IT was the “authentic” moment that stopped Bill Shorten in his tracks at a people’s forum on a tame campaign trail on Friday night.

Chad Atkinson, 27, stood up with a giant placard emblazoned with his phone number and advertising his services as an employee.

The sign read: “Looking for a smart worker? $68k P.A. Macca’s crew trainer, ex-army combat engineer, bachelor of clinical practice.”

Unemployed Chad was the first person to confront the Opposition Leader at the town hall-style meeting in Tasmania, saying: “I’m supposed to be part of this entitled generation.

“When is it my generation’s turn to step up while we’re still young enough?”

media_camera The sign that stopped Bill Shorten in his tracks.

He said he had become so desperate for work that he had stood on a street corner with in Launceston with the sign.

“I didn’t expect such authenticity in the first contribution,” said a surprised Mr Shorten. The Labor leader acknowledged it took guts to speak up for “people who want to have a go”, adding: “There wouldn’t be a person here who wasn’t a bit impressed with how you stood up and expressed your point of view.”

Chad, originally from Newcastle, NSW, said he wanted to help build Australia and give the nation a proud future, but his ambitions had been dashed after a series of casual jobs had dried up.

The 27-year-old said he wanted to appeal to the Opposition Leader because he too had ambition.

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media_camera Opposition leader Bill Shorten at a town-hall meeting as part of the 2016 election campaign in the federal seat of Bass in Launceston on Friday. Picture: AAP/Mick Tsikas

Mr Shorten said he agreed young people got a bad rap for being lazy and always on their smartphones, when in fact they were our students and our servicemen.

He said the Australian dream was to have a first home, not to negatively gear your tenth, and to have an NBN that worked.

Chad told news.com.au afterwards that he thought many Gen Ys would relate to his predicament. He said he had been unemployed for the past three months, with Centrelink “making it impossible for someone like me” by forcing him to “spam” employers with applications.

“When I was at high school, we thought university was a golden ticket, a ticket to the Willy Wonka factory,” he said. “Yes, having a job will get you a job, but not the job.

media_camera Bill Shorten faced the public at a town-hall meeting in Tasmania.

“I’m smart, I worked hard. I’ve been in sporadic work for ten years and I’m over being depressed about it. You realise you have to take action and this is what I’ve done. It’s the only thing I could think of.”

He said he understood he was a privileged as a white, middle-class man, but believed he spoke for all Gen Ys when he said he was desperate to have some responsibility and a voice in the community.

After his parents had made it on their own, he saw it as his “obligation not to squander their hard work” but it was a disheartening experience trying and failing to make a contribution society.

media_camera “Looking for a smart worker? $68k P.A. Macca’s crew trainer, ex-army combat engineer, bachelor of clinical practice.”

“They don’t trust us to build things,” he said. “We haven’t built up the trust of our parents’ generation.”

But he said it seemed it was down to individuals to carve out their place in the world.

“The fundamental psyche of millennials is flawed. At university, there were others in the same situation but they didn’t have the motivation to take it to the next level.

“It’s going to come down to people looking after themselves.”

Chad received plenty of encouragement for his stunt from onlookers, but only one text message about potential work, and plans to make more appearances with his sign.

Whether his stand has been a futile attempt to give his generation a voice in this election, it was that rare find — a truly poignant and meaningful moment on the campaign trail.

Originally published as ‘When is it my generation’s turn?’