A university graduate has been praised for taking his job hunt to the next level by holding up a sign promoting his skills on a crowded train, as a shortage of vacancies affects thousands of job seekers.
Photos of Bill Chu and his sign went viral after he walked through each carriage of a train from North Strathfield to Wynyard in Sydney last week.
She told the Daily Mail Australia that she decided to take matters into her own hands as she applied for jobs the “traditional way” online.
“As I was holding the sign, people were taking pictures of me and giving me thumbs up and smiles; they were really supportive,” she said.
“They said I was very brave for standing up and saying I needed a job.”
Mr Chu said he received “between 20 and 30 calls” from people in Sydney, Perth and Queensland within hours of unveiling his poster on the train.
While several people have offered to recommend Mr. Chu for a job opportunity at their company, he has yet to receive a formal offer.
He is proficient in Python and SQL programming languages, as well as Tableau and Excel. He hopes to land a position as a data analyst or data scientist.
Photos of Bill Chu with his sign (pictured) went viral after he toured every carriage of a Sydney train from North Strathfield to Wynyard last week.
Mr. Chu has been looking to land his first full-time job for the past five months and has submitted several online applications.
The graduate, who has a master’s degree in Information Technology from the University of Sydney, said there were “limited positions” in his industry.
But he hopes that by showing initiative he can differentiate himself from the other candidates.
Mr Chu currently works as a mobile field officer at the University of Sydney and undertakes stock replenishment shifts at a Woolworths supermarket during the evenings.
“I was working at university and I realised I couldn’t afford to pay for everything. Everything in Sydney is expensive,” she said.
When he’s not working, Mr. Chu said he spends his time improving his skills and submitting online job applications.
Cracks are beginning to appear in the labor market, which has long proven surprisingly resilient to an economy battered by higher interest rates and still-high inflation.
ANZ economist Madeline Dunk said job announcements were following a similar pattern to other labour market indicators, which were pulling back from strong starting positions.
Much of the tightening in the labor market so far has been reflected in the number of hours worked, with employers choosing to cut hours as work dries up.
“But as average hours worked per person are now returning to the long-term trend, we believe the pace of job growth will slow from here,” he said.
Despite a 2.2 percent drop in job advertisements in June, the figure is still 17.8 percent above pre-pandemic levels.
However, average job advertisement numbers are now a long way from their June 2022 peak, down 25.8 percent.
The Reserve Bank of Australia expects the labour market to weaken as its interest rate hikes slow the economy and push inflation back to its target range of two to three per cent.
