The Best Jobs in the World
In March 2013, Tourism Australia, along with state and territory tourism organisations and partners including Citibank Dell, IKEA, Monster.com, Sony Music, STA Travel and Virgin Australia, launched the Best Jobs in the World global youth campaign.
The global youth campaign took Tourism Queensland’s highly successful 2009 Best Job in the World campaign and made it bigger by involving multiple partners to promote the whole of Australia.
At the heart of the campaign was a global competition to win one of six extraordinary dream jobs with a state or territory tourism organisation, including Destination New South Wales, Tourism Northern Territory, Tourism Queensland, Tourism Victoria, Tourism Western Australia and the South Australian Tourism Commission.
The campaign targeted travellers aged 18 to 30 years, living in Australia and overseas, with a particular focus on countries eligible for Australian Working Holiday visas.
Tourism Australia rolled out Best Jobs in the World in Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, the UK and the USA, resulting in 620,000 applications from 330,000 individuals in 196 countries, with 46,000 video entries during the six-week campaign.
The most sought-after job was NSW's Chief Funster (20.2 per cent), closely followed by South Australia's Wildlife Caretaker (19.9 per cent), Queensland's Park Ranger (17.5 per cent), Western Australia's Taste Master (14.7 per cent), Northern Territory's Outback Adventurer (14.3 per cent) and Victoria's Lifestyle Photographer (13.4 per cent).
In May 2013, 18 finalists from 12 different countries were selected. The finalists were flown to Australia to spend a week undergoing a series of challenges relevant to their chosen job, with the successful candidates being announced in June 2013.
During the campaign, recruitment website Monster.com created an online jobs board that advertised temporary and casual jobs, aimed at travellers visiting Australia under the Working Holiday Maker program.
In addition, 60 youth travel operators around the world promoted the campaign through their own distribution network with STA Travel reporting a significant increase in enquiries and booking.
The campaign resulted in significant publicity with more than 8,500 news articles worldwide generating over $44 million worth of media coverage.
Furthermore, a Tourism Australia survey of nearly 15,000 people who entered the Best Jobs in the World competition revealed that seven out of 10 participants planned to apply for an Australian working holiday visa, with four out of 10 seriously considering taking a working holiday in Australia.