Coronavirus: check out the work ethic of this ace student

Melbourne law student Ishana McManus didn’t settle for life on the couch when the YMCA gym she worked out closed down.

When the gym where Ishana McManus used to work closed down, she eschewed a lazy life of leisure and applied straight away for a job at Coles. Picture: Aaron Francis

Melbourne law student Ishana McManus didn’t settle for life on the couch when the YMCA gym she’d been working at for the past two years closed down due to ­coronavirus restrictions a couple of weeks ago.

“We were told by our boss at the gym we could apply at Coles, but I’d worked there before so I texted my old boss, and six days later I was lucky enough to have a job,” the 20-year-old says.

“I definitely want to be out there doing something, making some money. I don’t want to be ­sitting around.

“I wanted to keep working for lots of reasons. I had planned on travelling overseas this year, but it looks like that won’t be happening, so that will probably be more like next year.

“And it also means I get to see people. A lot of my friends have been stood down from their work and they haven’t managed to find something new just yet and are at home, but I get to come to work and see lots of people.”

McManus fits her 15 hours or so per week of casual work around her full-time study in commerce and law at Deakin University.

She is determined to make the most of the coming months in Australia’s “new normal” that has already led to hundreds of thousands of workers being laid off or stood down.

She is likely to go back to her old job at the gym when it reopens, but in the meantime is happy to be counted among the thousands of workers taken on by the big supermarket chains to cater for a spike in demand for essentials.

In the past two weeks, Coles alone has recruited more than 8200 people at its outlets in roles ranging from casuals and part-timers on the checkout, through to management positions. It is still looking for a further 4000 people to cater for the demand, including up to 100 qualified bakers.

Coles has a commercial tie-up with the YMCA, which led to an arrangement for stood-down staff to be given the chance of applying for a job at the supermarket giant.

McManus says her first shifts came just after the height of the hoarding hysteria last month, but she has noticed a different attitude among shoppers than her previous stint at the supermarket.

“I think they are feeling a little bit scared generally, just being out. They are a bit stand-offish at the moment, which you can understand in the current environment.”