So you've recently graduated, or will do at some point next year, and the world of paid employment awaits you. This sounds like a warm and fuzzy proposition: you can probably picture yourself now, sat at a generic desk, working one of many perfect (as yet nonspecific) graduate recruiters, earning fistfuls of cash. So much money, in fact, that you can afford to splash out on expensive cocktails in flashy city bars (not pubs, though; the sophisticated professional must only ever frequent bars).
Anyway, back to reality. The thing about success is that it takes a fair amount of work and - in another glaringly obvious statement - it's the early stages which often represent the most significant hurdle. Many face the not inconsiderable dilemma of balancing the obligatory unpaid internship with attempting to reduce their small percentage of the national deficit, a student loan. So how best can you drag the above image, of fizz and fun and proper dosh, from your vague, facile subconscious, into the real world?
Well two intrepid graduates have come up with an ingenious solution, aimed at reducing the stress of paying of their student debts, whilst still searching for appealing employment in the challenging and competitive job market.The gentlemen are selling advertising space on their faces to pay off a combined student debt of almost £50,000. Pause and savour that number so as to fully appreciate their combined genius.
Anyone can buy the advertising space, from businesses to individuals or groups, on a day-to-day basis. Former Cambridge students Ed Moyse and Ross Harper then paint the logos on to their faces each day, which are subsequently seen by everyone they pass as they go about their daily business. The graduates, who met on their first day at Selwyn College, Cambridge, started the business on October 1 and said they made £3,500 in the first 10 days.
The boys said they are "armed only with massive student debt and a firm grasp of the principles of viral advertising" as they attempt to survive for a year solely on income generated by transforming themselves into walking advertisements. Mr Harper, 21, from Greenwich, south London, who studied Neuroscience, said: "It's our unconventional way of paying off our student debt. The graduate job market is incredibly hostile, and so we thought we'd try and bypass it altogether. "We've seen so many students unsuccessfully applying for jobs, only to eventually settle in a career that they never really wanted. It's just something a bit different and has taken off quite nicely."
Mr Moyse, 22, from Poole, Dorset, who studied economics, said: "It has exceeded expectations, but we always knew it had value and is novel and crazy."
The two came up with the idea after graduating in the summer as a scheme which would not require much investment. So in honour of their achievement, it seems only right we brainstorm similar potential ideas in the comment section below. Consider it a communal activity, like group therapy, but involving fewer crazies who have a penchant for face paints.
Jordan, GRB Journalist
