San Diegan Vying for the Best Job in the World

San Diegan Sarah Cross is vying for the opportunity of a lifetime in Australia. The Torrey Pines graduate is one of 600,000 people who applied for Tourism Australia’s Best Jobs in the World competition. More than 45,000 videos were submitted from 196 countries for six of the world’s best jobs. Cross is one of 25 finalists picked for the Wildlife Caretaker position in South Australia. If selected, she will live in Australia for six months, earn a $100,000 salary, walk with the kangaroos, swim with the dolphins, and snuggle with the koalas.

Cross has worked with, cared for, and trained everything from tropical fish to 500 pound dolphins, and she has competed at championship level with her two dogs. “I was born in Australia but left when I was very young,” Cross says. “I would love the opportunity to return to my roots and meet some family members I have never met and spend time with ones I have only seen a handful of times!”

Cross’ video submission can be viewed by clicking here.

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 35countries 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.

Jane Whitehead, Tourism Australia’s regional general manager, Americas, says 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 says.

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 says it has 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 says.

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).

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

Cross’ Facebook page can be viewed here: www.facebook.com/SarahCrossDownUnder