Out-of-work Buckingham Palace butler, 63, who handed out 200 copies of his CV at train station says he is ‘chuffed to bits’ after finally landing a new job
- Trevor Walford, 63, was made redundant from job on a cruise line in March
- He said his subsequent hunt for work had only ended in ‘rejection after rejection’
- He wore his best suit and handed out around 200 CVs at rail stations in Leeds
- Mr Walford’s ingenuity was rewarded with host of interviews across country
- He will be new training development manager for hospitality group Churrasco
An former royal butler at Buckingham Palace who hit the headlines after handing his CV out at a train station says he’s ‘chuffed to bits’ after finally landing a job.
Ex-restaurant manager Trevor Walford, 63, was made redundant in March but said his subsequent hunt for work had only ended in ‘rejection after rejection’.
So earlier this month he wore his best suit and personally handed out around 200 CVs at four railway stations near his home in Leeds, West Yorkshire.
Mr Walford’s stunt went viral and his ingenuity was rewarded with a host of interview offers from across the country.
Today the experienced hospitality worker from Keighley, West Yorkshire, was announced as the new training development manager for a hospitality group called Churrasco.
Ex-restaurant manager Trevor Walford, 63, put on his best suit earlier this month and personally handed out around 200 CVs at four railway stations near his home in Leeds, West Yorlshire
He will oversee the customer service training of 337 employees across the company’s ten venues in the north of England.
An elated Mr Walford said: ‘I’m chuffed t’ bits, as we say in Yorkshire. I certainly wasn’t ready to be washed up just yet.’
Churrasco CEO Rob Campbell was one of thousands who contacted Mr Walford.
He said: ‘Of course I empathised with Trevor’s situation, but when we met him, his professionalism and wealth of knowledge across the industry is exactly what our operation needs.’
Earlier this month, Mr Walford explained how he took to the streets after sending out 700 job applications since March and only being offered one interview, which lasted 20 minutes.
He added that over lockdown he had spoken to a number of employment experts and altered his CV 25 times in a bid to bolster his chances.
Today the experienced hospitality worker from Keighley, West Yorkshire, was announced as the new training development manager for a hospitality group called Churrasco
That’s why on September 1 he put on his best suit, printed hundreds of CVs and pitched up at four train stations with a sign reading: ‘I would like to work, please feel free to take a CV’.
He said: ‘I got to the point where I thought, “I can’t just be sitting here in front of a computer anymore”.
‘None of the applications were getting me anywhere so I decided to do something different to get myself out there.
‘I think some people who saw me thought I was a bit mad but I got an amazing response from plenty of others.’
Mr Walford added: ‘I was sending CVs out left, right and centre but kept on receiving rejection after rejection after rejection.
Mr Walford held a sign on his search which read: ‘I would like to work. Please feel free to take a CV’. When he got home he found his LinkedIn page had been viewed more than 100,000 times
‘I thought to myself, “why on earth can’t I get a job?”‘
Mr Walford started his career as a trainee butler at Buckingham Palace before going on to have a highly-successful career working in hotels throughout the UK and Caribbean, including The Ritz Hotel in London.
He joined his last employer, a cruise line, in 2006 but as the coronavirus pandemic reached its peak, he received an email from the company saying he was out of a job.
The stunt proved to be a winner, according to Mr Campbell.
He said: ‘Trevor is an integral part of our growth plans for the next 12 months.’
Trevor’s role will see him train people to go on and work in three Churrasco-run restaurants: Estabulo Bar & Grill, Casa Peri Peri and Fleur Café.
Mr Walford spoke to hundreds of people during his search on September 1 and when he got home he found that his LinkedIn page had been viewed more than 100,000 times.