Man with 'Give Me A Job' six foot billboard celebrates four years employment with new job
He was so desperate to find employment that he carried a six feet tall billboard imploring 'Give Me A Job.'
But the ploy was so successful that Steve Lindon got work in a bank and is still employed more than four years later.
The 53 year old, who lives with partner Karen and two of her teenage children in Pendeford Park, said: "I may have looked foolish at the time but it was one of the best moves of my live because it got me recognised.
"I realised that you had to do something to stand out from the crowd and was determined to make the most of my opportunity when it came.
"I'm a quiet sort of bloke and so found it difficult to stand alongside the billboard but needs must and I have a mortgage to contribute to. I wanted to make it clear that I was not going to give up. Failure was not an option."
Mr Lindon landed in trouble after being made redundant from his job as a bonds administrator with Legal & General in Cardiff 19 months before finally landing a position dealing with customer accounts at a leading High Street bank on November 15 2010, three months after moving to Wolverhampton.
He was on a rolling contract with Lloyds Bank and was employed in various departments before the work finished after four years six weeks on New Years Eve. "It was a nervous time. I feared that I would end up back to square one and need to dust down the billboard again - but then the day before Christmas Eve I got another job. It was a huge relief," explained Mr Lindon, who left school at 16 without any qualifications but later graduated as a mature student with a degree in Business Information Systems in 2001.
He added: "It worked for me but I do not want my experience to be used as a stick to beat others who are still trying to find work. Many people would hate to do what I did and that is fine but my advice to them is to find some way to make people notice them. Then they will have a better chance of finding employment."
Mr Lindon started his new job in the finance department of a Birmingham housing company dealing with vulnerable clients today.
