A sales consultant for Careers Australia allegedly signed up an unemployed woman to an expensive online course despite her saying she could not read or write properly, according to a leaked call obtained by the ABC.

There are concerns the call could be in breach of consumer law and former staff are urgently requesting the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission re-open an investigation into its sales tactics.

The vocational education giant has been plagued by claims it preyed on vulnerable students using high pressure techniques and last year it signed a legal agreement with the ACCC that it would not violate consumer law again.

Do you know more about this story? Email 7.30@abc.net.au

'You might be needing some work'

Recorded phone sales conversations show Careers Australia's hard sell tactics

Yesterday Careers Australia was placed in voluntary administration, with up to 1,100 staff stood down without pay and 15,000 students with an uncertain future.

Now, 7.30 can reveal two sales calls allegedly from inside one of Careers Australia's call centres.

The calls were recorded by Careers Australia as part of its standard procedures and are believed to have taken place in November last year and leaked to the ABC by a concerned former employee.

The first call is with an unemployed woman.

The call begins with the sales consultant talking about how the woman is looking for work.

"We've had an inquiry come through saying you might be needing some help needing some work or wanting to do some study in a particular field or looking for a career? I'd be more than happy to help you out," the sales persons said.

'You might want to look at doing some study'

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The unemployed woman tells the sales consultant she used to work as a cleaner but has had a serious back injury.

The consultant uses this information to spruik an online diploma in Childcare.

"Doing work full time is definitely going to be a bit too overwhelming for you and it's something that I don't think would be very good for your back," the consultant said.

"Yes," the unemployed woman responded.

"Something you might want to look at is doing some study at home while you're recovering and getting a bit better," the consultant suggested.

"Do you reckon that's something you could see yourself doing? Step by step, maybe learning something (and) keeping yourself occupied (and) making some new friends?"

'But I can't spell properly or read properly'

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But the unemployed woman raises a major problem with her completing online study.

"Yes, but I can't spell properly or read properly," she said.

During the call the woman also says she finished high school but at a special school.

The consultant says that this is not a problem.

"Alright. Well, that's not a big necessity, it's not a big problem. Obviously with our courses what we do offer is one-on-one support so you'd have someone to guide you along the way," the sales person said.

"It's not like university, you don't have to write thousands of worded essays, it's nothing like that, it's more interactive and more hands-on."

"Okay," responds the unemployed woman.

"So, it's more visual, there's not as much writing and spelling and things like that as well. How are your reading skills, are they okay?" the consultant asked.

"Not good," the woman answered.

"Not good, okay," the consultant said.

The sales call continues and the woman is signed up for an $18,000 diploma of child care.

'ACCC should investigate'

One of Careers Australia's promotions. ( Supplied )

A former colleague of the sales consultant said when they heard the call they were outraged and have provided it to the ABC to expose the conduct.

This person has asked to remain anonymous and cannot be named for legal reasons.

"I was quite disgusted once I heard the call and that woman stated clearly that she had trouble, real difficulties reading and writing," the former employee told 7.30.

"If they don't pull out before the Census date they've incurred this huge debt, it was just shocking to me that she could be in debt."

The former staff member resigned from Careers Australia due to concerns over high sales targets and what they considered unscrupulous tactics to meet them.

They are calling for another investigation by the ACCC.

"They should be audited, I believe all the calls should be monitored and listened to.

"I absolutely believe that they were using tactics that were dishonest and continued to do that (after the ACCC agreement)."

Pressure to sign up customers quickly

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A second leaked call involves the same sales consultant pitching a course to a woman who recently migrated to Australia from the Middle East.

The consultant claims if the student signs up she will be given help with her resume, which will improve her chances of landing a good job.

"As a student of ours something else we do, it's called our Career Development Program, so obviously coming to a new country you probably don't have a very updated resume for applying for jobs in Australia," the sales person said.

"I don't," said the woman.

"I know it's hard, hey," continued the consultant.

"What we actually do there is, we can rewrite your resume for you and do your cover letter as well, so that will really help you get a better job as well.

"I was born in Australia and I can't really write resumes or cover letters, I'm terrible at it."

"Oh, I feel good now," the woman said.

The consultant then pushed to close the deal.

"Let me do that study application so we can start sending you out the necessary details and just to get the ball kind of rolling if that makes sense," the consultant said.

"I'd prefer honestly not to go really fast because it's still in the back of my mind a little uncertainty about everything," the woman answered.

"What do you feel uncertain about?," questioned the consultant.

"If I'm ready to start studying or not … I just want to have your contact details because at the moment I'm taking my son for vaccination, so I need to end this call very soon …" the woman replied.

But the sales consultant persisted and the woman relented.

"To do the skills indicator I just have to do the quick study application now, it takes me about two minutes," the consultant said.

"Okay, two minutes is fine," the woman said, giving in.

Careers Australia 'needs to be held accountable'

A former employee has called for the ACCC to investigate Careers Australia.

The former employee who leaked the recordings said people were often promised employment outcomes if they signed up for a course.

"I used to hear people saying yes we can get you a job," the former employee said.

"They were told that they get their resume built for them (and) we were trained to tell them that.

"Whatever they sent in it was just put in a formatted resume, there was no work done on it and people would often ring and complain (once they saw it)."

A second staff member who worked in the same office and was fired for not meeting sales targets has also spoken with the ABC.

They have heard the recording of the call to the unemployed woman and verified its authenticity.

"This person had clearly stated they could not read or spell and I thought it was very disrespectful because they had explicitly said that they could not do what was required and it was harassment to just push for the sale," the former staff member said.

"I don't want to get them back for what they've done (to me), they need to be held accountable for taking advantage of disadvantaged people with malicious sales tactics."

Katherine Temple from the Consumer Action Law Centre said she was deeply concerned by the recordings.

"The hard sell tactics we saw in those calls are atrocious, I think that's the only way you can describe how they've sold these courses to these people," she told 7.30.

"Careers Australia have already been in trouble with the ACCC for misrepresenting that their courses would allow people to increase their chances of finding employment, I think it's quite telling that despite that these sorts of representations (appear to have) continued."

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission said in a statement it would look into any new allegations,

"The ACCC would be very concerned over information that might suggest any further conduct that might be misleading or unconscionable," it said.

"The ACCC is interested in receiving reports of ongoing conduct of concern."

The ABC has contacted Careers Australia for a response but was told it was unable to provide one by its communications co-ordinator because they had been stood down by the voluntary administrators PPB Advisory.

PPB Advisory told the ABC it was unable to comment on the allegations.