It seems that the mayor of the town of Kolnenburg in Bavaria, Germany, was successful, when referring to her marital status, in the announcement published by the municipality in search of a doctor, where the municipality has already received many applications for those seeking employment.
"The effect of this small addition was really amazing," said 45-year-old Mayor Josefa Schmid.
"We never expected that. We were a bit surprised," the mayor told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.
The municipality of Kolnenburg published an ad in the Journal of German Physicians to search for a general practitioner or doctor, adding the phrase "the mayor is not yet married."
Schmid confirmed that the municipality is now in contact, specifically, with a doctor from the Frankfurt region, about the job.
The mayor noted that some applicants were more interested in the unmarried mayor than in the job, "but I can not respond to these quickly," she stressed.
"The town of Kolnenburg is looking for a doctor. You can live and work in a place where people are on vacation. We will help you," the mayor said. The declaration ended with the highly controversial paragraph, which stated:
The mayor justified this wording in the declaration by saying that this issue of the magazine alone contained more than 260 vacancy announcements, so this wording was chosen in order for the advertisement to receive attention.
In an interview with the Augsburger Allgemeine newspaper, the mayor, already single, said she had thought of writing a wording that combines both wit and serious background. The mayor said that the announcement does not mean that her town only welcomes «single doctor» and said: «Of course not, can come to us a doctor who is retired or single or married».
"I have received a lot of requests so far," Schmid said. "One of them wrote to me that the idea of advertising is distinctive but actually linked, but at the same time expressed his desire to settle in the town."