Woman finally gets a reply from her dream job — 48 years later

We all envision having the dream job and the only route to get there is through a well-crafted application. To be a perfect fit for the role, a commonly accepted notion is to spend extra hours building a clearly defined resume. In a similar case, a woman wearing many hats went the extra mile in her employment bid and applied for motorcycle stunt rider, yet she did not get any response. Almost 48 years have passed, and now 70-year-old Tizi Hodson from Gedney Hill in Lincolnshire, UK, recently discovered the reason why she could not land a position, per BBC.

Hodson revealed that she applied for the position in January 1976 for her dream role, which finally found a way back into her life in 2024. She told the outlet that the carefully written letter never reached the employer as it got stuck on the backside of a post office drawer. Sadly, at various points during all these years, the British woman self-admittedly wondered why she got rejected in the first place. 

"I always wondered why I never heard back about the job. Now I know why," she told the outlet. With no response, the Gedney Hill resident chose another career path after the initial stumble and became an aerobatic pilot. Moreover, while talking about the "amazing" discovery, Hodson shared about not knowing who returned the letter. She added that the long-forgotten job application was accompanied by an anonymous handwritten note stating, "Late delivery by Staines Post Office. Found behind a drawer [sic]. Only about 50 years late." Even the post office administration acknowledged that the everlasting delay was on their part, suggesting her resume was never reviewed.

"It means so much to me to get it back all this time later. I remember very clearly sitting in my flat in London typing the letter," Hodson explained. The aerobatic pilot claimed that it was not clear to her how the officials (if at all) reached back with the job application despite her changing places on multiple occasions over time. "How they found me when I've moved house 50-odd times and even moved countries four or five times is a mystery," she said.

Hodson further remembered the days when she used to wait eagerly for a response from the recruiter. "Every day, I looked for my post, but there was nothing there, and I was so disappointed because I really, really wanted to be a stunt rider on a motorcycle," she remarked. While making the application, the woman intentionally refrained from revealing her gender because, in the past, being a stunt performer was largely a male-dominated profession. In fact, Hodson feared that referring to her gender in the letter might cut her prospects of getting the job. "I even stupidly told them I didn't mind how many bones I might break as I was used to it," she added.

Yet, the woman believes strongly in having no regrets for her experiences. After leading a successful career as an aerobatic pilot, the outlet reported that Hodson went on to become a flying instructor in Africa. "If I could speak to my younger self, I would tell her to go and do everything I've done. I've had such a wonderful time in life, even if I have broken a few bones," she concluded. In conversation with The Telegraph, a spokesperson from the Royal Mail spokesman said, "Incidents like this happen very occasionally – it would appear someone has found the letter and put it back into the postal system. Once an item is in our network then it will be delivered to the address on the letter."