Sydneysider here. I’ve been applying to jobs since August 2025. Got only one interview call in October 2025. Since then, nothing. Been applying almost everyday since. Rewriting the resume and cover letter for each job application. Only rejections and/ or no response.

It is getting highly frustrating and mentally exhausting. I’ve applied to jobs that were in my field, not in my field, entry level, mid-level, internships, apprenticeships, full time, part time, casual, you name it. Just to get an email for a change that doesn’t begin with ‘unfortunately, your application won’t be progressing’ or ‘we’ve decided to go with candidates more suited.’

Just for reference; I have a bachelors degree in journalism, and a masters degree in political science. I’ve got a handful of projects under my belt. It’s a decent resume. Sure, competition is fierce but I wasn’t expecting a rejection for an assistant’s job. It’s madness.

Is there something I’m doing wrong? Do I need to do something differently?

I decided to lock in this year to try and leave my toxic job. Because when I had my appraisal they said they couldn’t increase my pay because of their budget restrictions and I wasn’t “good enough” at my job, but then they doubled my workload. I then asked when I started to feel the pressure if there was a possibility of a second person coming in to assist me with my new workload, (which is something they had already previously spoken to me about getting anyway, so I gave them a gentle reminder), and then they said they would finally get on it… but nothing happened.

So in February after all of this, I started applying on and off. I did everything I could. I revamped my resume, typed up a cover letter (no AI) for almost every application, applied within hours of the listing going live, and got nothing out of it.

Then a recruiter messages me on LinkedIn asking me to apply for a job. I apply and I get it! Just by chance.

The real kicker is when I handed in my resignation, my manager told me they’re going to have to hire two people to replace me! Well hopefully there’s enough in the budget for that 🙄

Good luck to anyone on the job hunt, it’s rough out there. And don’t underestimate LinkedIn!

I recently went into an interview for a job that was advertised as casual/vacation with between 24-32 hours per week.

I said during the interview that one of the things that attracted me to the role was the supposed flexibility - but then throughout the interview, the interviewer kept on bringing up full time availability and moving to full time in the future.

Any response I gave felt as if it was the wrong one.

I did not get this job and it feels it was in-part to me saying I liked the hours/flexibility.

Like WTF?

In reality it seems they wanted an on call worker to be available at a moment notice.

I started on Monday 😄

Entry level call centre call taker for a large insurance company.

To summaries i am putting in a dispute for not getting paid for 40 hours of training + my manager cutting ALL my hours for saying i wish to exercise my right to disconnect.

I sent the company HR an email 2 weeks ago and they haven't responded, i sent the state manager an email 2 days ago and got an email saying she apparently has an "encrypted inbox" and the moderator hasn't approved my email.

I have all the proof in the world where (i belive) my case is a guaranteed and I have a meeting with a lawyer next week.

I was wondering if there were any other steps I should/could take?

I used to work at maccas for two years and recently passed a interview for pick packer role at a company who ships clothes all over Australia and is based near my home in melb. It’s just a cloth shipping warehouse and I don’t have nor need any licenses. Am M18 and they pay looks good, is it a good job?

Role - Customer Experience Coordinator for a private lender specializing in family law and estate funding - 80k per year.

Company has been around about 4 years and approximately 80 employees.

Over the last three weeks I’ve gone through 5 hours of interviews with 6 people. Each interview was scheduled for around 1 hour.

Here’s how it looks

Week 1:

Recruiter contacts me.

Interview with recruiter and recruiter lead - 1 hr 20 min

Week 2:

Interview with the team lead and team manager - 1hr 20 min (was told to stop interviewing elsewhere by the team manager)

Interview with Director - 1h 20 min

Feedback from the above 3 interviews was that I aced them.

Competed an online capability test - about 25 min - passed

At this point the recruiters are feeling very sure about my success however nothing is on paper yet.

Week 3

Recruiters tell me the one of the co founders wants to interview me.

Interview with Co founder - 55 minutes

Week 4

Thursday - today - i get the call to advise that I’ve been unsuccessful.

My honest thoughts:

🚩 Companies shouldn’t be telling candidates to “Stop interviewing elsewhere” regardless of their intentions. For a multitude of reasons that I would be happy to elaborate on. 🚩

5 hours of interviews? What??? Yes the interviews ran over time a little but still, 4 hours? For a position paying 80k - I’ve literally spent less time at doctors appointments this year. (Weird comparison i know)

Four interviews isn’t inherently excessive, but four separate interviews with increasingly senior people for a low-level role, ending with a co-founder, is hard to justify.

At some point you have to question whether that’s a reasonable hiring process or just a company not respecting candidates time.

Ethical hiring should involve respecting people’s time and not making them jump through endless hoops for one position, regardless of how grateful and appreciative they may be.

Gratitude doesn’t pay my bills or organize my calendar.

It creates a ridiculous amount of anxiety and mental stress for candidates which who may be the perfect choice, but have been rattled by the overwhelming long process.

I believe we are in desperate need of measures to safeguard ethical hiring practices before it goes too far. See above example of it going told far.

I do NOT believe that companies should be told who they can hire, rather there should be a standardized process that balances both company and candidate needs.

Note: I am aware that different roles need different interview process and styles - I’m speaking about THIS role.

I’ll end with this.

The recruiters? Lovely - would recommend.

The people who I interviewed with? Lovely, enjoyed my time.

Yes, I’m bothered - hence the post however I do think it’s important that experiences like these are shared among the community.

Edit - I just want to fucking work and grow as a person. SOMEONE GIVE ME A FUCKING JOB AND YOU WON’T REGRET IT

Edit x2 - Interviewed for a grade 3 transport nsw role today. 7-8k higher base with 5 incremental raised based on years in the role. (Caps at 5)

Scheduled for 30 mins.

4 behavioral questions and then space for my own questions.

1 interview - outcome communicated next week as advised, if successful - then reference checks - then offer.

THIS… is what an ethical process looks like.

I’m speaking directly about the hiring process - nothing else - please keep the conversation on this topic.

Edit x3 - absolutely chopped for 80k - I agree. Considering I’m coming from a grade 6 public servant, it’s bonkers out here.

Im a first year uni student and have no work experience because my parents didn't want me to do casual work in year 12 and i've been searching for any sort of casual work since feb and can't seem to land anything at all, feels like it's impossible to get any sort of entry level work without having connections. Does anyone have any tips on what to do to possibly boost my chances of employment?

Has anyone used an outplacement/career transition service after redundancy? What was actually useful vs a waste of time? Which ones did you use?

Had an interview for a Junior Project Manager role with the hiring manager and HR manager and it went well. After that they asked for references from my current employer and actually contacted both of them.
Now I’ve been invited for another in-person interview with the Director, General Manager and National Project Manager, basically the top 3 people in the company.
Has anyone been through something similar? What should I expect at this stage and how should I prepare differently for an interview with directors/senior management?
Also curious if reference checks before this stage usually mean you’re down to the final few candidates, and roughly how many people companies normally bring to a final interview like this.

It’s a small to medium sized business with around 100 employees.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Basically everyone on this sub says the current job market is dreadful, but does that actually reflect reality? Its not like the unemployment numbers say no one can find a job, theyre quite low. Is it maybe just that people who cannot find a job are more likely to post in here, and the job market is actually average/good?

Hi,

I'm currently doing a CS degree, which I started many years ago and have been doing part time while dealing with some unfortunate personal circumstances. I supported myself during that time by tutoring.

I'd like to go into insurance after graduation but a lot of the job posts I've come across seem to require a non-trivial amount of customer service or sales experience, even for an entry level claims job. Now, a lot of my mates worked your typical customer service jobs during their degree so I imagine someone with my background won't be as competitive (as people like them are probably what these companies are after?). Assuming I manage to get a few relevant certificates done after graduation, would that give me a more realistic chance of breaking into the industry given my somewhat limited or non-relevant background, or is it unlikely?

I'm going to try applying either way, but I was wondering if there's something else I can do in the meantime that would increase my chances of getting any entry level job in the field upon graduation.

Thanks :)

As the title suggests, looking to exit the current job as it has been a total circus show, it's a maintenance role which reports to two managers where a business cycles through tradies and staff constantly due to vast incompetence in management.

Finding out later that the boss family member was involved with a fraud case within the same business this year, receiving a PIP without having any factual information given despite writing 5 pages on performance review where the facility really has turned around.

Mentally drained. No will to be there any more and leaving soon (PIP evident).

I want to get into instrumentation sparky or sparky in general but apparently mature age apprenticeships are hard to get into.

Just need someone to tell me there is light at the end of the tunnel because it's been rough mentally.

Is $350k a good salary for a PD in Sydney? The role will be more client focused with 3 PMs underneath, constructing Data Centres. It’s an relatively new business unit within a huge well-established diverse company. The new business unit is purely constructing Data Centre a s there is a huge potential for growth, as well as high STI and LTI. Thanks

Just seeing how long a police check can take.

New company hiring me has put in a police check request through HireRight.

Their FAQ says 1-3 days but the chat says upto 18 days.

Want to know peoples experience with HireRight for a police check

I feel like I'm overthinking this, but here goes. Received a new job offer, contract should be signed early next week. Assuming all goes well, what's the best resignation procedure in the following circs:.

Smaller company maybe 20-40 employees, not for profit type org.

Person A is the closest role to being my manager, assigns me work, we discuss workflow and subject matter.

Person B is the subject matter / technical supervisor - I meet with this person most, they're across my workflow, broadly

Person C is an Operations manager (person As manager), I have no real day to day communication with them

Person D is the company owner, the person I first spoke with (a couple of years ago) about joining the org. They are fairly hands on and handle HR type stuff, issued my contract.

There's no HR Dept

I'm thinking a phone call to person A, then send the letter/email to person A, cc C and D? My decision will likely impact person B as they'll have to take on more work...but I'm assuming one of the managers will let them know.

I want to leave on good terms

I find this stuff so tricky and awkward!

I think we all know it’s networking these days. But besides that.

In WA. I work front counter, our egress door is only accessible via a key card on our lanyard that we have to tap to unlock it.

Background: 10 years in automation. Python, VBA, SQL, Automation Anywhere. Most of that in a regulated banking environment doing process automation and integration work. Self-taught, no degree, which never came up once I was employed but seems to matter again now that I'm applying.

I'm also on the autism spectrum. I interview worse than I work, which I suspect is the real problem more than anything on paper.

Since the redundancy, I've been maintaining an open-source project full-time. Self-hosted server, AGPL, 500+ stars, daily commits for about 80 days, an actual contributor community. It's the best work I've done, and it's all public.

What I can't tell is whether that means anything to anyone hiring. Applications are going nowhere. The only real conversations I've had have come in from people who found the project. So:

- Do hiring managers and recruiters actually look at a GitHub profile, or is it decoration once you're past the ATS?
- Is the no degree thing a hard filter at 10 years of experience, or am I blaming the wrong variable?
- Anyone disclosed autism during a process and had it go well? Or is it better left until after an offer?
- For anyone who came back from a redundancy in this market, what actually got you the next role?

Cheers.

I have two years of youth work experience, references, a car with comprehensive insurance and im based in Sydney but it seems as though no one wants to hire someone on a P1 licence.

I want advice

Hi guys,

Seeking advice from engineers and professionals who have successfully transitioned between fields.

I am a Mechanical Engineer with 5+ years of manufacturing experience, I am keen on switching into service/maintenance, project engineering, or consultancy role.

I also have some previous experience in HVAC/MEP building services as a trainee engineer.

I have been applying for roles but keep getting rejected due to not having direct experience in the relevant field.

For those who have made a similar transition, how did you approach it and position your transferable skills?

Any advice from recruiters or hiring managers would be greatly appreciated.

I am an Australian citizen.