Young Aussie 'gives up' after nearly 100 job rejections

A young Aussie who applied for nearly 100 jobs with no luck says she is now “giving up” caring. The job market is incredibly competitive right now, leaving many disheartened as they are unable to get a foot in the door.

Zoe Lo told Yahoo Finance she had been searching for a job for the past four months after her full-time contract as a cancer research assistant came to an end. Despite spending countless hours working on applications, she found herself being “ghosted and rejected” from the majority of jobs she applied for.

“I’ve been applying for jobs steadily. At the start, I was very stressed about finding something immediately so I was applying for a lot of jobs everyday,” the 24-year-old said.

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Lo, who graduated with a bachelor of marketing and physiology mid-last year, has been applying for marketing, including brand management, advertising and social media roles, along with corporate graduate programs after deciding she wanted to leave STEM.

“I know it is a process and takes a while, especially now that so many people are applying for jobs as well. But I didn’t expect to be out of a job for so long,” she said.

While Lo is still applying for jobs, albeit at a slower pace, she said that after months of applications and rejections, she had changed her mindset on the process. She is no longer constantly looking at job sites and said she didn’t care as much about the outcome of her applications.

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Lo said she is giving herself “grace” and accepting that the right opportunity will come when it’s the right time. But she also said her change in mindset doesn’t mean she isn’t putting in a lot of effort into her applications and interviews.

“I proved to myself that I am doing the work as I kept sending applications and as those companies took time to get back to me,” she told Yahoo Finance.

“Together that was proof that this will take some time, you’re doing the most that you can and that built up to having a mindset of letting go and being ok with whatever happens.”

The Sydney resident acknowledged she was privileged to live at home and was supported by her family until she finished university so was able to build up her savings.

“Financially, I’m still ok and I’m really grateful for that,” Lo said.

Workers face competitive market

The unemployment rate rose to a two-year high of 4.1 per cent in April. Despite employers adding 38,500 jobs in the month, the number of unemployed people jumped by 30,000.

Competition for jobs is also fierce right now with more employees competing for fewer jobs. SEEK found job ads declined 4.7 per cent last month, while the number of applications per job has been steadily rising, jumping 8.6 per cent.

“Competition for live roles continues to grow, with applications per job ad rising significantly in March, and in almost all industries,” SEEK ANZ managing director Kendra Banks said.

“Hirers are therefore holding a lot of power in the market with many willing candidates for the roles available.”

The unemployment rate isn’t going to get any better either, with budget forecasts expecting the rate to climb to 4.5 per cent by mid-2025.

‘Overwhelming’ response

Lo has been sharing her job hunt online and said many other young Aussies had reached out to her to share they were in the same position.

“I used to be so let down with every rejection that came back, but these days I just stay open minded, archive it and move on,” one person said.

“I feel u sis, I was so stressed looking at LinkedIn and Seek everyday, crying all night and now I’m just like in my whatever era, trying to live life and appreciate the little things,” another said.

Lo said the response had been “overwhelming” and it was nice to know she wasn’t alone in her job hunt experience.

“I’ve only been unemployed for two months and from what I hear a lot of people have gone through it for six months, a year, or even longer,” she said.

Fortuitously, Lo said once she changed her mindset she was actually contacted by someone in her network who offered her a part-time job doing social media work for their company. She is currently working 10 hours a week in the job while still looking for full-time work.

For other job hunters, Lo’s message was to “be where your feet are” and to “not stress too much about the future or let the grief of the future affect your today”.

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