Brendan Johnston was on unemployment benefits for a year and a half, applying for hundreds of jobs that he would never get, until finally an opportunity came along to work on farms in Bundaberg.
The 20-year-old is one of a group of young people who have found work in the agriculture industry through word-of-mouth, rather than the job provider assigned to them by Centrelink.
They have labelled the federal system useless in helping them jump off the jobless queues and onto meaningful and productive paths.
"I actually found it through a couple of friends that I grew up with, they asked me if I wanted to give it a go," Mr Johnston said.
"It's been way better than just sitting around not getting anywhere."
24-year-old Michael McKenzie was unemployed for two years and had tried to find work through five different job providers with little success.
He started fruit-picking and then heard he could earn more money pruning citrus and macadamia trees.
"A friend of a friend, that's how I ended up getting the work," he said.
Australia's unemployment rate fell to 4.9 per cent in June, however the youth unemployment rate is more than double that at 10.2 per cent.
Young jobseekers replacing backpackers
Marleen Fuller, owner of Fuller Agriculture Pruning, said for the first time in more than a decade she was employing a mostly local workforce, with many of them aged under 30.
"We've always had to rely on international [workers]. This has been a new experience for us, having all these young kids," Mrs Fuller said.
She said they didn't believe their business could survive 2021 until they hired one local family who brought along their friends.
"We were fortunate that family came along, otherwise we would not have a business," Mrs Fuller said.
"The kids brought other kids, then they knew somebody else. It just snowballed.
"We've spent a lot on training, that was a huge expense to us, but at least it's been able to get us through this year."
Job providers 'not helping'
Mrs Fuller said the federal government should scrap using job providers, because they were failing to connect job seekers with appropriate employers.
"These agencies as far as I'm concerned aren't helping," she said.
"Every one of those kids that we have with us now, there's not one of them that I've heard them say an agency has got them a job."
A spokesperson for the Australian Government Department of Education, Skills and Employment said the government took the performance of employment services providers "very seriously".
Job seekers are encouraged to lodge any complaints through the National Customer Service Line.
Brendan Johnston said it should have been easier to find employment.
"I felt like it was the job agencies messing me around and not being motivated to get me work," he said.
"They try to get you training to upskill in an industry that you like, but after I completed that I still didn't find work."
