Now this is what i call looking for a job!

caseyann · 30-05-2011 10:25pm #1

Man using billboard to avoid emigration!

Unemployed for almost a year and on the brink of emigrating, a Galway man has employed an innovative strategy to find a job!

The NUI Galway graduate returned from a year working in Australia last August and since then has applied for more than 100 jobs, but without success.
He says he does not want to leave Ireland again and would prefer to stay here to develop his career, but he says that if he does not get a job by the end of June, he will be forced to emigrate.
http://www.rte.ie/news/2011/0530/joblesspaddy.html

I dont know if this is right place to put the thread,if wrong place please move to right one thanks

It is a shame and see how they are being forced out.If this doesnt open eyes nothing will to go this far to find a job after all his turn downs.Disgraceful :mad:
Wish him and all others the best getting jobs so they can stay home.

KarlDrake · 30-05-2011 10:41pm

Now that's investing in yourself. Fair play to him. Top top idea.
Invading new media today big time by using old media.

Beau · 30-05-2011 11:59pm

Best of luck but I think 2k was a massive waste of money on this.

Chnandler Bong · 31-05-2011 12:02am

He cant be that badly off if he can afford to spend €2,000 on an add for himself!

KarlDrake · 31-05-2011 12:10am

for 2k of savings this dude is on the news, social media, 1,869 members on fb, 225 followers on twitter. If I was hiring a marketing type...
he'll be sound and fair play

HellFireClub · 31-05-2011 1:28am

No this is what I call being stupid and being an attention seeker. With 2K in his arse pocket, did it not occur to him to start up his own small business and create a job for himself instead of putting up a billboard that probably cost him at least that amount of money???

Nobody owes him a job, if he can't get a job here, then he has only 2 options:

(1) Emmigrate again and get a job somewhere else, OR...

(2) Create a job here for himself...

Trying to ride the wave of national opinion and emotionally blackmail the media and people who hire, as he has done here I think is absolutely counterproductive and just plain stupid.

I say this as a person who was recently unemployed for 2 years and had to create a job for myself with a lot less f*cking seed capital than this guy has paid for his billboard advertisement with him grinning out at everyone as if someone owes him a job.

There are no f*cking jobs here, so maybe try getting with the script, either create your own job or go abroad to work but understand one thing that you don't seem to have copped about Ireland since you have come back here: it's every person for themselves now, you are on your own, don't expect anyone to hand you a job because there are no jobs and nobody is going to give you any good will or sympathy because you might just have to emmigrate.

This guy has really really p*ssed me off I have to say, when I recently started up my own business, I'd have taken the f*cking hand off someone for 2K start up capital and here is this guy getting a 12' x 8' billboard made up of himself saying, "please give me a job"... There are people out there without 2 cents to rub together, and they could possibly be a lot better qualified for a particular position than this guy! Should this guy be given preference for a job because he just happened to have 2K available to him to run a publicity campaign for himself??? I don't think so...

Eoin · 31-05-2011 12:25pm

There are jobs - just not in all industries.

Nobody owes him a job - but he has shown that he might just have an ability in sales & marketing, which is the area he is interested in. He has gotten a massive amount of publicity through what's a pretty innovative idea, for a relatively small amount of cash.

If a company hired him, then they'd probably be mentioned in a follow up story in the media as well.

rte.ie news wrote:

Interested in social marketing, Mr Mac An Iomaire, who is qualified and has experience in sales and marketing, launched a Facebook and Twitter campaign in tandem with his billboard advert.

Bruthal · 31-05-2011 12:39pm

HellFireClub wrote: »

This guy has really really p*ssed me off I have to say,

You must be easily pissed off so.

and they could possibly be a lot better qualified for a particular position than this guy! Should this guy be given preference for a job because he just happened to have 2K available to him to run a publicity campaign for himself??? I don't think so...

Not always the best qualified person for a job gets it. Someone can be great at interviews, and not great at the job, and someone can be not so great at interviews and outstanding at the job. Plenty of people also work very hard and get nowhere in their careers, and others get lucky and do very well, thats life.

No one owes a job to any person applying for a job, but some people get jobs from their applications, or ideas. This is just another idea someone decided to try.

I agree plenty of people dont have a cent to try anything, and here is someone that can spend 2k on this, but its his money, why should his method of spending it upset you so much? There is a remote posibility he could get lucky with it.

HellFireClub · 31-05-2011 12:40pm

Eoin wrote: »

There are jobs - just not in all industries.

Nobody owes him a job - but he has shown that he might just have an ability in sales & marketing, which is the area he is interested in. He has gotten a massive amount of publicity through what's a pretty innovative idea, for a relatively small amount of cash.

If a company hired him, then they'd probably be mentioned in a follow up story in the media as well.

His attitude to me, is indicitative of all that is wrong with this country. He is demonstrating a mindset that is everywhere in this country, which is that people have misplaced notions of entitlement in their heads in relation to all sorts of things, in this case a misplaced notion of entitlement to a job.

If he cannot find employment, then he should take ownership of the problem and create one for himself or else look abroad for a job. This stupid grinning down a TV camera claiming to be some sort of innovative revolutionary with a finger on the national pulse, it's Brendan Kilkenny style publicity.

Anyone can go out there and generate publicity for themselves, what matters when you are looking for a job are core competiencies, job availability in relation to your core competiencies and other considerations such as your willingness to be flexible, etc. Putting up a billboard of yourself looking pathethic, basically threatening to emigrate unless someone will give you a job is pathethic in my eyes and is an insult to others who actually do have to emmigrate to get on with their lives...

krissovo · 31-05-2011 1:33pm

Fair play to him, he wants to be in marketing and he is marketing himself all be it at a cost of €2k. He will get a job out of this, the initiative alone is what many marketing departments need right now.

Dexterm99 · 31-05-2011 1:41pm

Maybe he should have spent the 2 grand on a suit and career advice.

Creamy Goodness · 31-05-2011 1:53pm

Dexterm99 wrote: »

Maybe he should have spent the 2 grand on a suit and career advice.

yes because a suit determines whether or not he can do a job?

KarlDrake · 31-05-2011 3:23pm

HellFireClub wrote: »

His attitude to me, is indicitative of all that is wrong with this country. He is demonstrating a mindset that is everywhere in this country, which is that people have misplaced notions of entitlement in their heads in relation to all sorts of things, in this case a misplaced notion of entitlement to a job.

If he cannot find employment, then he should take ownership of the problem and create one for himself or else look abroad for a job. This stupid grinning down a TV camera claiming to be some sort of innovative revolutionary with a finger on the national pulse, it's Brendan Kilkenny style publicity.

Anyone can go out there and generate publicity for themselves, what matters when you are looking for a job are core competiencies, job availability in relation to your core competiencies and other considerations such as your willingness to be flexible, etc. Putting up a billboard of yourself looking pathethic, basically threatening to emigrate unless someone will give you a job is pathethic in my eyes and is an insult to others who actually do have to emmigrate to get on with their lives...

This is nuts! He's marketing himself. He doesn't want to work for himself by the looks of it, so he's trying something new. Nothing wrong with not wanting to work for oneself, eh?
He's invested in his future by being innovative.
I have no clue why you're offended by this.

Here's the deal. He cannot find work (in Ireland, where he wants to work) so he's taking ownership of the problem.

Because of this strategy he may not have to emigrate, precisely because he's taken ownership. Maybe you're a wind up merchant but I really don't get why you're so excited about it.

Bruthal · 31-05-2011 3:25pm

KarlDrake wrote: »

This is nuts! He's marketing himself. He doesn't want to work for himself by the looks of it, so he's trying something new. Nothing wrong with not wanting to work for oneself, eh?
He's invested in his future by being innovative.
I have no clue why you're offended by this.

Here's the deal. He cannot find work (in Ireland, where he wants to work) so he's taking ownership of the problem.

Because of this strategy he may not have to emigrate, precisely because he's taken ownership. Maybe you're a wind up merchant but I really don't get why you're so excited about it.

Nuts is what i thought about that post as well. Bizarre in fact.

Dexterm99 · 31-05-2011 3:27pm

Creamy Goodness wrote: »

yes because a suit determines whether or not he can do a job?

Yes as being presentable to potential employers will help him get that job

HellFireClub · 31-05-2011 3:43pm

robbie7730 wrote: »

Nuts is what i thought about that post as well. Bizarre in fact.

Nothing nuts about my position at all. We all would like a job, how come this guy suddenly has offers abound now coming out of the word work when he pimps himself in the media, do you not stop to wonder what is wrong when all of a sudden after turning himself into a little mini celebrity on the news last night, all of a sudden now he is employable when he wasn't previously??? What is nuts about seeing a wrong in that, that we need to address in this country if we want to sort out our massive unemployment problem here??? I was in the same situation until very recently, why should I have to put myself on the 9 O' Clock news in order for someone to take me seriously??? It's ridiculous...

Obviously in Ireland your core competencies are secondary to whatever optics you can bring to a job, that's the way it looks to me...

KarlDrake · 31-05-2011 3:49pm

HellFireClub wrote: »

Nothing nuts about my position at all. We all would like a job, how come this guy suddenly has offers abound now coming out of the word work when he pimps himself in the media, do you not stop to wonder what is wrong when all of a sudden after turning himself into a little mini celebrity on the news last night, all of a sudden now he is employable when he wasn't previously??? What is nuts about seeing a wrong in that, that we need to address in this country if we want to sort out our massive unemployment problem here??? I was in the same situation until very recently, why should I have to put myself on the 9 O' Clock news in order for someone to take me seriously??? It's ridiculous...

Maybe not nuts but certainly begrudgery. No, it's both.

Bloke sitting at home not sending CVs expecting the phone to ring, is that what you want? Because there is no difference between that scenario and what would appear to make you happy.

He's put his CV on a billboard and gotten in front of other potential employees for a small number of jobs.
I put it to you that he had the cojones to get himself on the nine o'clock news and will probably have a bunch of offers soon.
Because he's marketed himself and demonstrated that he understands how branding and media work.

Why not be pleased for him.

krissovo · 31-05-2011 3:50pm

HellFireClub wrote: »

Nothing nuts about my position at all. We all would like a job, how come this guy suddenly has offers abound now coming out of the word work when he pimps himself in the media, do you not stop to wonder what is wrong when all of a sudden after turning himself into a little mini celebrity on the news last night, all of a sudden now he is employable when he wasn't previously??? What is nuts about seeing a wrong in that, that we need to address in this country if we want to sort out our massive unemployment problem here??? I was in the same situation until very recently, why should I have to put myself on the 9 O' Clock news in order for someone to take me seriously??? It's ridiculous...

Obviously in Ireland your core competencies are secondary to whatever optics you can bring to a job, that's the way it looks to me...

Chill out dude!

freeze4real · 31-05-2011 3:53pm

What the fûçk is wrong with you guys ?

Is it your money that's he's spending ?

If you want a job is this harsh climate you must be able to sell yourself ( I don't mean as a sex slave or whatever image that your filthy minds think of . Lol).

In an interview tell who's interviewing you the benefit of them employing you.

Make them feel as if they've got a bargain.

This guy has showed innovation and creativity and I'm telling you be would jab a job before th end of next month.

autonomy · 31-05-2011 3:54pm

wonder what degree he did in galway

mickoneill30 · 31-05-2011 3:55pm

HellFireClub wrote: »

We all would like a job, how come this guy suddenly has offers abound now coming out of the word work when he pimps himself in the media, do you not stop to wonder what is wrong when all of a sudden after turning himself into a little mini celebrity on the news last night, all of a sudden now he is employable when he wasn't previously???

Who said he wasn't employable previously? He may have been competing against lots of people for few jobs. That doesn't mean he's unemployable. If 10 people apply for the same job and are all similarly qualified anything can give you an edge. This guy had the idea of creating a billboard. If that gets him a job offer then fair play to him.

HellFireClub · 31-05-2011 4:01pm

krissovo wrote: »

Chill out dude!

I think you need to chill out dude! Are you saying that we should all go out now and take out a bill board advertisement for ourselves in order to get a job??? You obviously can't see the very serious issue behind the optics of what he has done.

And to the other poster who thinks I'm a begrudger, what is going on here that I have to begrudge??? I decided to be a part of the solution and start up a business, when those companies that I was applying to for a job were not even sending me an acknowledgement, I'm now competing with them and taking business off them, I've nothing to begrudge this guy for. I just think it's an absolutely pathetic course of action to undertake, it smacks of style over substance and it really does sound as I've said before as if he thinks he is entitled to a job. He isn't...

saintsaltynuts · 31-05-2011 4:06pm

Tenner bets he'l have a job by the end of the week.

HellFireClub · 31-05-2011 4:09pm

Very good Karl. SO we should all go out and put ourselves up on a Bill Board now to have any hope of getting a job, is that what you are saying???

iMax · 31-05-2011 4:09pm

He applied for "more than 100 jobs" between August 2010 & last week ?

I was laid off from my job in October 2010. By 15th December I'd applied for 217 positions & thought I was being too selective & widened my applications base. By end of January I'd clocked up 410 (allowing for a two week period over xmas/ny/snow).

Gave up at that point when I'd had four replies, two interviews & was told by FAS I'd had a pretty good strike rate.

Trying to do something for myself now.

krissovo · 31-05-2011 4:13pm

HellFireClub wrote: »

I think you need to chill out dude! Are you saying that we should all go out now and take out a bill board advertisement for ourselves in order to get a job??? You obviously can't see the very serious issue behind the optics of what he has done.

And to the other poster who thinks I'm a begrudger, what is going on here that I have to begrudge??? I decided to be a part of the solution and start up a business, when those companies that I was applying to for a job were not even sending me an acknowledgement, I'm now competing with them and taking business off them, I've nothing to begrudge this guy for. I just think it's an absolutely pathetic course of action to undertake, it smacks of style over substance and it really does sound as I've said before as if he thinks he is entitled to a job. He isn't...

Fair play to you for showing some initiative, this guy has just done it differently. There is no issue with his actions let alone a serious one, he has just tackled a difficult task in a creative way to get himself noticed.

As for pathetic, do I need to mention negativity?

mickoneill30 · 31-05-2011 4:14pm

HellFireClub wrote: »

Very good Karl. SO we should all go out and put ourselves up on a Bill Board now to have any hope of getting a job, is that what you are saying???

Calm down HellFireClub. The guy showed some initiative. It doesn't mean that everybody should go out and get billboards.

Any company that hires him just because of a billboard has idiots for HR. I'd say he'd be more likely to get an interview though. Isn't that the point of it? If you're hiring for a marketing job I'd say you'd want the guys with the original ideas. That was an original idea. It's not anymore. Anybody that copied it would just be laughed at.

For €2000 he got on the RTE news, Boards, loads of papers. That IS good marketing.

mickoneill30 · 31-05-2011 4:16pm

iMax wrote: »

He applied for "more than 100 jobs" between August 2010 & last week ?

Yeah I thought that was a bit suss when I saw that on the news. You'd want to have a better rate than that if you were really looking for a job.

HellFireClub · 31-05-2011 4:21pm

krissovo wrote: »

Fair play to you for showing some initiative, this guy has just done it differently. There is no issue with his actions let alone a serious one, he has just tackled a difficult task in a creative way to get himself noticed.

As for pathetic, do I need to mention negativity?

I'm not negative, I just think we need to have a discussion in this country about how we connect unemployed people with job opportunities, my experience and the experience of people I know is that you are up against huge unfairness and often at times, belligerence and downright stupidity when trying to find work. The same people are branded as wasters when they are on the dole, yet when they try to find work they are given the absolute runaround on a national scale.

I've had a particular insight to it that ended in self employment and as it now happens, I'm going to have the last laugh. I cannot for the life of me understand how a guy with 2K in his arse pocket can spend that kind of money on self publicity when he is unemployed. I can understand the bit where if we were living in ordinary times, yes, ideally there would be a job there for him, but we are not living in normal ordinary times. To me, there is something almost deficient about someone who does what this guy has done, if you have no job and you cannot get a job, and you have cash as this guy clearly has, why not try working for yourself??? We seem to have been conditioned in the Celtic Tiger years to being able to stamp our foot on the ground and get a job. This billboard act to my mind is an extension or overhang of that Celtic Tiger mentality...

sombaht · 31-05-2011 4:24pm

HellFireClub wrote: »

Are you saying that we should all go out now and take out a bill board advertisement for ourselves in order to get a job???

Why not? Would it be so detrimental to the country as a whole if that were to happen?

HellFireClub wrote: »

companies that I was applying to for a job were not even sending me an acknowledgement

Yeah you and thousands others like you.

HellFireClub wrote: »

I'm now competing with them and taking business off them,

Well done you, and long may your success continue. You took on a particular approach to a problem. This guy has his own take on tackling a similar problem. Its neither better nor worse than your approach, its just his. Its different, and so far it seems to be far more effective than sending out 200 C'Vs could ever have been.
The guy is probably looking for something in sales marketing sector (as he has previous exp there) and he certainly has demonstrated that be can "market" himself. I don't think at any point in the article does he mention he feels he is entitled to a job.

Cheers,
sombaht

Eoin · 31-05-2011 4:25pm

But unless I read it wrong, he wants to work in marketing where this stunt could be considered something of a portfolio for him - it's pretty much a direct link to what he might be doing in a job. Look at the attention he got by doing it - and as I said earlier, I bet that any company who hired him would get a plug in any follow up stories.

I can understand people thinking it's cheesy/tacky or whatever, but not the level of anger.

Now this is what i call looking for a job!

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