'Stop sitting at home, look for work': Bunbury man takes job hunt into own hands
If you drove through Bunbury on Wednesday morning, you would have noticed a man sitting on the side of the road with a simple sign propped in front of him.
“Looking for work, give me a go. Thank you,” his sign reads.
Looking for work: Arthur Bennett, 59, has been seen out on the Eelup Rotary Roundabout, near Sandridge Road, with his sign.
Photo: Thomas Munday59-year-old Arthur Bennett worked for almost 12 years in the aged care industry before his body slowly struggled to keep up with the daily toil, and he’s now taken it upon himself to prove he is fit and ready to find another job.
He sets up roadside nearby the Eelup Rotary roundabout about 8am, and told The Bunbury Mail how it had become his last resort to find work.
“I can’t get any work in aged care because it is all online, and I don’t have a computer,” he said.
“I am willing... sweep the roads, wash cars… I’ll do anything for work.
“Anything at all, I am not fussed. At 59, you take anything.”
Mr Bennett moved to Bunbury last year to care for his mother and said he had been looking for work for months.
“I have been door knocking and I have put out around 100 resumes ... and I have had probably two or three answers,” he said.
“I thought another way to get out, apart from door knocking, was to set myself up here on the street, and that’s why I am here.”
Having injured a knee on his last job, Mr Bennett said finding employment had now become difficult.
“I have got a dropped foot, I’ve only got 10 to 12 per cent feeling in it,” he said.
“I wear a brace. It doesn’t stop me doing anything though.”
Mr Bennett believed he would eventually find something but understood he was by no means the only person in WA struggling to find meaningful employment.
“There’s probably a lot of other people in the same boat,” he said.
“Since the mining downturn, there are probably a lot of people looking for work and having the same trouble.
“I thought, ‘stop sitting at home, go out on the road and look for work’. I’d rather get a job than sit at home.”
If you live in the Bunbury area and have possible employment opportunities for Mr Bennett, he can be contacted on 0451 710 400.
- Bunbury Mail