Can’t find a job? Just go viral!

My name is Will Bower; I recently created a marketing campaign to get myself a job after sending hundreds of unanswered applications to employers…

I knew I needed to do something different to get into the ruthless advertising industry so constructed a plan to put myself in front of CEOs in the sector.

I often find myself cringing when bragging about my achievements so looked to my favourite TV show, The Office, for inspiration.

Channelling Ricky Gervais’ character David Brent allowed me a free pass to brag about myself comically whilst also getting my skills across to anyone watching. I boasted and bragged in a video filmed in my garden shed imitating my hero and it went viral!

My face was featured in a host of mainstream newspapers including the Metro, Sun, Daily Mail and many of the others as well as industry magazines such as Campaign and The Drum. The video achieved 13,000 views but was re-uploaded and hosted by these giant outlets so total numbers are unknown.

The highlight of the campaign came when a BBC One Show producer called and invited me to appear on the show with The Office and Pirates of The Caribbean star, Mackenzie Crook – I very nearly fainted in Tesco’s car park although the idea never made it to air.

Ricky Gervais even shared the video himself. I had emails coming in from all over the world, people offered support from as far as Australia and I received a variety of job offers in many job sectors. The managing director of VCCP in London offered me an internship at their offices and I spent a month gaining a great insight into the sector and even produced content for the likes of Coors Light and O2.

Ultimately, I gave way to my inner entrepreneur. I had shown the world what I could do on my own and wanted to take a break from a career and start up my own company; Royalty Three was born. I set to work on my project, gaining exposure and making contacts and within a few months came runner up in Young Start Up Talent’s £50,000 competition.

I started producing creative content for a variety of companies locally and have recently been shortlisted for the ‘Young Achiever’ category at The Business Matters Awards. In terms of the future, I’ve just finished a creative Kickstarter campaign for client launching their own recruitment venture which should be made public in the next month and have recently launched a web TV channel in my hometown called Crawley TV.

I often get asked what advice I’d offer to graduates taking their first step into the immensely competitive working world and simply believe they should be creative in their job hunt.

There’s a whole pile of CV’s on that employer’s desk you have to do whatever you can to stand out even a tiny bit more.

Will Bower runs his own business called R3 Agency, a company providing creative branded content for firms to use on social media.