year old kid. (No offence intended to all pimply faced kids).
The interrogation continued by being asked if I was a local, well it was obvious that I wasn’t however I did explain that I owned a house and other real estate in the town and I intended to move to Port Macquarie in the near future.
I was then asked as to my qualifications, I advised the young lady of my qualifications and her response was simply, “Well with all your qualifications why don’t you just go back to Sydney and get a job?
Up until that point in time I always considered that every Australian had the right of freedom to live and work where ever they pleased. Apparently not, it appears now that approval has to be sought and approved by some arrogant, self opinionated upstart who is employed at Bunnings.
To anyone considering seeking employment at Bunnings I wish you well.
I am interested in hearing direct about other Bunnings horror stories.
robbo1945@hotmail.com
12:26 pm
I’m helping a young sudanese refugee friend aged 17 look for a job at the moment (Sept 09). We’ve done the online application 3 times but no success. It has 16 questions at the end, all multiple choice ‘what would you do in this retail situation’ type questions. My friend D has only been here 2 years and hasn’t yet acquired the in-depth knowledge of Australian retail culture that bunnings clearly wants, including things like OHS and the finer points of a manager’s role.
I wonder about this new online application business – it’s designed by US human resources experts to select applicants of a certain type which, when you go into bunnings, seems to be overwhelmingly bright, white anglosaxon european kids. Many bunnings stores are in communities full of asian, indian and african people who are contributing to bunnings profits the same as everyone else, but I doubt most of them would have a chance of answering the questions properly – and all for an after-school job filling shelves. D has no family here and is just in need of a bit of help to get on to the first rung of the employment ladder, but bunnings doesn’t seem to be an equal opportunity employer.
Has anyone else had experience of the online application? Any tips for success?
poppynat33
12:47 pm
Hi poppynat33.
I can’t say I am familiar with the questions in the online application section, perhaps this is new since my gaining employment with the business.
I can state that our store in particular has a large amount of Team from differing cultural backgrounds; Greek, Italian, Lebanese, Indian, Asian, Nepalese, Australian so on & so forth. But obviously I cannot speak for other stores. I can say in my opinion I believe that Bunnings is an employment haven for those wanting any kind of work, be it Fulltime, Parttime or Casual. We have a few people in our store that do have issues with Language barriers & therefore as a frontline in retail can experience many issues when dealing with customers. Therefore these Team Members are placed into positions which limit their first-point contact with customers until they can gain a better knowledge of our language for those main reasons. It is very frustrating for a customer to try to get help from someone that either A) Does not understand a word they speak or B) Cannot decode exactly what the customer wants. This happens on occasion with us trying to help customers too! It is not a personal attack on someone because they cannot understand it is simply business.
In our store we help those with language barriers to better understand. E.g: Our Training Officer sits with Team Members who have a lack of pc skills or Language difficulties & goes through training sessions with them individually. It still allows them to be involved with what’s happening in the store & gives them some satisfaction in knowing they CAN achieve what everyone else in the store can achieve.
I suggest to keep ur chin up & keep a keen eye on every aspect of the job application, with Bunnings & elsewhere. I’m sure Bunnings isn’t the only place that practices this kind of application method. Unfortunately it obviously shows that it is there for a reason. If you can’t demonstrate to be capable of using the application system then maybe retail is not the position for you. It’s harder on the job for you & the business if you aren’t capable.
I mean no disrespect here for your friend D. But I am sure that if he shows his willingness to work then eventually it will pay off. Sadly it’s an unsteady economic right now & finding employment is a hard task. I do wish him well
1:50 pm
I have just been appointed as a department coordinator and yes, I did have to do the online questionnaire, and an interview, and induction, and training and more. The store in Armidale doesn’t open for four months (May 2010) but keep an eye out for a billboard at the warehouse site and in the local papers in early march. Yes there is a telephone interview, group interview and a one-on-two interview. But you will get to work at a brand new warehouse and get discounts, share scheme and other benefits. Oh, and it should be fun!!
12:59 pm
I’m in my early 50′s and looking to downshift. How much an hour does Bunnings pay and does it vary from person to person or is it the basically same for anyone over 18yo doing the same (non supervisor) job? Are the wages the same per hour whether you work as a cashier or work on the floor? Thanks.
6:48 pm
in answer to the harden up people, I was at their head office not in the stores – maybe the stores are different I dont know. But I found the atmosphere at the HO was quite toxic. I’ve worked in similar corporate environments and never experienced such a negative atmosphere. I didnt not get on with everyone there, there were some good people there. But the way they allow some managers to treat their reports, and the way they allow some people to in the middle of a meeting, make gestures about a colleague who is calling in (I was neither the colleague, or the person gesturing and it was about my 2nd day and two developers were mouthing and wording things like silly bitch and FFS and I give up cant work with her etc about someone who was usually in the same office area…(it was actually my manager and she was all the things they said – but to basically announce that to a room of about 20 ppl including most dept heads is not exactly professional or something Id be doing at all – let alone in front of new “team members” However as I said this is the head office, and is a corporate environment not at a styore, maybe the stores are better, – id hope so for the sake of the ppl in them….
6:52 pm
it just felt like an environment were there were a lot of underlying issues between people, and where some people seemed more interested in scoring points on a personal level against colleagues, then doing a decent job.