His unsuccessful job hunt despite the help of Labor’s employment services division has become the basis of Willie Brundidge’s campaign pledge to ensure job security for locals if he wins in November.
A former businessman who ran the Mozell’s Boys, a lawn care and trash disposal business that he has scaled down early last year, Brundidge said he has been looking for job even before he filed his candidacy two months ago.
He registered with Labor’s employment services division and waited until more than 50 companies scheduled him for an interview.
Brundidge said he went to all these companies and was interviewed.
Then he was told to wait for the result which will be posted on Labor’s Web site.
Several days later, the replies he got were either “not selected,” “offer denied” or “reserved.”
Having ran his own business himself, Brundidge said he was sure he was qualified in the positions he applied for.
He applied for a truck driver at a hardware store; a salesperson for a drinking water company; a passenger attendant for a marine sports firm; a heavy equipment operator at a construction company; a front office manager for a hotel; a store manager at a furniture store; tour counselor for a tour agency; a warehouse worker of an importer; a landscaper at an engineering firm; and other positions.
Brundidge said not one of these companies hired him.
This prompted him to take a closer look at how Labor’s job vacancy announcement system works.
It turned out that the positions he applied for were not vacant, he said.
They were posted for the purpose of meeting a requirement before these companies could renew the contracts of their guest workers.
Brundidge said he appreciates Labor’s effort to mandate employers to consider local applicants, but “it’s not working.”
“They’re really trying to help me find a job but still I run into the same problems with these ‘renewal positions,’ ” he said.
Local hiring, he added, remains on hold.
“They want to make the public think Labor is fixing the problem with the system, but they are not fixing anything,” he said.
Brundidge said the government should only require employers to post job vacancy announcements if there really are vacancies and the companies are really hiring new workers.
