Job-hunting inspiration from ‘the world’s most ambitious job applicant’

NEWS

Prime Minister. Galactic pilot. Strictly head judge. Formula One racing driver. Pope. These are just a few of the many outrageously ambitious job vacancies that Sam Broadley applied to fill over the course of 17 years, from England manager aged 19 to James Bond at 36. He was successful in none of them.

As a character under his real name, Sam’s quest started out as nothing but a laugh by seeing if he could get a rejection letter from the English Football Association (having claimed that – having managed a local under-7s side for three seasons – he was ready for the next step into international football management). He did indeed receive a rejection letter – although Sam claims he was on the three-man shortlist the FA told him they’d drawn up, simply because they hadn’t directly said ‘no’ to him. 

This ‘success’ led to further applications for all manner of jobs in the upper echelons of society … chief of ITV, chief of Marks & Spencer, President of the EU, Archbishop of Canterbury … You can read about them all, and more, in his new book, I’m Your Man: Letters of the World’s Most Ambitious Job Applicant. He even recounts how a letter to then-London Mayor, Boris Johnson, applying to be Chief of the Metropolitan Police, took him (he claims) to the second stage of the application process and a two-way correspondence with the Queen! 

The letters are written with the utmost seriousness, but littered with idiocy, stupendous over-confidence and absurd ideas as to how Sam will overhaul the role and the organisation to take them beyond the stars. To add to the farce, the replies Sam receives are almost always exceptionally sensible – in complete contrast to the applications! 

Having entertained friends and family with his letters down the years, Sam took their advice, collated them and published them in this book, now available on Amazon in print and Kindle editions. He has also recorded an audio version, available from Audible.