A 26-year-old Galway man who invested €2,000 in an integrated ‘Jobless Paddy’ campaign involving a billboard, Facebook and Twitter, now has a job as a communications executive with bookmaker Paddy Power.
Connemara native Féilim Mac An Iomaire, who wanted to work in social media and marketing, launched the campaign at the end of May, with a billboard on Merrion Road in Dublin. The billboard came down on 12 June.
The billboard depicted Mac An Iomaire looking out to a skyline that is a mix of Toronto, London, Manhattan and Sydney.
“Having tried and failed for months and exhausted all traditional job-hunting avenues, I have decided to have one last throw of the dice to remain in Ireland before I am forced to look elsewhere for work and to develop myself professionally,” he said on Facebook.
“I do not adhere to the almost universal consensus that any young unemployed person must leave the country to have any hope of prospering.”
Mac An Iomaire has now signed a six-month initial contract with Paddy Power and said he couldn’t be happier, RTÉ reported.
The marketing graduate’s novel job search attracted media attention around the world, and he received more than 20 job interviews and five job offers.
In just one day he attracted more than 600 Facebook fans, almost 100 Twitter followers and was invited on various radio shows. His Facebook campaign page now has 6,734 followers.
Mac An Iomaire had been out of work since returning last August from a year in Australia. He had said that if didn’t find job by the end of June he would be forced to emigrate.
He begins his new job on Monday week.
