Pubs and hotels are normally inundated with resumes at this time of the year as university students look for casual work over the holidays.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
But this year, there has almost been radio silence.
For the Tamworth Hotel, it's suspected the ease of the JobSeeker payment may be enough for people to not want to pick up work for extra money.
The Courthouse has had the same experience, but said the year had "no normality to it" so it would be hard to pinpoint exactly why casual interest has run dry.
But for the Tudor Hotel, they're pretty settled with the staff they've got, so haven't felt the necessity to find more workers over the holiday period, according to manager Tyson Rennie.
The Tamworth Hotel's Licensee Alex Nicholls said he would normally be flooding in hundreds of resumes handed in.
He's experienced a drought to the extent he has had to beg for workers.
We normally would be flooded with resumes, but I wouldn't have had even 10 from November to December.
- Alex Nicholls, The Tamworth Hotel
"We normally would be flooded with resumes, but I wouldn't have had even 10 from November to December," Mr Nicholls lamented.
"We'd normally get people coming back from uni, but I've had to be quite active in asking people if they are seeking a job. Most staff here have a second job."
While he was able to hire "a couple" of people for fill that gap, but said they were still short. No one could take time off because of that shortage.
The Courthouse owner Fraser Haughton said the cancellation of the Tamworth Country Music Festival had perhaps contributed to the lack of interest.
"People normally come to Tamworth for the holidays and pick up casual work right across the festival, it's a real experience for them," he said.
READ ALSO
"But now that it is not going ahead, I think that's why we haven't seen the interest in work as we normally would."
The Courthouse publican Nathan Schofield said they'd been looking and trying to find workers, but at the moment were "just coasting along".
"It's been hard to find workers at the present time. I think because it's one of the different years, that's had no normality to it, and its been different for every industry, whether they've had to shut down or not," Mr Nicholls said.
"We've had to give the lion's share of work to five people rather than 10 people."
