{"id":124528,"date":"2025-09-07T02:26:13","date_gmt":"2025-09-07T02:26:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/124528\/"},"modified":"2025-09-07T02:26:13","modified_gmt":"2025-09-07T02:26:13","slug":"im-young-experienced-and-desperate-to-find-work-but-after-countless-interviews-i-still-cant-get-a-job-heres-why-the-great-australian-dream-is-now-just-a-fantasy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/124528\/","title":{"rendered":"I’m young, experienced, and desperate to find work. But after countless interviews I still can’t get a job. Here’s why the great Australian dream is now just a fantasy"},"content":{"rendered":"

A young Aussie is ‘out of ideas’ after spending five months applying for up to 20 jobs a day, as he blames AI<\/a> for blocking candidates from simply getting a foot in the door.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sydney man Jackson Lusis, 31, has gone from working as a paper shredder, to modelling in Los Angeles<\/a> and New York and as a personal driver for celebrities like Kylie Minogue<\/a>, Drake, Macklemore and Post Malone<\/a>.<\/p>\n

His latest positions have been in sales, business development, and partnerships, yet he’s now having trouble getting hired in these fields, despite his experience.<\/p>\n

‘When I was in LA and New York modelling, I was around a lot of celebrities and talent and I looked at all the agents and thought that’s what I wanted to do,’ he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

So, he completed a business degree at the Australian Institute of Music majoring in entertainment management.<\/p>\n

‘I thought that would be my way in to being a manager,’ he explained.\u00a0<\/p>\n

‘Now that I’m in my early 30s, because I have no choice, maybe I have to start my own business because I can’t get a job anywhere, so it might come in handy.’<\/p>\n

After moving back to Sydney this year, he’s been unable to find work despite having his business degree and plenty of worldly experience.<\/p>\n

Mr Lusis said the last five months is the longest he’s ever been unemployed.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Jackson <\/p>\n

Jackson Lusis (pictured) has applied for up to 20 jobs a day for five months but hasn’t been able to land a role – blaming new AI technology and a tight job market in Australia<\/p>\n

‘I usually land a job straight away,’ he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

‘This time around, I moved back to Sydney from Brisbane and although I didn’t have a job lined up I thought I’d just get one in Sydney.\u00a0<\/p>\n

‘I’d never struggled to get a job but now it’s been five months. I’ve been applying for 10 to 20 jobs a day.<\/p>\n

‘On my LinkedIn I was posting about my experience and was looking to get a job in sales and business development but am also passionate about sports and media.’<\/p>\n

Mr Lusis reached out to every sporting company in Sydney and had meetings with the Sydney Swans, GWS Giants, the Wallabies, Roosters, Sharks, Rabbitohs, and netball and cricket teams.<\/p>\n

But his old-school approach proved costly.\u00a0<\/p>\n

‘I would tell them I was really interested in getting my foot in the door and would love to go for a coffee,’ he said.<\/p>\n

‘I spent hundreds of dollars going for coffees only for them to turn around and say ‘yeah we don’t really have any jobs at the moment but maybe in the future’.<\/p>\n

\"Mr <\/p>\n

Mr Lusis (pictured) says AI might be stopping candidates get a foot in the door<\/p>\n

\"Mr <\/p>\n

\u00a0Mr Lusis (pictured) said the last five months is the longest he’s ever been unemployed<\/p>\n

‘I was doing it the old way and giving them my CV. And none of that worked.’<\/p>\n

Mr Lusis has worked in various fields including paper shredding, paper delivery, retail, youth work, artist management, driving, recruitment, sales, business development.<\/p>\n

He’s earned between $50,000 and $130,000 a year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But now, Mr Lusis claims he and many others like him are struggling to land a decent role in what has fast become a brutal job market in Australia.\u00a0<\/p>\n

‘I’ve been told by people who are in account management and finance with degrees, and they too haven’t been able to find a job in six months and I’m like ‘well I’m not the only one’,’ he said.<\/p>\n

‘It says a lot about the market because I thought it was just me. I thought there was something wrong with me, but it turns out there’s a lot of people out there struggling.’<\/p>\n

He now wonders if it’s his experience that is costing him roles.\u00a0<\/p>\n

‘Companies are very hesitant to give people that have jumped around a lot an opportunity,’ he explained.\u00a0<\/p>\n

‘Companies also want a carbon copy of the person who was last in the role.<\/p>\n

‘For example, a guy at one of the biggest sporting clubs in Sydney messaged me saying he’d handed his resignation in and that I should apply for his role.<\/p>\n

\"Mr <\/p>\n

Mr Lusis and friend Kim Ven (both pictured) will soon launch their podcast about loneliness<\/p>\n

‘I know for a fact they’re going to look at me and be like ‘you haven’t had three years in sport’, and I could do that job with my eyes closed.<\/p>\n

‘But I know they want someone with all this experience for a job you don’t need a lot of experience for, and if you don’t have that you don’t get a look in.’<\/p>\n

Australia’s unemployment rate of 4.3 per cent in June was the highest since November 2021, with 33,600 people losing their jobs.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mr Lusis said a large number of companies use AI to scan CVs, and if there aren’t specific keywords in the resume, it automatically rejects a potential employee.<\/p>\n

‘I would apply for a job that I was overqualified for and I’d get an email back 30 minutes later saying I was unsuccessful and I was like, ‘No-one’s had enough time to even look at my CV’,’ he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

‘How can I be rejected that quickly? I’ve run out of ideas. Jobseeker barely covers my rent so I don’t really have much of a life. I just want to work.’<\/p>\n

Mr Lusis has turned to podcasting in recent months and will soon launch ‘With Strangers’<\/a> with co-host and friend Kim Ven.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It comes as a new report from the University of Sydney\u00a0found that more than 40 per cent of Australians aged 15 to 25 are suffering from loneliness.<\/p>\n

With Strangers will focus on how Aussies can ‘feel isolated or alone and feeling like you’re behind in life’.\u00a0<\/p>\n

‘You can have the best friends in the world but still feel lonely in life,’ Mr Lusis said.<\/p>\n

‘So, I told a friend we should start a podcast because there could be a market for this. Maybe this might turn into my own little business.’<\/p>\n