Former prominent Greek minister seeks job through recruitment website ad

A former prominent Greek minister placed an advertisement on a recruitment website in search of a job position in an unprecedented case in Greece that caused surprise and divisive remarks on Monday.

Argyris Dinopoulos, who served as interior minister under the previous conservative-led government in 2014, uploaded his ad and his CV on devnetjobs.org.

"Ex-minister, 13 years experience in politics under economic crises conditions (Greece), 15 years experience as international journalist - war correspondent, lawyer, bilingual (English, French), expert in communication, conflict resolution, crisis management, administration in high risk situations, taking difficult decisions, seeks assignments. Can relocate immediately," read the advertisement.

Initially, Greek media, politicians and ordinary citizens thought that Dinopoulos had fallen victim to a prank.

But Dinopoulos verified that the ad was placed by him by tweeting: "The self-evident in politics has become news. It is newsworthy that an honest politician needs a job position when not re-elected," he wrote, referring to the Jan. 25 general elections this year.

Dinopoulos was a legislator from 2007 to 2014 and also served as the mayor of a suburb of northern Athens between 2002 and 2006.

New Democracy party parliamentary group representative Adonis Georgiadis, a fellow cabinet minister under the previous government, praised him on Twitter.

"You have set an example. You did not become rich through your active involvement in politics so that you can now live without working," he wrote.

Local media commented that it was unusual in Greek politics for a former minister to end up jobless without having secured a well-paid post in the wider public sector or the private sector through his connections.

According to another popular stereotype, several politicians amass fortunes through their involvement in corruption scandals and do not need any job after retiring from politics.

Ordinary Greek citizens on social media indirectly questioned the sincerity of Dinopoulos who has been criticized for populism in the past.

They joked that he joined the hundreds of thousands of ordinary Greeks who are paying a heavy price for the economic crisis seeking any job position in Greece or abroad.

Since the start of the debt crisis in late 2009, about one out of four Greeks remains unemployed.

Dinopoulos' critics said Monday he too was paying the price of the austerity measures he promoted as minister and lawmaker.