Graduate named meerkat ambassador - graduate jobs

An international hospitality graduate has landed himself a job that pays £40,000 for six-months work - he's the first official meerkat ambassador.

Josh Mitchell, 22, beat five other candidates on the shortlist after a public vote. The graduate of UWIC University, Cardiff, will run social media initiatives and represent the meerkats at sport and cultural events over the summer.

More than 1,500 people from across the country applied for the role, supposedly dreamed up by comparethemeerkat.com founder Aleksandr Orlov.

The six shortlisted candidates - who included a University of Cambridge graduate, a former Royal Navy officer from Chesterfield, a supermarket supervisor from Leeds and a Cornish surfer - had to persuade the British public they were the person for the unusual job.

Mr Mitchell used social networking sites Facebook and Twitter to rake in votes, with 7,500 cast for the candidates in total. He posted videos on YouTube, went to student unions, created a campaign website, got in touch with local newspapers and took to the streets to canvass voters.