From tech to cars: 2 Cheap Cars on the hunt for DSE staff

Dick Smith’s New Zealand staff have been offered potential new jobs from an unlikely source – 2 Cheap Cars.

The car importer and retailer says it has been liaising with the New Zealand liquidators of the failed Dick Smith business and has opened up contact channels for staff who have lost their jobs.

All 62 New Zealand Dick Smith stores have now closed, with around 430 staff across New Zealand affected by the closures.

Eugene Williams, 2 Cheap Cars chief executive, says the closure of Dick Smith coincides with major growth and expansion at the car retailer.

“We are looking for people in a range of roles from branch managers, sales staff and administration support,” Williams says.

“We’ve always been impressed with the staff in Dick Smith’s New Zealand stores and we would love to consider them for jobs.”

Williams says while 2 Cheap Cars is in the ‘happy position’ of growing its business, one of the barriers to doing so is getting the right people on board.

“So we see this as an opportunity for ourselves as much as for the former Dick Smith employees,” Williams says.

The first receivers report for Dick Smith Electronic’s New Zealand operations flagged an estimated net loss of $97.8 million, before costs of realisations. That estimated loss is book value, with the real loss likely to be even higher.