r/auscorp

The job I took on was misrepresented to me and 2 months in, I'm resentful.

During the interview process, I was very upfront and clear about a particular type of work that I don't like doing and do not want to do. I said bluntly, I want to stay clear from it. It's mentally and emotionally draining for me. Some people love it but having done this for years, it's not for me. ​​​

The hiring manager nodded and validated that this job won't have any of that type of work. After the interview I felt energised and optimistic.

I got a second round interview with someone from the team. I also had to articulate to them about that piece of work I am not interested in doing. ​They specified it's heavy on that space.

I left the​car interview confused and thought maybe the person on the team​would have mixed things up. ​

I got a call from the internal recruiter who, along with the hiring manager, was adamant this job wouldn't contain any of that kind of work. I signed on.

I'm 2 months in and realise they've basically lied to me. Not only am I responsible for this work, I'm also given extra from my manager who can't look after theirs.

I got my 3 days annual leave rejected because they're taking 6 weeks off and need coverage to ensure someone in the team can undertake this task.

I've also found out my customer group is bigger than what they said. The scope of the role is getting bigger and I'm getting lumped with extra work benefice everyone else is busy. ​

Why couldn't they tell me on the outset. It's an employers market right now. Surely when they figured I wasn't a right fit they could go to​​​​​the the next candidate. My manager is indirect and talks around things. The team is so needy.

I just feel so angry and lied to. I'm applying for new jobs but the market is grim. I should be happy to have a job but why couldn't they be upfront so I can make an informed decision ​​

and I’ve just got a job at a bank. I don’t want to fuck this up and it could be a real career. What are the basic do’s and don’ts that one might not pick up on straight away that would be good to know? Obviously wearing clothes to work but what else lmao

I recently shifted sectors and got my first job in a startup. My team was rather large and it was all handled by our manager who lived to work. She was a prime example of a workaholic. She started work at 7am and would still be answering emails at 9pm at night. Although very hard working, she was certainly not a confident woman. My biggest red flag should’ve been on the interview day when it was my turn to ask questions and she bumbled her responses. It was almost like I was interviewing her instead. 

A 9 hour workday and a strict policy of working 3 days in the office was not making my days at this job any better. I was definitely burning out and the type of work I was doing was mundane. No critical thinking, no strategy, a simple task of being a sheep from the start of the day to the end. During my regular 1-on-1s with my manager, I often asked for her feedback. She always ensured me that I was doing a rather good job. Rarely, did she have any feedback for me, however, any that she ever did, I fully took that onboard as well. 

2 months into the job, I had my first performance review done by my manager and our acting HR manager who had hired me. The review was exceptional and they said I was exceeding all expectations. By the time of my second performance review, the original HR manager had returned from her leave. This time they begun saying I was failing my performance review and I was not a good “cultural fit”. I was apparently 2 mins late to work everyday and many more things that suddenly were wrong with me as a person. The review was so brutal and my first such experience that it literally made me cry. The next day, my manager checks in with me, saying that she understands and was thinking of me the entire weekend. She even acknowledged that HR was too cruel (her words). She gave me guidance on coming early and said keep doing what you’re doing. 

A couple weeks go by, she acknowledged that I was still doing a good job and was on track until a Friday morning where I was working from home and I was again called into a meeting. I was terminated immediately. Apparently, I wasn’t a good “cultural-fit” and wasn’t good enough for them. No words from my manager. In this whole scenario, I still thought my manager was the good guy.

Cut to a month later, I got a better, high paying and career progressing job. For my referral, I contacted my manager on her private number. She flat-out declined to give me a referral and said only HR can give you any referrals, apparently it was the company policy. To this day, I haven’t been able to figure out how much more improvement I could have made on that measly support job to meet their expectations.

I’m feeling a bit unsure. There’s restructuring and off shoring left and right.

Thousands of jobs are being cut from single large companies. Hiring freezes in many places.

60% of people that were in my team are gone

I'm pretty early on into my career as an IT professional earning 80k in a medical IT company

Having 2 previous IT jobs before that.

I studied a bachelor's and did a cyber cert.

Personally, I don't know what I want other than just more money to be able to comfortably buy a home with my partner.

To be clear, I'm not in this purely for the money and genuinely enjoy many aspects of working in IT and learning, however, I feel tired with this industry and everyone who talks about it says the amount of lay offs and decrease in junior salary packages has put them off from IT or they are still struggling to find a role.

I definitely find interest in broad concepts such as technology, cybersecurity and mostly enjoy the ability to convey technical concepts to non technical people.

However, to be honest, I don't know what I want. I can't pin point a specific technology I like over the other because I like everything in this space.

I considered even jumping to other industries such as solar sales or just risking it all and starting a online business.

My question is moreso, how did you find out what you wanna do? How did you know your career path?

Seeing time and time again that teams everywhere are under resourced in many industries, why haven't white collar workers unionised?

Edit: for those that say we dont have a union, wouldnt we fall under Professionals Australia?

Hi everyone.

I started off working as a customer rep at a branch then I moved on to my current role as a financial crime analyst ~ one year. It's mostly a call centre role but with a bit more expertise and working on cases. I am getting overwhelmed and stressed with receiving calls lately, I understand the nature of the role but want to gradually phase out of customer servicing at the end.

I am still interested in this space and want to progress further, what kind of roles can I be looking at with less customer service and more focused on the investigating/compliance sides of things within financial crime space. or what kind of roles can I move into?

[AusCorp CW: mentions of AI usage]

I wanted to share my experience job hunting in this economy in Sydney. I got some good tips, perspective, etc, from this sub, so here's my contribution.

Background (keeping it a bit vague to not dox myself):

• ~20 years of experience in BA-ish field
• Worked in management consulting (MBB) and big tech (FAANG and Australian big tech)
• Not a great professional or personal network (moved to Sydney mid-career)
• Laid off mid last year

The numbers:

• 180 applications
• 70% (any) response rate
• 15% (initial) positive response rate (had at least a phone screen)
• 8% interview rate (most screens failed because of salary expectation or just skill mismatch)
• 2 offers
• 1 job

Process:

• I relied almost exclusively on Linkedin job postings. I tried a few other things (Seek, Expert360, Jack & Jill), but Linkedin was the most reliable source
• My approach was to scroll through the recommended jobs and to save anything that looked vaguely interesting
• After that, I ran the saved posts through my favourite LLM to review them against my CV and a few other bits of information – that helped me weed out the ~90% of roles that were actually not good for me (typically because they had some hard requirement that I was missing, or just the wrong seniority)
• For the roles that I decided to apply for, I also used AI to help with the cover letter and any other application questions. I fed it examples of cover letters I wrote and a lot of detail on my experience (well beyond what I put on a CV). The results were pretty decent (I had a couple of interviewers compliment something in my cover letter). I tried to use AI to also do bespoke CVs, but found that it botched the format and always claimed I was the world expert on whatever field I was applying to, so I ended up using a standard version I was happy with
• AI was also really helpful to prepare for interviews: write briefs on the companies and interviewers, offer some questions I could be asked and how to best answer them, that sort of thing. Also quite helpful for mock interviews, especially more technical ones

Words of advice for candidates:

• keep track of everything you have going. It's a numbers game, and it's easy to lose track. write down what you applied for, when, the status, and save the link to the JD
• optimise. Even if you don't want to use AI, at least have the most commonly asked information stored somewhere so it's easy to copy-paste (e.g., employment and education histories, a cover letter template)
• find your network. If you know people in a similar situation, help them out where you can. If you come across a good role for them, send it across. If you know someone in a company they're applying for, make an intro. Go for a coffee, a walk, a chat
• be nice to the people who help you. E.g., if someone refers you to a role: I always dreaded referring people because the recruiting processes of the companies I worked for were shit, and it became awkward. if you don't get the job, just send them a note "hey, that role didn't work out, but I really appreciate your help. let's grab a coffee sometime."
• practice makes perfect. I hadn't interviewed in a while, so the first few interviews were a bit hard. Once you find a couple of good stories, you'll get better at telling them in an engaging way, and also adapt them to whichever "tell me a time" question you get

Words of advice for hiring managers/companies:

• yes, the candidate used AI. AI-assisted applications are the norm now, deal with it. You're probably going to make a decision in under 2 minutes, and this person very likely spent way longer than that applying, and they have to apply to A LOT of jobs. Look at their actual skills. If they match what you're after, give them a chance. don't be petty.
• don't restrict yourself to "I want a candidate who has been doing this exact same job for 10 years with these exact tools in this exact industry" – chances are you're not a rocket scientist. Most industries and tools in the corp world are really not that hard to learn. If someone has the fundamentals, maybe you'll be surprised by how useful a fresh pair of eyes will be compared with the same 3 people rotating through the same 3 roles in the same 3 large companies in the industry
• your application platform sucks! This is not universal, but the most used platforms (especially Workday!) are absolute garbage. So many screens, so much re-entering the same information over and over again. I did not find a single system that did a half-decent job at automatically reading a CV – even in the most plain text format. Also – do you really need my home address, ethnicity, sexual orientation and arrangement of my birth marks?
• don't ghost candidates. It's bad if you don't bother replying to an application (seriously, how hard is it to send out an automatic email?), it's terrible if you don't contact them after a screener or, worse, an on-site interview. They'll remember

Alright, now for the naming names:

• good: Canva (the recruiter gave me detailed feedback on my interviews and where I fell short - 5 stars), Uber (great communication and transparency during the process)
• kind of good: Woolworths, CommBank, Amazon took the time to reject every single one of the many applications I sent their way
• bad: Government (Federal and NSW) – as a strong believer in public service, it's concerning to see the box-ticking pseudo-objective way in which government roles are hired for. Also, do you really need 3 months to reject an application?
• ugly: being rejected after a corporate astrology questionnaire by Stryker was a special moment. Any and every external recruiter I engaged with was useless. Google's application process (it's a form with 4 questions, which are just 2 question repeated) and hiring process (long-drawn, unclear number of rounds, final decision by some ivory tower committee), and portal (am I really still being considered for a role I applied to 5 years ago?) suck balls

And now off to uninstall Linkedin and not open that god-forsaken website for a (hopefully) very very long time.

I feel like a lot of Australian workplaces have shifted from “don’t be a bully” into “avoid any uncomfortable conversation entirely.”

There’s this culture now where people are so worried about sounding rude, harsh, politically incorrect, insensitive, or “not collaborative” that nobody says what they actually think anymore.

Everything becomes:
- indirect,
- over-softened,
- full of corporate language,
- or handled through passive-aggressive processes instead of honest conversations.

And the funny thing is Australians LOVE to think of ourselves as “straight shooters” who “tell it like it is” but honestly I don’t think that’s true in workplaces anymore.

A lot of Australian workplace culture now feels indirect. People won’t tell you directly there’s a problem, but they’ll:
- hint at it,
- complain privately,
- escalate
- avoid the conversation,
- or wrap criticism in 15 layers of corporate language.

You’ll sit in meetings where everyone clearly knows something isn’t working, someone isn’t performing, a process is failing, or a decision is bad but nobody will directly say it. Instead everyone dances around it with vague language like:
- “maybe there’s an opportunity…”
- “perhaps we can revisit…”
- “just circling back…”
- “I wonder if there’s alignment…”

And then later everyone complains privately.

And honestly, I think this avoidance culture is starting to create an accountability problem.

Because if nobody is willing to directly say:
- “this work isn’t good enough,”
- “this person isn’t delivering,”
- “this decision is causing problems,”
- or “you need to improve,”

…then underperformance just drags on.

The burden then shifts onto the competent people to quietly compensate for everything:
- fixing mistakes,
- carrying weak performers,
- rewriting work,
- managing around dysfunction,
- and absorbing stress because nobody wants to have the hard conversation.

So instead of creating kinder workplaces, sometimes it just creates resentment, burnout and passive-aggressive cultures where problems are never actually addressed properly.

We’ve lost something important:
the ability to have mature, direct, uncomfortable conversations without people running off to gossip, holding a grudge, escalating things, or interpreting disagreement as personal attack.

It feels like a lot of workplaces now reward:
- diplomacy over honesty,
- consensus over clarity,
- emotional comfort over truth,
- and speaking in riddles and motherhood statements over real communication.

The best leaders I’ve worked with weren’t cruel people. They were just capable of saying:
“This isn’t working.”
“This needs to improve.”
“I disagree.”
“That approach isn’t right.”
“You’re avoiding the issue.”

Now it sometimes feels like even mild directness gets treated as aggression.

Curious if others feel this shift too, or if I’m just becoming old and cynical.

Anyone else feel like they’re slowly being outsourced in real time?
Started with a “temporary” hiring freeze. Then every person who left got replaced offshore. Now the offshore team is growing fast, filling meetings, learning the systems, while the remaining local staff are somehow carrying even more workload than before.
I work in IT/projects, and lately the vibe is:
train people,

document everything,

absorb more pressure,

smile through endless meetings,

and quietly wonder if you’re helping automate your own exit.

The weird part is I don’t even blame the offshore staff. They’re just doing the opportunity in front of them like anyone would. My frustration is with corporate leadership treating people like interchangeable cost centres while pretending morale and productivity aren’t collapsing.
Work genuinely feels worse now:
more coordination,

more misunderstandings,

more process,

less ownership,

less trust,

and somehow still fewer people who can actually solve the hard problems.

Meanwhile management keeps talking about “global capability strategy” like they discovered fire.
I know this is happening across the industry, but I’m curious:
Has anyone seen this play out well long term?

Did your role survive or evolve?

What skills made people harder to replace?

How are people dealing with the constant anxiety that the knowledge transfer is eventually aimed at you?

Would appreciate real experiences.

This complete potato recruitment software priding themselves on "employer intelligence" is being used by a company I had a job interview with that want to check my references, what Xref does is send an email and make your referees have to create an account and then fill out some 20+ answer questionnaire in detail, leaving it up to you to do all the chasing and contacting if it's not completed as if you're the hiring manager. What intelligent software is this? Yeah right.

Xref have automatically emailed me twice saying my references aren’t responding and they'll keep spamming them with emails until they respond. So intelligent! Wow! Except my most recent reference isn’t a native English speaker and prefers email, and while I've reached out in advance to let them know, I haven't heard back, and who knows if they want OR have the time to do some 300 hour questionnaire just for a previous employee!?

For one of them, I could only provide the company’s recruitment support email since my referee has likely left the company, so the Xref requests are just being sent there and likely won’t get a response.

All my other references were from previous jobs, and their old work emails/phone numbers no longer exist since they’ve either left or the business has quite literally shut down.

I’m not really sure what I’m supposed to do in this situation? I let my hiring manager know some more time will be needed for my referees to respond, but still this is stressful.

Hello everybody,

Context for the following can be found in the link below:

I Need Advice Please - First Job Out Of University : r/auscorp

TL; DR: I am a 21M graduating in a Bachelor of Human Resource Management (Psychology) and a Cert IV in Cybersecurity in June. I am fortunate and privileged enough to be living with family who offered to cover all expenses.

It's been four months since I've made that post and I'd just like to say; I am grateful that I stuck around - I've learnt so much and have gained experience in so many things in the HR space! I recently had a conversation my boss - the CPO for our company and my supervisor - and they've said I've developed so quickly, and my technical and soft skills have improved so much (to the point that they've trusted me with so many executive-facing responsibilities).

Saying that, its EOFY and due to unforeseen political and economic factors (obviously) that has had a direct impact in our business (missing revenue targets for the past few months) this next FY26 budget might be the company's first financial contraction after 4 years of extreme growth. I was pulled aside yesterday by my boss and the supervisor, and they've briefed me with the situation - my role may be facing redundancy as the budget is dictated by the board and they have no influence in it unfortunately. I am grateful that they've extenuated the fact that it MIGHT happen - not a certainty, and that if it does it has nothing to do with ME personally, fit or competency wise, as they've said that I've lit up the office with my presence ever since I started. Especially as a new grad who still struggles with imposter syndrome - this has been very self-confirming. I find it odd though because in my entire time here work has only been slow in the past few weeks. I've also been recently added on LinkedIn by a bunch of my stakeholders oddly enough.

They proposed the opportunity to move horizontally to a customer-facing / operations / finance role that has nothing to do with what I've been learning or I'm passionate in as they've stated that they want me to stay in the business regardless. Saying that, I'm only four months in and only recently been refining the new skills I've obtained. I know the objectively pragmatic best decision would be to take this opportunity but as a 21M who's only ever done that it feels like if I take this - I'd be letting life happening to me instead of coming from me; like I'm not even fighting for what I want - betting on the odds. I know it's irrational in this unforeseen economic situation, and I'm really grateful to have a role, but in a subjectively emotional sense, it feels like a dangerous precedent to set for myself at this point of my life - to give up on what I want before I call it quits. I understand that career pivots are necessary - that's why I've upskilled myself with a Cert IV in Cybersecurity at the same time as my degree and working full time. I FEEL like I've done enough for the moment.

I don't know what I'm looking for with this post - it FEELS like articulating these emotions has grounded me in some way and I believe that seeking perspective from the OTHER (Reddit) confirms my reality. If you were me, a 21M at this stage of my life, what would YOU do?

Hi guys, would love some advice for my current situation. I’ve so far failed to secure any graduate positions for next year in Audit and Assurance which is where I want to work so now I’m a bit lost on where to go from here.
For starters, I graduated from a G08 uni in Melbourne in mid 2025 with a Bachelor of Commerce majoring in Finance. My WAM is a 56 which basically rules out a huge chunk of opportunities. I have two prior experiences in two different Big 4:

1. 1 year as both a vaccie and undergrad in R&D Tax Incentives (did fine in this role)
2. 6 months up until December 2025 as a graduate at another big 4 in A&A (was let go during probation which I attribute to personal issues that began during uni hence why my WAM also tanked; thankfully I’ve mostly managed to fix these issues but they still affected my work as a grad nonetheless)

Given it’s now been almost a year since graduating, my time is running out for being eligible for most grad programs as they put a time limit on who can apply. I’ve been considering going back to study since I want to be CA eligible for A&A grad roles, and I have two ideas in mind:

1. CA Foundations (6 units to reach eligibility)
2. Master of Professional Accounting at a non G08 (my WAM is cooked so I wouldn’t be able to get anything else, and at the very least if I work hard I can have a respectable WAM that would open more doors of eligibility for some grad roles).

Would love some genuine advice from anyone in this sub; maybe I need to rethink my approach or think about exploring other avenues? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Curious if any one is annoyed when people start an email with your first name? Is this a generational thing? Everyone i ask in the office says that it is rude

I.e

John, it is important that we considering...

I'm unemployed and I miss office gossip...

What is the best corporate gossip you've ever heard?

So a little context, I've spent my late 20s & basically all of my 30s working a job I really don't like.

I never wanted to do insurance, I lied in a job interview because i was desperate for anything. I ended up being good at it, and it paid well, so I stuck around and got a couple of promotions.

Now I feel like I'm too old and financially too dependent on this shitty job to change careers

I have a wife, kids, and a mortgage, so I can't just quit and take time off to work out what I want to do.

I can't keep doing this for the next 25-30 years

If a min wage job at bunnings paid the bills, I would have done that years ago

Has anyone been through anything similar, a late career change, a restart at 40, and how did it work out?