The job market might seem a depressing and dismal place right now.

Unemployment is at a record high for all ages, but it seems graduates are among those worst affected. With the danger this will be the generation that hits their thirties with little workplace experience, is it time to be seeking other options?

It is widely recognised when jobs are in short supply, the most talented or driven candidates will rise to the challenge and succeed in testing circumstances.

Last year at the height of the downturn and a reported rise in the number of students entering the jobs market, it was tough for finalists leaving university. After all the debt, many candidates' first experience with paid work was a bi-weekly appointment at the jobcentre. However, a history graduate, David Rowe, bucked the trend and rose to the challenge. Faced, like most graduates, with mounting debts of more than £20,000, he decided he had grown tired of nothing more positive than a rejection letter and took to Fleet Street wearing a sandwich board, pleading to be given a chance. His stunt paid off and he was hired within the space of a few hours. Speaking of this unique way of securing a job, the Kent University graduate said: "It had been a bet with my Dad that I wouldn't have the guts to do it, the first 20 steps were the most conspicuous."

This wasn't the first time a job-seeker had taken this direct approach. You Tube is abound with our more gregarious North American cousins employing the same tactic.

The belief that somehow you should wait it out isn't one that entrepreneurial types subscribe to, so it’s no surprise then that numbers of people travelling or working abroad are increasing. Kristy Duncan who deals with Australian Immigration for Global Visas explains: "We are seeing increasing numbers of young British and Irish graduates taking advantage of such schemes as the Australian working holiday visa. This is more than likely because of the disappointing job market currently being experienced here in the UK."

The Australia working holiday visa is open to those under the age of thirty and allows young people to live and work in Australia for a year, with the opportunity to extend that to two years for those that take jobs in the skill scarce agricultural sector.

Australia is not only seeing an increase in the market of temporary foreign workers, for while the UK and other parts of the world such as the United States experience their economically leanest spell for decades, parts of Australia have reported huge increases in skilled foreign workers moving to Australia.

Perth, which is seeing a boom in the natural resources sector, experienced growth of 13 percent compared to this time last year, with shortages for jobs in planning, accounting and surveying expected to be exacerbated further by 2011.

It seems that there are no excuses for being bone-idle, yet the more enterprising amongst us are seeing the disappointing job market as the perfect opportunity to continue with education. Although this has certain benefits, of which the most appealing must be not working, it does have the drawback of further debt. However, continuing to postgraduate study strengthens a candidate's position amongst a pool of graduates that is 50 per cent larger than it was 20 years ago. For part of the problem seems to be the sheer numbers of people going to University now, for when once it was a novelty to be a university graduate with a 2:1, now it is the norm.

A paper published by The Higher Education Academy highlights this stating: "As the graduate job market becomes increasingly competitive, many graduates of other disciplines may also be feeling the need to have something extra.

"As we continue along this uncertain route, that has echoes of times preceding most graduates' birth dates, the more inventive of the crop will always strive to do well out of a less than ideal situation. Whether it’s working abroad or learning skills that are more likely to attract employers' attentions, the role of the graduate appears to have changed. For where once it was the applicants’ role to make their choice of employer, it is now bestowed on companies to select only those that rise above the saturated quagmire looking for work. Graduates must now show they are unique and can offer a company real benefits during these more economically testing times. As most marketers will tell you: "When the goal posts change position, so must you."

by Niall J Rice