Agencies can be useful in job hunt

Miss Shaw, the site manager at the Salvation Army's Launceston branch, acknowledged the bad stigma that job service agencies - or JSAs - attracted.

"Every JSA has a bad stigma because you do have contracts to fill, but we genuinely want to put people on the right path," she said.

She said agencies were able to help young people find employment through a range of avenues, such as resume and cover letter-writing and interview training.

Through partnerships with industries and educational providers, agencies are also able to provide pre-work experience courses, where young people can fully experience a day in the shoes of an employee.

"They get shown the good and especially the bad parts of a job, that way they can decide if it's what they want to do," Miss Shaw said.

Miss Shaw said it did not necessarily have to be a JSA that young people approached for help - it could be a career planner at school or someone within the industry they were interested in.

She also had a few pieces of advice for young job seekers: "Be ready to train yourself up. It doesn't have to mean going back to school, just as long as they're willing to learn. Go and learn from an employer or the old man who lives next door, just be willing to accept it is the most important thing.

"Also, you've got to start somewhere, we all did."