Geoff Crane. (geoffcrane.com)

PETERBOROUGH, Ont.— A Peterborough man is offering $25,000 to the person who connects him to his next job.

Geoff Crane, 43, a project manager, decided to offer the referral fee after graduating from Trent University in June with a BA in psychology.

He returned to Peterborough, where he grew up, and enrolled in Trent in 2009 after being laid off from IBM in Toronto, where he had been a senior project manager since 2006.

Before that, he spent about 10 years in Singapore as a project manager in the banking industry.

“After I graduated, I was struggling with what my next move would be,” Crane said. I have all this experience and I have a degree, but I started going looking for work, and it’s just awful out there.

“So I decided I need to get creative. I need opportunities to start coming to me so I can make effective, informed decisions. That’s really the point behind the offer.”

The referral fee would be paid from Crane’s salary, he said.

“I would basically save the money and when the probationary period has passed, the award would go to whoever connected me,” he said.

Crane said he will welcome any offer, but has his eye on the GTA.

“I think it makes the most sense for me to end up is in Toronto. The international market is great, but I spent 10 years in it. But I was 13,000 miles away from my family and it was just too far.”

rob.mccormick@sympatico.ca