Roundabout jobseeker comes full-circle as he secures a job maintaining the same roundabout

A man who stood at a busy roundabout with a sign reading “Desperate 4 job” has been hired to maintain the same roundabout.

Matt Atkins, a 47-year-old father of one, was spotted by his current employer as he stood on the busy roundabout in Basildon, Essex in a desperate bid to find work.

He was recruited by Bizzib, a local cleaning company, who advertise their services on the roundabout. Managing Director, Ricky Dalton, created a role for him after being impressed by his initiative.

After seven months as a cleaner for the company, Atkins has been promoted to the role of landscape manager of the very same roundabout.

Atkins says: “It's quite bizarre that I have ended up back here. I never imagined I would come back to this roundabout. I still have to pinch myself sometimes but it is fantastic. Life is good.

“I feel a million times better in myself. I just needed one person to believe in me.

“Before I was on anti-depressants and really fed up. I was not on a happy place at all but now I am off the anti-depressants and doing something I love.”

Atkins had struggled to find work for eight years after a pancreatic transplant in 2004 left him living on incapacity benefit, but just 24 hours at the roundabout saw companies throwing business cards at him as they drove past.

Dalton says: “He has been fantastic. His attitude towards work has been great and he has gone from strength to strength. He has seen visions for the company and brought ideas to the table which some of us had never thought about.

“When I heard he was standing on our roundabout I thought if he was willing to do that he would have the ability to do what we asked him.

“He took a drop in wages to join us but we are a company that rewards people for results. The fact that Matt put himself out, he was rewarded and we were rewarded with his hard work.”