A TEENAGE boy is making a determined effort to think outside the box and find an employer.

Charlie Appleby, 17, of Lundy Close, Leigh, is fed-up with sending out his CV and getting nowhere so he has started handing out A5 leaflets to potential bosses instead.

They feature his picture, tell how hard-working and punctual he is while informing employers he can start straight away.

Plus they detail his experience and education.

Charlie, who is studying ICT at South Essex College, has so far targeted at least 50 businesses, including those in Progress Road, Leigh.

He said: “I want to work to pay for my housekeeping, driving lessons and eventually my university fees.

“I’ve sent out more than 100 CVs to potential employers, but had just one interview and just one written reply, both with no feedback. So I decided to try and think outside the box to try and attract an employer.”

He said he got the idea from his dad, thanks to the Echo.

He explained: “Dad remembered a story about a man standing beside the A127, wearing a sandwich board which he used to ask for work.”

Unsurprisingly his father Bryan, who owns Tiepins2Tiaras, a watchmenders and jewellers in Rayleigh Lanes, off the High Street, Rayleigh, thought the idea of handing out leaflets was “a great idea”.

Charlie says he is prepared to work evenings and weekends and even lists his work experience behind the counter of the family business.

And the teenager’s thinking outside the box has already impressed the Federation of Small Businesses.

Essex chairman Ian Wicks said: “Good for him. There are far too many teenagers sitting at home just hoping something will happen.

“If he has got the work ethic to do something like this then he has almost certainly got the work ethic to hold down a job, I think what he is doing is fantastic.”