Just upload your resume, NBN told expert looking for a job
Sydney Morning Herald
Friday February 12, 2010
AN experienced telecommunications expert and investment banker says he was fobbed off by NBN Co senior staff when he approached them looking for a job with the broadband network, receiving treatment that was in stark contrast to that given to the former Labor state MP Mike Kaiser.A former JPMorgan banker, Blake Roet, was instead directed to the company's website to upload his resume, a process that was in place "in order to give everyone a fair and equitable opportunity", according to an email from NBN Co's general managing of workforce planning and sourcing, Trevor Hoggan.Mr Kaiser was given the job as head of government relations and external affairs, which was never publicly advertised and for which no other candidate was interviewed, following a suggestion to the chief executive of NBN Co, Mike Quigley, by the Communications Minister, Stephen Conroy."The whole thing stinks," Mr Roet, 44, told the Herald yesterday of the employment process at the government-owned company.Mr Roet spent 11 years working in investment banking and then a further six years as the finance director of Australian fibre-optic carrier Digital River Networks.In November he wrote to Mr Quigley seeking a meeting to discuss job and consulting opportunities in finance with NBN Co, but his request was referred to Mr Hoggan."We are in the early stages of building the team that will deliver this significant investment in Australia's infrastructure and, as you can imagine, we are receiving lots of similar approaches," Mr Hoggan wrote back in an email.At a Senate estimates hearing on Monday, Mr Quigley said 40 per cent of staff joined the company following a referral from existing staff, and the process for hiring Mr Kaiser was "not dissimilar" to the approach used for others."One of their arguments is that they needed to hire people quickly to get it off the ground," Mr Roet said. "Well, when you've got to get a business off the ground quickly, you hire the most experienced people."Earlier in the week the NBN Co head of human resources, Kevin Brown, rejected claims of corrupted hiring processes, saying the company employs "on merit, not mates".Mr Roet said nearly three months after lodging his resume - after enduring technical difficulties - he had no further contact from NBN Co.
© 2010 Sydney Morning Herald