Advertiser journalist Riley Walter found out how difficult it is to get a job in Adelaide

South Australia is the nation’s unemployment capital, but is it a lack of available jobs that is causing the shortage? Journalist Riley Walter went to find out.

For three months in a row, South Australia has had the nation’s highest unemployment rate, but are the statistics reflective of SA’s job market or a picky workforce?

A quick walk around the city and a few phone calls gave me the answer.

I wanted to find out just how hard it was to walk in off the street and get a job, and if the state’s country-high unemployment rate said more about the state of business or the state of a job seeker’s attitude.

As it turns out, it’s much more the latter.

In two hours of actively jobseeking, I managed to land myself 20 jobs by walking into pubs, bars and cafe telling them my name and experience, and asking for a job.

I told them I was a journalist at The Advertiser writing a story about SA’s job market and asked if they would give me a job.

The results were overwhelmingly “yes”.

News Corp journalist Riley Walter tries his hand at bar work at The Franklin Hotel. He is serving Rob Marner and friend Peter Green, both from Port Vincent. Picture: Tricia Watkinson

I found out I could walk into a bartending job with no experience and a good attitude and make at least $27 an hour right off the bat.

Some places would pay more, and when you add weekend and public holiday loading, it’s not a bad wicket.

For the venues I approached which had recently topped up their bar staff levels, a job washing dishes was just as lucrative, paying around the same as behind the bar.

The base rate of Jobseeker, the working-age unemployment benefit, is around $46 a day.

For a little bit of hard work and a giving up a weekend here or there, I know what I’d prefer.

In my quest for hypothetical employment, more than one venue owner or manager said they were operating with as little as half of their usual staffing levels.

Almost all of them said they would take someone with no experience provided they were willing to learn and work hard, which seems like a given to land any job.

The point is, qualifications and experience don’t mean as much to employers who have a keen, personable applicant standing in front of them showing some initiative.

“We just need the bodies in the bar,” Jodi Pettigrew, who owns the Franklin Hotel with fiance Leigh told me.

“We would love experience but if you’ve got the right attitude an are willing to learn we’ll take you.”

Riley Walter tries his hand at dishwashing at the Union Hotel. Picture: Tricia Watkinson

Admittedly, hospitality isn’t for everyone.

It means hours on your feet, putting a smile on your face when you might not want to, and fronting up for work on the weekend you probably have places you’d rather be.

But it’s a job.

From the perspective of someone who went looking, there is more work available than the statistics would lead you to believe, you just have to take what you can get.

Riley Walter tries his hand at bar work/cleaning at the Franklin Hotel in the city. Picture: Tricia Watkinson

The consensus among the pub, bar and cafe owners I approached for a job, was that the “power has shifted” from employers to employees, who are spoiled for choice.

Some say there’s too much choice available for prospective employees, others say the industry has been too volatile in the past two years to attract anyone who will stay.

The takeaway is this: not everyone is going to walk into their dream job but you will more than likely walk into a job, maybe even 20.

You just have to look.

And getting off the couch and fronting up to a business with a smile and some eagerness will go a long way.