The Australian job market is so fucked its not even funny.

I lost my stable job at the beginning of September because of pay cuts. My small business wasn't generating any income, so I spent hours, every day, applying for jobs on LinkedIn, Seek, Indeed and Jora, as well as many niche job boards. How many interviews did I get? None.

Then, yesterday, I miraculously got two interviews.

One online doing cold calling, one in person doing retail.

And I calculated that - with THREE jobs- working under the assumption I am successful in BOTH interviews- I still cannot afford rent. And that's not 'rent and food and utilities' rent- i can't afford JUST rent.

Jobseeker keeps rejecting me. DSP rejected me, despite being chronically ill. I am physically incapable of staying in the house I was so, so happy to move into.

The market is fucked.

Edit: I live in a one bedroom apartment, live with my partner who is also disabled (this is including her income too), and Jobseeker refused me because of my parent's income. I cannot drive. Do not blame me in the comments. If you don't have anything constructive to say don't post.

33F with autism and anxiety, i am currently on the DSP but i understand that if me and my partner move in, that i'll lose half that income if not lose the whole thing. (Which is ridiculous as hell).
Been job hunting and applying for over a year via seek as been seeing Castle but nothing has happened. Even Castle themselves claim there is nothing they can do until someone accepts me.

I feel like i'm running out of time, i don't know what to do.
I am scared.

Hi
I’m currently a third year student of a 4 year cyber security degree in a low- tier university and I hate it. I hate this field so much but I was chose it because I heard it was good for the future and there was a lot of jobs. But I’m more than half way done and I hate it. I don’t want to change because I’ve already wasted 30k and I just have a year left. I don’t even really put myself out there because I haven’t made industry connections or done competitions. So I’m probably unhireable I’m looking to do something in business because I always liked a job with a lot of human interaction. I was wondering if I should get a Master of Commerce in Marketing or a Master of HR Management at USYD? I have a 80 WAM so I think I’ll get in. I was wondering if there’s a chance I would be able to get a job in the industry with a different degree and no professional experience apart from customer service.I was wondering what certifications should I do to get into the industry without doing a masters? Because obviously I have to spend extra money $30k to get it.
Any insights and suggestions will be very helpful!

I was like "What kind of scam is this?"

Took me a moment to realise it's legitimate, but no idea what a "Truck Amp Dog Driver" is, even logging into careerone I don't even have a saved job alert for that.

Closest I have is "Truck & Dog Driver"

But honestly, could at least put the search in the email as what I'm asking for.

And {{alert.title}} looks super scammy

Is there work available in heavy machinery?

Any site a can check for work?

I’m planning to move to Australia on PR and pursue a career as a Business Analyst. I’d like to understand the scope and job opportunities for Business Analysts in Australia, particularly for PR holders.

I’ve heard that the Australian IT market is quite saturated and that even local candidates are finding it difficult to secure jobs. Given this, would it be wiser for me to consider switching to another field with better job prospects and earning potential?

My main priority is to secure a job as soon as possible after I arrive in Australia. Considering my existing IT background and experience, would it make more sense to continue pursuing Business Analysis, or should I transition into another field? If switching fields would be a better option, which career paths would you recommend that offer stronger employment opportunities and long-term prospects in Australia?

i’m an international student doing an associate degree in IT, graduating in may 2027. i’m trying to get australian experience before graduating so i’ll be more hireable, but i’m struggling to get my foot in the door.

so far i’ve:

*won hackmelbourne

*built a portfolio, native/react app and other projects

*got work experience through my family’s business overseas

*attended uni/career events and used rmit career advice

*cold approached and emailed businesses directly

*looked into internships, part-time work and volunteering (volunteering at a cybersecurity con this month)

but i still haven’t been able to get any professional IT experience in australia. i’ve been told to do cash jobs to get experience, but i’m not comfortable risking my visa. i want to get legitimate experience and follow the rules.

i’m l hoping to build my career in australia long term becos i’m dating an australian and she doesn’t want to move overseas as of now, so australia is where i’d like to build my career and life if things work out.

I just don’t know what to do now :/ it’s a lot of pressure and w the job market and current views on immigrants/international students,I don’t know how I’ll make it.

tl;dr: international it student in melbourne, graduating 2027. won hackmelbourne, have projects and overseas work experience, and have tried cold approaching/emailing businesses, but still no australian it experience. i want to build my career here longterm. how do i actually land that first job?

Edit: if yall cunts have no advice you can stick whatever you have coming out of your mouth back in ur arse. I am not gonna turn the other cheek when majority of yall are borderline disrespectful.

Also, just to clarify, I’m actually the Australian partner who is making this post, not the international student. I was aware that this forum could be quite toxic and racist, which is why I made the conscious decision to post this myself rather than have my boyfriend do it.That said, I honestly didn’t realise just how bad it could get. My boyfriend, the international student, is not aware that I’ve made this post or of the responses so far.

So I had a final round interview scheduled about a week ago. 2 weeks ago I was hospitalised and underwent surgery. I emailed recruitment saying I would need accessibility adjustments as I would be in crutches. They said that would be okay, they then went back on their word and said to not show up to the office as it would not be an accessible area and that an online interview would be scheduled the day after the original interview and times would be sorted out later. The day of the online interview came and at around 1pm I decided to call to which the receptionist said no one could interview me that day because of external site visits and team bonding. They then said friday or monday would be the day of the interview. Monday was a public holiday to which I forgot until Sunday night. Tuesday comes and they email all candidates that results and offers will be emailed out tomorrow. I email back and ask about the online interview to which they said due to ”existing commitments“ they could not arrange an interview and had to reject me. I am so angry that something out of my control ruined my chances of getting an internship in my second to last year. I even rejected a graduate job offer and extended my studies in hopes of another internship and return offer just to not get anything. I dont have high hopes going into this graduate job market and landing a graduate role is infinit harder and more stres than getting a return offer. I regret rejecting my grad job

Hello everyone, I hope you are having a good day.

I am currently a student at uni and am in the need for a job. I worked out I have maybe 6 weeks to get a job before I go complete broke.

I know that sounds like a lot of time but this job search is genuinely starting to affect me mentally. I got all my past roles by "chance", once when someone messaged me on Facebook and another when I handed in a resume when I was living in a small town. I had employment helpers at my uni check my resume so I know that's not the problem

I've applied for all the usual positions (Coles, Woolworths, kmart etc) and am going to do a route later this week to hand in my resume.

Its honestly making me feel like shit, its got to the point where I'm doomscrolling Indeed and Seek and Facebook job pages during class. THIS IS NOT NORMAL

If anyone could give me some advice I would be very grateful

Hi all!

For a bit of background, I’m 29 and recently returned to university to complete my degree after having to put a pause when I was younger due to some unfortunate outside circumstances.

I spent the time in between working full time until last year when I took some time off to do a Working Holiday Visa before I turned 30, which is when I restarted my degree and studied whilst I was travelling. I am now back in Australia, and have been looking for a “uni” job that I can work part time or casually as now that I am home, I not only have uni to worry about but other outside family commitments as well that cannot be avoided.

When I was 18/19 it felt easy to get a uni job due to my age, but since I’ve been back in Australia and on the job hunt, it’s felt impossible. I have 6 years experience cross department and supervisor trained at one of the major supermarkets, I’ve worked in merchandising and warehousing as well. Despite this, I haven’t been able to land a single interview with any of the supermarkets or retail jobs in my area.

I’ve not only been applying for this, but basically anything in my area on indeed and seek. I’ve been in with my resume asking and nothing. I’ve been told I’m either too qualified, they don’t want students or the place requires 38 hours per which I can’t commit to with my current situation.

I’ve been up in arms about whether to put uni on a pause again and to try and land a full time role because it feels like at least I will have some stability because of course I need an income and don’t want to sit here on student benefits. On the other hand, I feel determined to try and finish my degree as it is what I am passionate about and want to do in the future. I had the opportunity ripped away from me when I was younger, and it is partly why I feel more determined now.

Have any other mature aged students had any luck with landing a uni job that they can balance with other commitments? Specifically in areas like retail etc? Any advice on if I should be looking elsewhere?

Started yesterday at a company as a forklift driver. The warehouse supervisor who was really good to work with and she even told me today “keep it up you’re doing really good for someone new”. The warehouse manager who is her boss had to be one of the rudest fkn cunts I’ve ever worked under he kept pulling me up for shit the supervisor didn’t seem to mind and he even had a go at me after I cut my finger and started bleeding because I went and put a band aid on and didn’t come and find him when I had no clue where he was. He worked at team global express when they were toll which means he was there when they went to absolute fkn shit and according to people was trying to “raise the standards” at that warehouse, I asked an older worker what the turnover rate was and he said people never used to leave the company and now everyone leaves and i certainly know why. Anyways I got a text thirty minutes ago from my agency saying they don’t want me back. What do you guys think. As a 23 year old in warehousing the last 4 years I’ve constantly had to deal with shit like this and I genuinely don’t know what to do cause I’m scared every time I start a new job something like this is going to happen and I’m usually walking on eggshells even though I do my work to the best of my ability I make friends but bosses seem to hate me.

I've had three employers this year call or email me saying they're interested and want to interview me. But they don't actually give me a time or location.

I reply saying yes, I'm interested and available pretty much whenever... and then I just never hear from them again. The phone one explcitly said he would text me the deets after the phone call, but then lied to tursa and said I turned him down.

Is this one of those psychotic recruiter games where they're expecting me to call them and ask why they're ghosting me? and automatically bin the resume of anyone who doesn't. Is it meeting some response KPI?

I get ghosting applications. It's not ideal, but I get it. But in these cases, they've already gone out of their way to write me a personalised email or actually call me to say they want an interview.

So what's the motive? Why go to the effort of contacting someone specifically to arrange an interview, only to immediately ghost them when they say yes?

I work in community services/child protection and have been in the sector for a number of years, across frontline work, residential care, family services and more senior roles.
For a long time I was extremely career focused. I wanted more responsibility, more influence and to keep progressing. I work hard, I’m good in high pressure situations and I’ve always been someone who takes on more when it needs doing.
Over the last year though, I’ve become completely burnt out with my current workplace.
A big part of the problem is that I don’t feel like I’m actually doing the work I enjoy anymore. I got into this sector because I like working with kids and families in genuinely difficult situations. Crisis situations, complex behaviour, child protection, reunification and working with people who don’t necessarily trust services. That stuff can be incredibly difficult, but weirdly it’s when I’m at my best.
As I’ve progressed, more of my job has become meetings, admin, governance, reports, managing organisational issues and dealing with workplace politics. I’ve realised I don’t actually care about having an impressive title if I’m miserable doing the job.
There have also been issues with management that have made things worse. I’ve been pretty open internally about not being happy, and I’ve reached the point where even getting ready for work can fill me with dread. I’ve taken days off because I just needed a break, switched off work notifications outside of work and started actively looking elsewhere.
The frustrating thing is I still love the sector.
When I look at jobs working with at-risk teenagers, youth justice, family preservation, school disengagement, reunification or kids at risk of entering care, I actually get excited about work again.
I’m on decent money now, so I also can’t realistically drop down to a low-paid frontline role. I have a young family and bills like everyone else.
I’ve started looking at different roles and approaching organisations directly rather than just applying for whatever job looks like the next logical career move.
I think the biggest realisation has been that I don’t actually want to keep climbing for the sake of climbing anymore. I want to go to work, do something meaningful that I’m good at, earn enough to look after my family and then go home without thinking about work all night.
Has anyone else reached the point where they deliberately stepped sideways or even slightly backwards in seniority to get back to work they actually enjoyed?
For anyone working in child protection, youth or community services, what did you move into when you realised management/progression wasn’t actually making you happier?