American Finalists Announced For Australia's Best Jobs In The World

SYDNEY, April 23, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- The U.S. leads the world in Australia's Best Jobs in the World competition with the most shortlisted candidates, boasting 33 finalists. Across the globe, 150 people from 35 countries have been chosen to continue on through phase two with successful candidates submitting video entries from as far afield as Afghanistan, China, Kazakhstan, Korea, Latvia and Mexico.

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In addition to the 33 candidates representing the U.S., the UK brings 23 to compete, followed by Australia with 17, France with 17, Canada with 8 and Italy with 5.

Entries have proved extremely diverse and creative both globally and from the United States. The U.S. entries have featured a Taste Master donning a beekeeper outfit and proving why she is a culinary adventurist, a lawyer from California whose dream is to be the Lifestyle Photographer with a passion for taking scenic pictures and one Chief Funster delivering his entire application in rap. Entries from  Wildlife caretakers include animal-lovers and those that swim with dolphins while we uncovered the environmental educationalists as Park Rangers and skillfully trained nature survivors for the Outback Adventurer position.

Jane Whitehead, Tourism Australia's Regional General Manager, Americas said the response from Americans to the global competition had been huge, and it was very exciting to see 33 progress to the final stages.

"Americans have shown great interest in this campaign and every job available, leading in both expressions of interest as well as having the most candidates for four of the six jobs. The Best Jobs in the World campaign has highlighted how creative Americans can be and how they can't wait to experience our great nature, wildlife, city, lifestyle and events through one of these Best Jobs in the World," Whitehead said.

The best 25 video clips for each of the six jobs were selected from more than 45,000 videos that were submitted; with the 150 short-listed candidates now having two weeks to submit references to support their application.

Tourism Australia Managing Director Andrew McEvoy said it had been an extremely difficult task, sifting through tens of thousands of videos to select the best 150.

"It's already proving one of the hardest jobs in the world judging our 'Best Jobs in the World' competition. The quality of the entries has been amazing, with so many of the candidates doing a really great job of presenting themselves on video. But, just like most other jobs recruitment processes, we want more evidence so we know we're getting the best candidate for each job," he said.

All 150 short-listed videos can be viewed at www.australia.com/bestjobs or www.facebook.com/AustralianWorkingHoliday.

Based on their original video submission and supporting references, judges will select the 18 strongest candidates (three for each of the six jobs), who will be invited to a final assessment in Australia in mid-June, with the six successful job candidates announced on 21 June 2013.

Tourism Australia's 'Best Jobs in the World' competition is part of a major international marketing push to promote tourism opportunities provided by Australia's Working Holiday Maker (WHM) program.

The six 'best jobs' are: Wildlife Caretaker (South Australia), Chief Funster (New South Wales), Park Ranger (Queensland), Taste Master (Western Australia), Outback Adventurer (Northern Territory) and Lifestyle Photographer (Melbourne, Victoria).

SOURCE Tourism Australia