unemployed man sells himself on eBay, fails to get any bids

Unemployed British Man Tries to Sell Himself on Ebay

At the turn of the century, the conventional wisdom was that as baby boomers reached retirement age, an employment gap would arise creating millions of jobs for workers. Unfortunately for everyone involved, that did not turn out.

The global recession wiped out savings forcing people to continue working longer and caused millions to lose their jobs. Against that backdrop, 58-year-old Steve Sewell finds himself unable to find employment in this city of 70,000 called Barrow-in-Furness.

Sewell is a former IT worker and bicycle mechanic who is not above doing any type of work.

However, his efforts to find gainful employment have been unsuccessful thus far.

Sewell believes it is a result of age discrimination. He would have many people concur with him across Europe and North America. It’s been said that past age 50, it is very difficult to find employment. Often times, people that age have to start their own business to earn an income.

He said: ‘I’ve had all sorts of jobs throughout my life, ranging from labouring to testing toilet paper. My family said I’m worth more than 99p but desperate times call for desperate measures.

‘They say there’s no age discrimination, but there must be. All the help and support is aimed at younger people, and rightly so, but there should be more to help older people find jobs.

‘The bills are mounting up and it’s getting desperate now.’

Sewell had another thought in mind. Why not sell himself as a broadly skilled worker on EBay.

He listed himself for a starting bid of 99 pence, but no one put in a bid. Undeterred, Cregan has relisted himself. His hope is that the listing will attract a potential employer.

eBay auction number 200941289677, which ended yesterday at 1:20pm, described Mr Sewell as having ‘some wear to moving parts, surface finish worn’.

It states: ‘For those employers out there who missed this bargain, I’m relisting it: ME. I have excellent IT skills (I’m a qualified net tech with ITQ2 [an IT diploma]) and am a time-served mechanic.

‘I have a HND [Higher National Diploma] in electrical and electronic engineering and have excellent interpersonal skills, infinite patience and an indestructible sense of humour.

‘You get all this, including reliability, experience and loyalty, for a reasonable wage for as many hours as needed. Contact me via eBay. Grab this bargain before someone else does!’

The auction failed to get a single bid.

Mr Sewell tells the Daily Mail he hopes the eBay auction will gain enough publicity that an employer will offer him a job.

On The Web:
‘Desperate’ unemployed mechanic and IT worker tries to sell himself on eBay with 99p starting price… but fails to get ANY bids
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2365012/Desperate-unemployed-mechanic-IT-worker-Steve-Sewell-tries-sell-eBay-99p-starting-price.html