This Wednesday saw the world look on and give jealous congratulations to Ben Southall from Hampshire, as he emerged victorious in securing the much-publicised dream job, of caretaker to Hamilton Island, Queensland. The position has been dubbed throughout the process as ‘the best job in the world’, but in industry terms, the clear success story lies in the PR behind the process that has taken the media by storm.
The promotion prompted over 35,000 applications worldwide for the sole vacancy. The campaign trail for the successful candidate went through various stages and even enlisted the help of the general public, who got to vote in a ‘wild card’ candidate to be considered for the post. Tourism Queensland has successfully given its destination global appeal and has put itself firmly in the media spotlight.
Ongoing publicity from Ben’s blog updates about his time spent on the island will mean that this is by no means the last we’ll hear about Hamilton Island. So while Ben begins his 6 month stint in paradise, the PR gurus have as much to celebrate, with their job well done.
So as well as an amazingly executed publicity stunt; what has the biggest global job search taught us?
Answer: The power of the internet for recruitment. you can’t get away from hearing about this story in the news, blogs, twitter... and this can only be a positive thing for the jobseeker.
The recruitment industry are utilising the tools of the trade to help online jobseekers more and more, even in the current candidate-rich market. New technologies are allowing CV distribution sites to be more sophisticated and adept at matching jobseekers to recruiters offering positions that suit their skills and abilities. CV’s and jobs websites are matched based on a jobseeker’s requirements to enable their CV to fall into the hands of the right people in the industry, so recruiters are seeing real-time candidates, with the right skills.
A huge proportion of job seeking involves networking in your field and the internet has become a goldmine of fast and efficient ways to do this. Sites like Linked In and Twitter have vast online communities of people in all aspects of business, and you are able to interact with these people and find out the best way to find a job in your field and make new connections in the industry.
Forums and blogs are brimming with advice for jobseekers; help for those who have been made redundant, advice for graduates on what to do next... There is a vast wealth of information to give jobseekers the best chance of finding out exactly what they want to do and how to do it.
Unfortunately not every job comes with a beautiful island and its own house to while away the days, but the good news is, the internet provides a great way for you to find the job that’s perfect for you. So keep looking, and use the most powerful job seeking tool to your advantage!
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