Will Pay For Paycheck

Mark Lennihan/AP

It used to be that roaming the streets wearing a sandwich board stamped "job wanted" was considered a creative way for professionals to look for work.

Now, a Los Angeles man is upping the ante by offering a $3,000 reward to the person who finds him a job in accounting or finance. He's taken out ads on Craigslist touting his experience and offering to pay up "all in one shot as soon as I sign an employment contract."

Jobseeker Cyrus Emadi told Alana Semuels at the Los Angeles Times that he had sent out more than 200 resumes since losing his job as a telecomms company finance director last year, but still hasn't found work. He said he resorted to the ad because "he'd tried everything else." So far, he's heard from a few scamsters and one small business owner with a real job that didn't pan out.

A Texas woman tried a similar tacic, offering $1,000 for a job. It didn't work, Sonja Funakura told the Arlington, Tx., Shorthorn, despite publicity everywhere from local broadcasters to CNN.

Maybe Funakura and Emadi should consider the old human-billboard technique. It worked for Joshua Persky, the investment-banking consultant whose "Experienced MIT Grad For Hire" sign got him a job at accounting firm Weiser LLP. (He has since left.)

The strategy also paid off for Dustin Scholz of Williams Bay, Wisc., who landed a sales position in Milwaukee after braving the winter chill strolling around downtown wearing a "job wanted" sign.

Scholz said he was inspired by David Rowe, a Brit who walked around London wearing a sandwich board. "Prepared to work first month free!" it read. Rowe got hired by JC Decaux, a big outdoor-advertising company.