Dan Murphy’s and BWS want to hire 1600 new employees over summer

With high unemployment rates and cuts to JobSeeker, this national retailer is preparing for summer with more than a thousand job openings.

Amid job cuts around the country, Dan Murphy’s and BWS are looking for thousands of casual workers leading up to the busy summer season, with more than 1600 new job openings available now.

Dan Murphy’s is looking to hire more than 1000 casual workers across all its 242 stores, while Woolworths-owned liquor chain BWS is looking for at least 600 team members across metropolitan and regional Australian stores.

“If there’s a Dan Murphy’s near you, then that store is looking for customer assistants who can start as soon as possible or in the coming weeks and months,” Dan Murphy’s Head of Culture and People Siobhan Pelc said.

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Dan Murphy’s and BWS is recruiting 1600 jobs, ideal for uni students.

Ms Pelc explained the pandemic has bolstered the need for more staff leading up to the busy period due to the way customers’ shopping habit have changed.

“More customers than ever are opting to use contactless delivery or our popular direct-to-boot pick up, which we have rolled out to almost 170 stores,” Ms Pelc said. “These great additional customer service functionalities require additional team members, especially during our busiest trading period.”

Due to liquor licencing rules, applicants need to be at least 18 years old.

”We have roles for people who are passionate about drinks and great customer service in many of our local communities,” BWS Head of Culture and People Bryony Tainton said. “Traditionally, many successful applicants include university students who are on a summer break as well as people with a background in the hospitality industry.”

The stores have new safety measures in place to protect staff and customers.

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Steve Donohue, managing director of Endeavour Group – which Dan Murphy’s and BWS is part of – started his career in a Dan Murphy’s store as a store manager when he was just 19 years old. “This is a great opportunity to get your foot in the door,” Ms Pelc said.

Since March, the retailer has implemented additional safety measures for its stores including protective plexiglass screens at check-outs, signage to help customers socially distance, strict limits on the number of customers in stores, sanitisation stations, as well as additional cleaning and security guards.

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Woolworths-owned BWS and Dan Murphy’s are offering thousands of casual jobs.

PANDEMIC JOB CUTS

With increased job cuts caused by the pandemic, the current unemployment rate is 6.8 per cent, which fell slightly from 7.5 per cent in July, according to the ABS. The Reserve Bank of Australia is expecting unemployment to peak at 10 per cent in the December quarter, with jobs figures to slowly fall over 2021.

The JobSeeker stimulus, which has been supporting people out of work due to COVID-19, was cut by $300 on September 25. This effectively dropped support payments to around $815 per fortnight for singles and $760 a fortnight for those with a partner.

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Research from ReachOut shows the number of young people in Australia concerned about work or finding a job has increased from 25 per cent in January 2020 to 37.5 per cent in July 2020.

The survey of 1000 nillennials conducted in July found that 42 per cent of those surveyed indicated that money was one of the top issues on their mind right now.

Ashley de Silva, CEO of ReachOut, said with the national youth unemployment rate now over 14 per cent, it was understandable that some young people were worried about what the economic outlook meant for work and their financial situation after being hit by job losses and cuts to working hours due to the pandemic.

Applicants can apply for roles at Dan Murphy’s online and BWS online or in-store.