/ARTS/WEEKLY/TELEVISION-ARGENTINA: Jobs Available for the Viewing Audience

By Marcela Valente Reprint | | Print |

Marcela Valente

BUENOS AIRES, Jul 2 2002 (IPS) - A new version of the television programmes that give away cash, automobiles, trips or home appliances has emerged in Argentina, awarding the winners with one of the most highly-prized things in this crisis-stricken country: a stable job.

“It changed my life. I have my wife and a little daughter living in the countryside. And now I can rent an apartment and bring them to live with me” in Buenos Aires, Walter Liendo, 25, told IPS. He won work as a bellhop, or valet, at a four-star hotel as a result of appearing on “Human Resources”.

The programme has been broadcast daily for the last four months. The host presents the two candidates for the job and, meanwhile, shows videos of how they live, including testimony from family and friends.

The participants are put through a variety of tests and, in the end, the audience votes for a winner.

A team of experts interviews hundreds of job-seekers and selects some to go on camera, live, to demonstrate their knowledge and their own situations before an audience whose vote is often swayed by the emotional personal stories.

Single women with children have a very hard time finding jobs in a context of high unemployment. But to see a women explain in a quavering voice that she would never deny that she has a daughter in order to improve her chance of getting a job has a strong impact on the public.

And the emotions run even higher when the small screen shows a little girl playing in the woman’s house, drawing, putting on her school uniform or simply smiling shyly at the camera.

The success of “Human Resources” can be explained by the serious labour problems in Argentina. At least 24 percent of the economically active population is unemployed, and a similar percentage is under-employed.

Polling firms report that unemployment tops the list of the concerns of the Argentines they have surveyed.

During the programme, future participants are invited to audition. The job offered and the requirements are outlined, as well where and when candidates should apply, Cecilia Leal, one of the 30 people who work on the “Human Resources” production team, told IPS.

This month, a job as an assistant to tour groups at a theme park was offered to women aged 45 to 60, with or without work experience. There was also work aimed at students of the culinary arts, without age restriction, but requiring experience, to work in a restaurant kitchen.

Gathered in a theatre to fill out the forms are 300 to 400 people per job. In the next step, a five-person panel from the labour consultancy interviews them one-by-one and then chooses the most qualified.

“The people have to be prepared to assume the post and have what we would call a ‘TV-friendly’ persona,” Leal said.

Once the series of interviews is completed, 10 people are selected to meet with the employer, who chooses the two candidates he or she is most interested in for filling the job.

“The work is for six months with all the legal requirements of a stable job and with future possibilities of keeping it,” said Leal. The wages are not very high — around 114 dollars a month — but is currently considered the minimum income.

Liendo’s income as a hotel bellhop, including tips, reaches 190 dollars a month. “The contract is for six months, but they already told me that if continue like this they are going to hire me permanently,” he said after 45 days on the job.

The work offered on “Human Resources” is quite varied: gardeners, hair dressers, receptionists, cashiers, supervisors, bus drivers and even work requiring a university degree, such as a job for civil engineers.

The participants also express other aspirations beyond obtaining a job, and many times those desires are met by the production of the show.

In the end, the viewing audience can take part in a telephone vote to choose the winner. The newly employed signs the job contract during the show, amid hugs from family and celebration.

Since “Human Resources” hit the airwaves, nearly 100 people have won jobs. There have been only 45 shows so far, but several of the hiring companies ultimately opt — as a surprise — to hire both contestants. This turn of events is welcomed by the TV-viewers as they watch, moved, from their homes.