Best Job in the World Contest Winner
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Still looking for your dream job? Well, don’t give up just yet. It appears anything is possible.
Officials from northeastern Queensland claim that there has been a sharp decline in tourism due to the worldwide economic downturn. In hopes of reviving tourism, they created what they dubbed the “best job in the world” contest.
The Job
Living on and acting as caretaker for an Australian tropical island for six months.
The Job Duties
Socialize with Hamilton Island locals, explore, snorkel, swim, and enjoy the Great Barrier Reef. After all these strenuous activities, the employer must report the experience back to Tourism Queensland by way of a web blog with a photo diary, videos, and interviews.
The Pay
150,000 AU or USD 110,000
The Perks
A three bedroom beach villa with swimming pool and personal golf cart.
Word spread quickly about this dream job after it was plastered all over Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, etc… In fact, officials reported over 110,000,000 AU dollars in added publicity before the winner was even announced.
As you can imagine, there were approximately 34,000 applicants for the “best job in the world.” That number was weeded down to 15 finalists, including Ben Southall, a 34 year old British charity fundraiser and bungee jumper.
All of the finalist spent four days on Hamilton Island undergoing painstaking tasks such as: displaying their blogging, snorkeling, swimming, eating barbeque, and spa survival skills. The final task was an interview with their potential employer, Tourism Queensland.
Ben Southall was announced the winner of the “best job in the world” this week. Bens’ video application featured him riding an ostrich, kissing a giraffe, and running a marathon. I guess this was a far cry from some of the others like- a posing Osama Bin Laden dictating the reasons he should win “the best job in the world.”
Ben will begin the “best job in world” on July 1, 2009. He plans to bring his girlfriend to work with him. So, do not give up on that dream job where you get paid to do nothing but sit around with your girlfriend…..apparently anything is possible!
15 Comments
Very good resources! Thanks for your labor in writing this great piece!
Wondered how many people would apply for this job. Guess we will be seeing Ben and his GF on TV in some commercials. Smart move by Queensland for all the free publicity. Thanks for the info Jo!
great write. How nice of you to make an effort to have this shared to everyone.
I’ll take it!
Unfortunately, they turned down my application for this job. I just wouldn’t agree to kiss a giraffe! Oh well. Back to the grind and bustle of my old job.
Where do I sign up? Did I say that out load? lol
That’s the kind of job I want. I hope he and his girl friend enjoy the heck out of it.
Can you imagine … almost like winning the lotto
That’d be a great job, I’m sure most would take that in a heartbeat,
Thanks for sharing, Great write!!
Excellent article.
Sounds like heaven, when’s the closing date?!
Very interesting…sounds a paid dream vacation package.
Sounds like such an awesome job, being paid to stay in Australia would be the perfect dream for me. Another great article Jo. Keep it up
Congrats Ben,very entertaining and inspiring as well
Awesome article I enjoyed reading it very much.