Have you ever thought you could do a better job than someone else? One man from Ipswich thought so - and he’s written the book on how to get the job you really want, no matter what it is.
After 18 years of amusing friends with attempts to become a Strictly Come Dancing judge, a Formula 1 driver - and even the Pope - 37-year-old Sam Broadley has gathered all his applications into a book and most recently, a show at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
He said: “I am so glad I took the plunge and went to Edinburgh, it was an amazing experience and I got the best crowd for the final show.
“The first two audiences were so quiet I was getting worried about me, the show, the whole idea - then for the next one my opening joke got such a belly laugh it actually threw me off.”
Realising he would have to practise what he preached early on, Mr Broadley prepared for the emotional rollercoaster of the audience’s response.
He said: “I just did the best I could and treated it like a job.
“They were paying customers and I was just being professional.
Mr Broadley’s positive attitude has inspired some of his best applications even as a teenager.
Watching Kevin Keegan struggle as England manager and aged just 19, he sent off his first ambitious enquiry for the hardest job in the country.
“I got a letter back thanking me for my application and telling me they had narrowed it down to three candidates,” he said.
“They never gave me their names or actually said ‘no’, so I don’t think of that as a rejection.”
In the years since then other jobs have become available and applications, but what started as a hobby is now a full-time project.
Mr Broadley already had his book under his belt when he thought to preform at the Fringe, with his old drama teacher coming to his aid with just four weeks to write a show.
A chance encounter 21 years after he left Kesgrave High School, Jo Bowen, or Miss Bowen as she is still known, directed Sam’s show, made his presentation and even did the lighting on his debut performance at the festival
“I absolutely could not have done it without her,” he added.
Need some job application tips? Mr Broadley has more advice on our website, and his book - ‘I’m your Man’ - is out on Amazon now.
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