In 2011, Féilim Mac An Iomaire from Inverin in Connemara was a 26-year-old unemployed marketing graduate who was home from Australia nine months, but still jobless.

Féilim had sent out over 100 job applications but his efforts had proven fruitless – until he gave it one last blast. He took out a double-sided billboard on the Merrion Road in Dubin (it cost €2,000) which said “Save me from Emigration” followed in smaller print by: “for more information and my CV, contact joblesspaddy@gmail.com”.

The caption was accompanied by an illustration of Féilim dressed in a suit, with his back to us, suitcase by one side and a hurl in his hand, as he stares across an expanse of water. On the other side of the water sits Sydney’s Opera House, Westminster and the Statue of Liberty. The billboard was accompanied by a social media campaign on Facebook and Twitter.

20 interviews and five job offers

The billboard was on Merrion Road for just two weeks but resulted in Féilim receiving 20 job interviews and five job offers. He says he had his pick of jobs and after three weeks he accepted a role as a communications executive with bookmakers Paddy Power.

The billboard was a pretty bold move to say the least, so was this typical of his character, or was it a one-off?

“I’ve always been known for thinking outside the box but no one saw this coming. The genesis of the idea came from a joke. I met up with a friend of mine and he asked me how the job hunt was going and I answered by saying, 'not great, at this stage I might as well put up a billboard!'."

Féilim says the response he received was generally overwhelmingly positive. As well as the interview and job offers he received, Féilim also received hundreds of emails wishing him luck, with people relaying their own stories about getting jobs.

It was amazingly effective. Things were crazy for three to four days but it was pretty exhilarating

“It was amazingly effective. Initially it was a lot of media who got in touch with me. Gavan Reilly who was with thejournal.ie at the time was the first journalist to contact me and within an hour of the article going online Will Goodbody from RTÉ was in touch, and it just took off from there. Things were crazy for three to four days but it was pretty exhilarating.” Féilim reckons he spoke to every single outlet in the country, and he was on the front page of The Sydney Morning Herald.

He says he was initially shy about doing television and radio – the Rick O’Shea Show on 2fm was the first live interview he ever did - but after five or six interviews he was used to it, and he had done 50 interviews by the end of week. “It proved to be great training for what I do now,” he notes.

Féilim will be just one speaker taking to the main stage at the inaugural Agri Careers Fair brought to you by the Irish Farmers Journal and open eir. The event takes place in the RDS on 3 March and if you wish to attend, register here.