A YOUNG Aborigine was ''shocked'' and ''humiliated'' to hear she might not look ''indigenous'' enough for a job promoting the Aboriginal employment initiative GenerationOne, founded by the mining entrepreneur Andrew Forrest.

Tarran Betterridge, 24, a Canberra university student, applied for the post through an ACT company, Epic Promotions, which had been asked to find five people of ''indigenous heritage'' to staff a stall at Westfield in Canberra handing out flyers for GenerationOne.

Ms Betterridge was interviewed for 20 minutes on October 20 and told she was ''perfect''.

However, the interviewer, Emanuela D'Annibale, said she first had to check with her client, an agency called Let's Launch, because of guidelines specifiying it wanted ''indigenous-looking'' people for the job. Ms D'Annibale then took Ms Betterridge's photo, but denies forwarding it.