A plucky graduate fed up of being knocked back for jobs stood on the streets of London for eight hours earlier this week handing out CVs - and he's got some leads.

Nazim Messous, 21, says he applied for "hundreds" of roles after finishing his accounting and finance degree at Queen Mary University of London in July."

But, frustrated at getting no responses, he decided to try a different tactic - and went out to Canary Wharf armed with a poster bearing a QR code linked to his CV.

Nazim, from Walthamstow, northeast London, arrived in the financial district at 11am on Tuesday and stayed until 7pm so he could interact with the rush hour crowd.

He wants to remain coy about who he spoke to for fear of jeopardising any opportunities - but says several people took a keen interest.

Nazim said: "Since last year, which was my final year in university, I have applied to hundreds and hundreds of graduate schemes. "

"I have been applying to roles ever since. The majority of the job posters ghosted me, and I never heard back."

"I decided to go out and be proactive with a sign to see if any opportunities came from having a different approach."

"At first, I won't lie to you, it was intimidating. I was standing with a sign and there were thousands of people walking past me every hour. But after about half an hour I got used to it."

"The reactions were one of three things. People would walk past me and smile to encourage me, people would walk past and give me funny looks, or people actually stopped and spoke to me."

"I had a couple of people come up to me and say that I looked desperate and making fun of me. But the majority were positive. All I can do is try."

Nazim is hoping to secure a role in audits or asset management which he says was always his dream as he loves working with clients and presenting information.

From his bold venture to the streets, he says that he has received lots of messages and good connections but that it is too early to know if a job will come from it.

He added: "I have had a lot of people connect with me who have forwarded me for particular roles. I am waiting to hear back as it has only been a couple of days, but it is looking promising."

Out of his 2025 graduating class, Nazim says that he knows very few people who have managed to secure jobs.

On why this is, the eager applicant says the main issue is a lack of communication and feedback from job posters.

He said: "Most of the people I graduated with are in the exact same situation as I am. I think that is also the case for tens of thousands of people across the whole country."

"Because there is no feedback process it makes it really hard to know where you are going wrong. That part of it is really frustrating. "

"The lack of feedback is something that holds many graduates back from being able to adapt and apply for different roles."

The frustrating job search has also caused many doubts for Nazim on whether it was worth going to university at all.

However, he says that the experience and growth he gained during his course will hopefully be worth it in the end.

He said: "I have had doubts about whether the degree was worth it. But going through the process of having a degree and working through ups and downs does shape someone to become a more confident and stronger person suited to the work environment. "

"I don't regret it in a sense because I don't like to live with regrets but I do question sometimes if it was worth it. "

"You are ultimately told that if you go to university and work hard at the end you have a good chance of getting a job, but that is not the case."

For others who are going through similar struggles, the graduate said he would 100 per cent recommend taking to the streets to make a different impression on recruiters.

He added: "You can only gain from putting yourself out there. It is difficult to do because you have to be quite confident, but at the end of the day if you don't take shots in life you will never know what can come from it"