Do YOU think this is acceptable? Dole recipient applies for 15 jobs in THREE minutes to make a point about Centrelink’s rules
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As the pandemic raised Australia’s unemployment rate above 7 percent (from September to October 2020), thousands of Australians rushed to the government’s aid in an effort to keep themselves afloat. But one man wanted to make a point about Centrelink’s flawed rules.
A dole recipient documented how he applied for 15 jobs in just three minutes to abide by Centrelink’s rules, which require him to make several applications every month.
The music producer who is also known as ‘Mumfighter’ took to TikTok on Wednesday to show how he ‘speedruns’ government requirements for the JobSeeker payment.
Mumfighter initially challenged himself to apply for 15 job opportunities in eight minutes but claimed in the clip that he was actually able to do it in only three minutes and 22 seconds.
Mumfighter fulfilled his requirements in three minutes. Image Credit: @mumfighter
Based on JobSeeker's mutual obligation requirements, anyone who receives the government payment, which starts at $642.70 every two weeks, must make an effort to land a job for 15 to 29 hours per week by applying for a set number of positions every month.
However, Mumfighter managed to do these requirements in one day… Well, much less as he was able to brief through it in just a few minutes.
“Centrelink job application speed run, 15 jobs and I'm going for a time of about eight minutes.” he started off the video. “Let's go!”
Viewers are then shown the recipient’s computer screen with multiple tabs open on his internet browser. He then proceeds by rapidly switching between the tabs and hitting the 'apply' button on several event and marketing manager positions.
The clip also showed Mumfighter filling out his official Centrelink Jobactive page with the relevant information on the jobs he had just applied for.
He disclosed that he documented the process for fun as he enjoys “pretending to do things faster than the average human” but claimed that he usually takes the task much more seriously.
“Just in case anyone twists this – this is a JOKE. I apply for work properly and apply for more than 15 jobs most months.” he explained.
“In reality, applying for jobs normally takes me anywhere from 1-3 hours depending on if I need to rewrite my resume slightly and how much I'm being hindered by my ADHD,”
Although Mumfighter seemed to have applied for a total of 15 jobs in the video, he later on revealed that he actually only applied for one during that time.
Moreover, he derided Centrelink's mutual obligation requirements as 'arbitrary', arguing that fellow recipients would have a higher success rate at getting a job if the requirements were kept at a minimum instead.
He documented the process and posted it on TikTok. Image Credit: @mumfighter
“If I had to do only five then the quality could be better – employers definitely get spammed with too many applications for nearly every role so this would be good for both parties involved.”
Mumfighter shared that he was left unemployed as a result of the Covid pandemic and has had only two interviews since hopping on JobSeeker.
He even applied for the NIES, which is a government small business program for people interested in self-employment, two months ago but to no avail.
“I've been trying to get accepted into the government (NIES) small business program but it's been two months since I started that,” he added. “Some of the employment places that do that don't reply to my emails anymore for some reason.”
Mumfighter’s stunt sparked a heated debate online – as several supported the act and even shared their own tricks to work around the system.
“You’re doing it the slow way. Just copy and paste the applied list into a word document and submit it,” one viewer suggested.
“It’s quicker to screenshot your activity on Jobseeker, and then add file, with like 5 jobs all at once.” added another.
“You all actually apply?” teased a third.
But others didn’t find it amusing at all and thought his antics were simply unacceptable.
“How about you ACTUALLY apply and get a job!” hissed one user.
“If only you put that much effort into actually getting a job…” commented another.
One TikTok user who appeared to be affiliated with Centrelink left a comment on his post, saying: “You'll be hearing from us. Thankfully, some staff enjoy Tiktok, especially the auditing team. This is NOT acceptable,”
Data gathered from March revealed that more than 900,000 Australians were currently receiving JobSeeker payments. The country's current unemployment rate is at its lowest in 13 years.
Do you think Mumfighter’s stunt was tasteless or do you support it? Share your thoughts with us in the comments!
Trigger warning: You may watch Mumfighter’s full TikTok video below but do keep in mind that the video contains strong language, so if you’re uncomfortable with that, we highly recommend you to leave it on mute or ignore the video completely.
Video Credit: @mumfighter
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