It took Julia Gilchrist 10 years and 200 job applications to finally get work that used her skills and gave her long-term career prospects.

One in seven Australians like Ms Gilchrist has a hearing impairment, which is estimated to cost the economy close to $16 billion this year, according to a new report.

Ms Gilchrist was born profoundly deaf and has a cochlear implant which allowed her to use the telephone from the age of 27.

Despite having an honours degree in communications and politics, a good HSC result and being able to speak well, she spent 10 years looking for a job and has worked in 30 different short-term contract roles.