Job seekers have described feelings of fear, frustration and failure as jobless figures soar to record highs.The latest statistics suggested that unemployment had climbed to its highest level in more than a decade, as growth in the workforce outpaced the number of jobs created.Recent graduate Summer Peden said she had applied for almost 200 jobs since November last year.The 22-year-old said she had only had about six interviews.Recent graduate Summer Peden has applied for almost 200 jobs since November last year.Supplied"These are ranging from administration, to healthcare, to teaching, to part-time work. I went out onto the streets handing out an A5 cardstock of my CV to every employer, mall, person I knew," she said.Peden was on a job seeker benefit, but this has been cut as she recently moved to Dunedin to live with her partner, who earned "too much" for her to qualify for assistance.She said her share of the rent was $300 per week."I am quite frightened actually. I don't like to ask for money from people, but I'm currently having to ask my parents to help me, support me financially and that's a bit of a burden to me considering that my dad is about to become a pensioner."At the other end of the spectrum, Justine had been in her role as a practice nurse for 17 years when she felt it was time for a change.The registered nurse had worked for 37 years, but was struggling to find a new job.Justine has worked as a registered nurse for 37 years but is struggling to find a new job.Supplied"I didn't realise it would take this long to try and find another job, and I just thought, 'Is it because I'm nearly 60, am I too experienced?'. As in, I would be expected to be paid more and maybe they'll be hiring a more junior nurse who doesn't expect to be paid as much," she said."You would think they would want an experienced nurse. They don't tell you when they email you back, they don't tell you why you didn't get the job, they just say 'We're so sorry and thank you for your application', so you never know. I'm waiting hopefully for an interview, waiting, waiting. It's really frustrating and it just feels, I feel... like a failure."Yet, Justine said she still felt lucky."Luckily my sons are adults and they're grown up. Luckily my husband has a good job and his pay is quite good, so we're okay," she said."We're okay, but it's quite funny because we went to apply for one of those one percent home loans... and my husband said, 'Oh, no, we can't because you don't have a job'. I was just like, 'Oh, God, I've never not had a job'. It's a horrible feeling, you know, like, 'oh, I can't get a loan because I don't have a job', you kind of feel like a bit of a failure or something."