Boobs ad creator was 'on the town'

The man who was behind changing a Border Express job advertisement was out with mates when he included the sexist attributes.

A Seek advertisement which was looking for an IT employee for Border Express had been changed by someone with access to the company's password to read "DD cup breasts, slim waist, tight twat" in the list of desirable skills.

Border Express IT manager Jeff Quinn told ZDNet.com.au yesterday that the man responsible had handed himself in to police and the company. He had left Border Express before Christmas to pursue different things, but disgruntlement had not been the reason for his act, as previously believed by the company.

Quinn said today that the man had just been young and on the grog. "It really was a case of a night on the town and it went from there," he said. "You get a couple of young kids..."

The company had asked the young man involved to have an apology put into the Border Mail for his actions, a request to which he acceded.

"At the end of the day, we needed some closure on it," Quinn said. "He owed it to the people he worked with to fess up publicly."

Border Express made a huge effort to be an equal opportunity employer, Quinn said. "It was just shameful that we could have it all tarnished."

Yet there were no hard feelings now, according to Quinn. "The kid is genuinely sorry about it," he said. "He basically came in and fell on his sword for it."

The company had received around a dozen genuine applications for the position, Quinn said. He remarked that it had become very difficult to hire people with real IT skills.

The episode also had a light-hearted side. "There was no shortage of people wanting to be on the interview panel for the original ad," Quinn joked.