Jobless graduate’s desperate move after $88k degree

A Melbourne student has trumped all dinner party conversations about how he landed his first job after finishing university.

One university graduate has trumped all dinner party conversations about how he landed his first job.

Kushagra ‘Kush’ Jhurani, who finished his Masters of Architecture at the University of Melbourne last year, literally took to the streets in his desperation to find work.

Despite applying to more than 200 architectural jobs around Melbourne, the 26-year-old heard nothing back for seven months and had to subsist on freelance architectural gigs and stints as a delivery driver.

“To be honest, that was not paying my bills,” Mr Jhurani told news.com.au.

Borne out of a desperation, the jobseeker wore his best suit and stood outside Melbourne’s two busiest train stations with a ‘Hire me’ sign.

He is now four weeks into a new role as a 3D modeller after his now-boss passed him outside Southern Cross train station.

“I was quite lucky,” he said.

“It was all about timing.”

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Kushagra ‘Kush’ Jhurani struggled to get a job.

As an international student, Kush spent $88,000 on his degree.

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He struggled to find work despite seven years of study behind him – five years undergrad in Mumbai and then another two of post-grad at Melbourne — which cost him $88,000.

He applied for so many jobs that he created an excel spread sheet to keep track.

“I didn’t get rejections, I just didn’t get any response … because covid hit (the architecture industry) so hard,” he said.

One employer interviewed him and called up his referees, but then he got radio silence. Three months later, he received an official rejection.

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The graduate was “dressed to impress” at the train stations.

Mr Jhurani realised applying to jobs “traditionally” wasn’t working for him and he thought to himself “this is the time to advertise myself in a different way”.

He created the sign and decided to stand at a busy place to “maximise” the number of people who saw him.

He alternated standing outside Southern Cross and Flinders Street train stations at peak hour, from 8am to 9.15am.

“I used to stand for one and a half hours,” he said, “sometimes in the evenings too.”

An example of Kush’s 3D designs.

After four weeks of doing this in April, an engineer from Metro Trains Melbourne, Scott Poll, noticed Mr Jhurani.

He usually arrived at work around 6am or 7am, but on that fateful day in April he was running late.

“I remember walking past him (Kush) with a big smile,” Mr Poll told news.com.au. “He had a lot more courage than I would have at that age.”

Mr Poll’s office was a five-minute walk away from Southern Cross station.

“By the time I got in the office I’d thought of a role for him,” the engineering manager, 40, recalled.

“My wife last year went through eight months of applying for job after job after job.

“I know what it’s like and what it does to people.

“(I knew) I could help this young kid.”

But after dropping off his backpack and heading back to the station to speak to the architectural graduate, Mr Poll couldn’t find Mr Jhurani anywhere.

“I was feeling a bit defeated,” he said.

He told his co-workers to keep their eyes open and pass on any details if they spotted the zealous job hunter.

He was studying in Melbourne for two years.

A few weeks later, a photo of Mr Jhurani started trending on LinkedIn.

From there, Mr Poll was able to connect with him on the social media platform.

One phone call, one coffee catch-up and one formal interview later, Mr Poll offered the graduate a job in May.

Soon job offers were rolling in, but he chose to work as a draftsperson and 3D modeller at Metro Trains Melbourne.

“When Scott told me what they were kind of doing, it matched with my skillset,” he said.

He freelances for architectural firms in his spare times, usually on the weekends.

“You never know what might turn up,” Mr Jhurani said as words of advice to other jobseekers.

“You just need to keep pushing someone, push yourself to do something.”

As for Mr Poll, he said he’s never hired anyone like that before

“I’ve sort of copped it from colleagues, never really heard of picking someone up off the street,” he laughed.

“You never know what you can find when you open your eyes.”

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