Britain 2012: Masters degree graduate resorts to advertising himself with sandwich board after failing to find full-time work despite sending out 15,000 applications

• Robin Norton wears a sign reading 'hire me please' and walks up and down the M5 slip-road
• The 40-year-old has a Masters degree in history but has been overlooked by a slew of employers

A desperate jobseeker who applied for 15,000 jobs with no success in the past ten years has resorted to advertising himself by wearing a 'hire me' sandwich board.
Robin Norton, from Birmingham, has a Masters degree in history and several NVQs but has been overlooked by an endless slew of employers.
He has now taken drastic action, spending an entire day wearing a sign reading 'hire me please' and walking up and down the M5 slip-road at Bromsgrove junction in Worcestershire.

Extreme move: Robin Norton stood by the motorway wearing a sandwich board for a day in the hope of finding employment

Mr Norton said: 'I have applied for around 25 jobs a week for the past ten years without getting anywhere.
'Sometimes I have applied for as many as 50 in one week. It is never-ending.

 

'I barely even get a response either, even just an email to say they had received my application but have not been accepted.
'I am looking for any full-time work - I’m not picky.'
Mr Norton, who worked for the Royal Mail for seven years, was a self-employed footcare technician until 2002 when his business went under.
Since then he has had odd-jobs including cleaning, gardening and building work, but craves the stability of full-time employment.

Reaching his limits: Mr Norton has a Masters degree in history and several NVQs but has been overlooked by employers

He said: 'Things were bad before but have become worse since the recession. Now I don’t think there is any chance of me getting work.
'It is partly down to the recession but also my age. Companies don’t want to hire anybody in their 40s. All the jobs go to the young up-and-coming jobseekers.
'I’ve got the qualifications but I can’t get the work. As soon as they see how old you are, they don’t want to know.
'It’s against the law to be ageist but in the real world, my world here today, it’s still here and it’s wrong.'

Despite all his efforts, Mr Norton has had no job offers - and only a handful of interviews - and he said hitting rock-bottom convinced him to try a new tactic.
'Wearing the sign is a last-ditch attempt for me to get work, a real last resort. I spent a couple of months working up the guts to go down and do it.
'It was not an easy step but things have become that desperate for me. I feel physically sick having to stoop to this but I have no other choice.'

It can work! Jason Fruen found a job after advertising his skills on a sandwich board beside the M60

Mr Norton has set up an email address - hire-me-pleeaase@hotmail.co.uk (sic) - so potential employers can get in touch.
Latest statistics show unemployment in the UK now stands at 2.63million, falling by 45,000 in the three months to March this year.
Mr Norton is not the first recession-hit jobseeker to try such dramatic measures after struggling to find work.
Earlier this month, unemployed Bennett Olson, from Minnesota, put his face on an electric billboard with the words: 'Hire Me!'
He shelled out $300 for his face to rotate with other adverts for 24 hours.
Last year, frustrated U.S. jobseeker Alisha Madkins, from Boston, walked around the city centre wearing a sandwich board saying 'hire me!' on one side and 'college grad' on the other.
But the strategy did work for one lucky Briton, who managed to impress would-be employers with his spirit and dedication. Father-of-one Jason Fruen gained a job in 2009 by standing for four hours at Junction 9 of the M60 in Manchester wearing a sandwich board.