A university graduate has been praised for taking his job search to the next level, holding up a sign promoting his skills on a busy train as a shortage of vacancies affects thousands of job seekers.
Photos of Bill Chu and his sign went viral after he walked through every carriage of a train from North Strathfield to Wynyard in Sydney last week.
He told Daily Mail Australia he decided to take matters into his own hands when he applied for a job online the “traditional way”.
“I was holding the sign and they were taking pictures of me. They were giving me a thumbs up and a smile. They were really, really helpful,” he said.
“They said I was very brave to stand up and say I needed a job.”
Mr Chu said that just hours after he put up his sign on the train, he received “20 to 30 calls” from people in Sydney, Perth and Queensland.
Although several people have offered to recommend Mr. Chu for a job at their company, he has not yet received a formal offer.
He has skills in Python and SQL programming languages, as well as Tableau and Excel software. He hopes to secure a junior role as a data analyst or data scientist.
Photos of Bill Chu with his sign (pictured) went viral after he walked through every carriage of a Sydney train from North Strathfield to Wynyard last week
Mr. Chu has been looking for his first full-time job for the past five months and has submitted a number of applications online.
The graduate, who holds a master’s degree in information technology from the University of Sydney, said there were “limited job opportunities” in his sector.
But he hopes that by showing initiative he will distinguish himself from the other candidates.
Mr Chu currently works as a mobile field agent at the University of Sydney and does evening stocktaking at a Woolworths supermarket.
“I was working at the university and I realised it wasn’t enough to pay for everything. Everything is expensive in Sydney,” he said.
When he’s not working, Mr. Chu spends his time improving his skills and submitting job applications online.
Cracks are beginning to appear in the labor market, which has long proven surprisingly resilient in an economy struggling with higher interest rates and still-high inflation.
Madeline Dunk, an economist at ANZ, said vacancies followed a similar pattern to other labour market indicators, all of which showed declines after strong starting positions.
The adjustments in the labor market have so far mainly occurred in the number of hours worked. Employers choose to limit the hours as there is less work.
“But now that average hours worked per person have returned to long-term levels, we expect employment growth to moderate from here on out,” she said.
Despite the 2.2 percent drop in job openings in June, the figure was still 17.8 percent above pre-pandemic levels.
However, the average number of vacancies is now far removed from the peak of June 2022: a decrease of 25.8 percent.
The Reserve Bank of Australia expects the labour market to deteriorate as rate hikes slow the economy and bring inflation back within its two to three percent target.