Telstra swamped by thousands of call centre job applications

More than 19,000 people applied for just 1000 temporary Telstra jobs after coronavirus shut its overseas call centres.

A call centre. Telstra’s call centres in the Philippines were shut by COVID-19.

More than 19,000 workers have applied for Telstra's 1000 temporary call centre positions, with the telco swamped by demand as Australians are thrown out of jobs because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Telstra earlier this month said it would recruit an extra 1000 temporary contractors to help manage call centre volumes as part of its response to the growing coronavirus epidemic, after its call centres in the Philippines were forced to shut.

The Australian can reveal that more than 19,000 Australians have applied for the roles, with around 500 successful applicants to start training this week.

Telstra executive for transformation, communications and people Alex Badenoch told The Australian that the demand was far greater than the telco had been expecting.

“We knew there would be demand for the 1000 contact centre roles we advertised, but we didn’t anticipate having more than 19,000 people apply," she said.

"This shows there’s plenty of talent in the market and we look forward to welcoming some of our new team members from this week to help us better serve our customers during this unprecedented time."

Telstra's executive in charge of call centres Claire Johnston said the challenges of social distancing has meant Telstra has shifted its training to remote learning, which it hadn't had to do before.

She said there will be more roles to come out of the pandemic than the initial 1000.

"It's going to grow to multiple thousands," she said. "And we've got thousands coming on in the next four weeks.

"All of our new workforce coming on board will be enabled to work from home as well."

She added that while the company's call centres had been impacted by lock down orders in the Philippines and India, the company's Australian workforce would be well-placed to handle increased customer demand.

Telstra has also set up a virtual helpdesk of subject matter experts to assist new agents during and post-training.

The news comes after Telstra chief Andy Penn said last month Telstra would pause its huge job cuts program, and bring forward $500m in capital expenditure to fast-track its 5G roll out.

"These are very challenging and unprecedented times," Mr Penn told investors on a conference call.

"COVID-19 is having a profound impact on businesses across the country. We are supporting our customers as they shift to working and studying from home, and clearly telecommunications plays a critical role in all aspects of peoples' lives and the economy.

"Never has this been more demonstrated than in the current environment. Big businesses can show leadership and make a contribution to the national response."