“For sale – a willing and able permanent or temporary employee’ – reads the eBay ad. It’s quite unusual for the e-commerce website where merchants are more interested in selling goods. But 38-year-old Deborah Bowen had no other choice but to try and sell herself on eBay, having had no proper employment for over 2 years. She went from a £33,000 per year role in sales, to looking for jobs where she’s willing to do almost ‘anything’ for a living.
In the last couple of years, Bowen has been sending out her resume to hundreds of recruiters and prospective employers. She didn’t even leave out local plumber’s merchants in the hope of receiving some sort of permanent employment. But all she could find was part-time work, sometimes paying as low as £6.6 per hour. Bowen and her partner have been struggling to make mortgage repayments and are facing eviction from their home in Gloucester. With the next payment due in March, she is desperate to try anything and hence decided to try out eBay.
The ad went up on the 17th of February. It goes on to say, “Sales Professional/BDM/W/house will do almost anything for work. Please read on, could you be the right person to give me the right opportunity?” While it does sound like Bowen is really willing to try and do anything to get a job, the ad has not had any response so far. It’s sad to hear her talk about her life. She says she’s been in her house for 11 years and there are bits falling down so she can’t even rent out the extra room. Her sheer desperation is pretty clear with this statement in the ad, “I will do absolutely anything, drive a forklift truck or even clean toilets. I don’t think people understand.” We do hope she gets a job soon and a chance to keep and fix her home as well.
Update: Deborah’s ad is no longer live on eBay. Hopefully she got a proper job offer and removed it herself.
