Australia Post to fill thousands of jobs before Christmas rush

There are thousands of jobs on offer with many requiring no experience with Australia Post. See our interactive map of where they are and what you’ll be paid.

Exclusive: Australian postal services are on a hiring blitz to fill thousands of jobs in a bid to meet demand and get Christmas parcels to people on time.

There are 6000 jobs on offer across the country with Australia Post, with more than 1100 ongoing roles and up to 4800 casual positions — and for many no experience is needed.

Victoria has the highest number of vacancies with at least 1200 roles, followed by New South Wales with 980 roles.

Queensland has 830 positions available, with 335 in South Australia and 280 in Western Australia.

A further 60 jobs are on offer in Tasmania, 45 in ACT and 25 in the Northern Territory.

Some of the roles available include retail postal service officers, motorcycle posties, truck drivers, as well as forklift drivers and parcel or mail processing.

Amazon Australia is also looking to fill more than 2000 roles for the festive season.

There are more than 900 jobs on offer in NSW, 650 in Victoria, 220 in Queensland, 180 in WA and 50 in South Australia, across its fulfilment and logistics sites.

Australia Post executive general manager of people and culture Susan Davies said the Christmas casuals roles could lead to ongoing positions.

“While there are great seasonal roles that will suit many people short term, for others it can also open up more permanent career opportunities. We’ve had many fantastic team members who started as casuals stay on us with long after Christmas,” Ms Davies said,

Australia Post employs more than 64,000 people, where casuals can earn between $23 to $30 an hour depending on the role.

According to Seek, the going rate for casual retail assistants is $25 to $30 an hour. It is a similar rate for forklift drivers.

This week, there were more than 27,000 adverts for casual jobs on Seek, with some looking to fill multiple positions.

Elmay Viking, 27, of Brisbane, is a professional golfer who also works at Australia Post’s Northgate facility in an ongoing capacity, after having started as a Christmas casual in 2017. Picture: Supplied

For Brisbane 27-year-old professional golfer Elmay Viking, working at Australia Post gave her the ability to earn some extra income while still focusing on her sport.

What started as a Christmas casual role in 2017 working alongside her mum Josephine has now turned into an ongoing role.

“I really enjoy my 2pm shift, I get out on the golf course and weather permitting, I could do an 18 holes practice some days before I go to work,” she said.

“With golf and work, it requires 100 per cent commitment and 100 per cent effort. And at the end of the day, if I do a good job on the golf course or here at Australia Post, I’m happy with it.”

The latest Australian Bureau of Statistics data shows the nation’s unemployment rate is at 3.5 per cent.

News of Australia Post’s job vacancies comes almost a month after the government-owned business confirmed it was working on closure plans.

News Corp reported it was planning to close as many as 30 post office branches across Australia.

Originally published as Australia Post to fill thousands of jobs before Christmas rush