u/themagpiecreek

So with how crazy the world is right now, I’ve been enjoying going back and watching some old shows because you know the world was a much more genteel and level-headed place generations ago 🤭. One thing led to another and I found myself watching the first episode of Australian 60 Minutes in 1979.

The first story was on butt-legging (🥴 - a nice little wordplay on bootlegging but for cigarettes). The film crew bought $1,500 of cigarette cartons as part of the investigation. At the end of the interview the reporter Ian Leslie states that they donated the $1,500 (1979 $) of cigarette cartons to The Smith Family. Yes, the Smith Family that is a children’s charity.
The second story was on an American device called a Cube which let viewers interact with their tv sets and there were concerns about privacy. One thing led to another and there is Ray Martin with an actual adult film playing on the TV set next to him with nothing obscured.
Story 3 is George Negus investigating grifters grifting vulnerable people out of their money on wellness therapies that involved people screaming and thrashing around the floor. That one felt like 2026 really. A fairly well spoken chap talked about his enjoyment but struggles with exposing himself in public.

And thus began an almost 50 year TV institution.

https://youtu.be/Lzl7LTq4O84?si=-zHDDkcn_fwQ-TAt

I am not actively on the jobsearch cycle but I do keep an eye on jobs that might be an improvement of where I am currently (mid-career, doing quite well, slightly frustrated and bored at times). So recently I found a role that I was genuinely excited about. 1. It required specific finance skills and experience that I have (not rare but not common either). 2. It was linked to my personal interests (nature and wildlife, in which I have trained and have experience). 3. It was highly regarded if someone spoke a language that is not too common here in Australia (I grew up speaking that language).

I thought there can’t be too many candidates that are going to tick all those boxes and more that were desirable. So I filled out the application and submitted it with a big smile. It was like someone had put together my dream job description and I just happened to meet all the criteria.

Then I waited. And waited. And waited. And here I am having heard nothing well after the application deadline lapsed.

I’m realistic about the job market at the moment but I’m thinking dang, if I can’t even score an interview for this role I’d hate to actually be needing to find a job quickly where I only meet say 60-70% of criteria of jobs I’m applying for. I’d love to know who actually made the cut for just a first interview! My hat goes off to all jobsearchers struggling right now. I’ll just slink back to my comfortable but slightly unfulfilling job that I’m very grateful to have right now.

Australia in 1979 was wild…

What are companies actually looking for?