Hermione: I think you're being a bit unfair. Professor Dumbledore obviously thought [Gilderoy Lockhart] was the best man for the job.
Hagrid: He was the on'y man for the job. An' I mean the on'y one. Gettin' very difficult ter find anyone fer the Dark Arts job.
There's a job that needs to get done, whether it be a dangerous mission that needs to be completed to save the world or the boss simply needs an intern to fetch coffee. The boss puts out a call for applicants to step forward and show why they're the best fit.
The time for the selection process arrives and the boss is dismayed to find only one person has shown interest and they are not well-qualified. However, because the role needs to be filled immediately, they have no choice but to give this person the job.
Contrast with Got Volunteered where the person selected is forced to do the job against their will. Often overlaps with Ignored Raised Hand, with the recruiter initially dismissing the lone volunteer in hopes of a better option before eventually acknowledging them. See also Closest Thing We Got, Easily Elected (where a candidate might run unopposed), and Lowered Recruiting Standards.
Examples
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Anime & Manga
- Azumanga Daioh: Tomo is the only one who willingly volunteers for the role of Class Representative, a role she's hopelessly unsuited for as an attention-seeking loudmouth; her mindset going into it is "nobody else will do it if I don't". It's subverted in that Chiyo is forced to volunteer and ends up winning the role, but Tomo's volunteering still leads her to become vice-president.
Comic Books
- Mortadelo y Filemón: In the agents' origin story "La historia de Mortadelo y Filemón" we see them posing proudly as number one and two of their promotion for the TIA agent examinations, but aside, the Super and the examiner are commenting that they are the only two people who applied.
Film — Animated
- Minions: At the beginning of the film, when the titular creatures are depressed at their town in the ice caverns, Kevin decides to adventure out of the caves in order to look for a master for all of them. He needs other Minions to come with him. Only two of them volunteer: Stewart and Bob. Kevin agrees to let Stewart come with him but turns Bob down since he doesn't think that he's ready. Eventually, Kevin gives in and lets Bob come, since nobody else wanted to.
- Shrek: After discovering that Lord Farquaad has deported a bunch of magical creatures to his swamp, Shrek decides to have a chat with him and asks said bunch if anyone can show him the way to Farquaad's castle. Since Shrek is an ogre, everyone except Donkey is too scared to volunteer. Shrek, annoyed by Donkey's personality makes at least two more calls before resigning and accepting Donkey as his sidekick.
Film — Live-Action
- Cool Runnings: After Irv shows the room full of would-be Jamaican bobsledders a graphic presentation detailing the injuries they risk facing if they get into an accident on the track, the camera cuts back to show that there are only two people still in the room — Derice Bannock and Sanka Coffie, the two who first wanted to start the team. Two more then arrive — Junior Bevil, the guy whose accident during a qualifying sprint race dashed Derice's hopes of representing Jamaica at the Summer Olympics; and the other, Yul Brynner, a guy who was also tripped up in that accident and is still angry at Junior for it.
- Godmothered: Agnes says that Eleanor is the only person who's bothered to apply to be a fairy godmother in decades.
- Thor: Darcy Lewis only became Jane Foster's astrophysics intern because she was the only applicant. Worse, her college major is only a STEM subject on a technicality (Political Science).
Literature
- Harry Potter:
- In Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, when discussing new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor Gilderoy Lockhart and his displays of incompetence with Hagrid, Hermione defends him by saying Dumbledore wouldn't have hired Lockhart out of all the applicants if he felt Lockhart was unqualified. Hagrid informs her that Lockhart was the only applicant: people are starting to think the position is jinxed because nobody has lasted long for a while.
- Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban: After the Fat Lady's portrait is attacked and shredded by Sirius Black when she refused to let him into Gryffindor Tower, Sir Cadogan is appointed to be the guardian of Gryffindor Tower until Black is caught. He proceeds to annoy the students by either challenging them to duels or frequently changing the password several times a day. When Seamus complains to Percy and asks if one of the other portraits can do it, Percy explains he was the only one brave enough to volunteer.
- Downplayed in Feet of Clay, Cheery Littlebottom joins the watch as an alchemist to do crime scene investigations. Vimes accepts her due to being the only applicant, but she does show herself to be competent.
Live-Action TV
- Aquí no hay quien viva: It's heavily implied that the primary reason Juan Cuesta has been community president for so long is that no other neighbor wants the job.
- Brooklyn Nine-Nine: "Jake and Sophia" reveals that despite his sheer incompetence, Scully is union representative of the 99th precinct simply because nobody else wants the job. His motivation for doing so is that the meeting each year has a party sub.
- In "The Good-Bye Room" from Cold Case, the only reason why The Alcoholic Dr. Finnegan was allowed to work for the St. Mary's Home For Unwed Mothers before being suspended for causing the death of his patients was because he was the only doctor they could afford.
- Good Luck Charlie: In one episode, Teddy is forced to try out for the school's mascot to appease her mother, who did the mascot job when she was in high school. Teddy intentionally throws the audition but is still given the role, as she was the only one who tried out.
- Mandy: In "Jobseeker", Mandy gets a job at a chicken fast-food joint. When she says to her boss about how happy she is that he's given her a chance, he points out that she was the only one who applied.
- Night Court: Subverted when Harry explains how he became a judge. A judge position has just opened up and had to be filled immediately. The official in charge had a list of judge candidates and started calling up people on the list. However, this happened on the weekend and almost everyone on the list could not be reached by phone. Harry was at the bottom of the list but was the first candidate who was home and able to pick up the phone, so he was offered the job. Harry then points out to everyone that he might have been at the bottom of the list and gotten the job through weird luck but he was still on the list, thus he was vetted and considered competent enough to be a judge.
Theatre
- We Are the Tigers: Discussed. Riley became the captain of the Tigers because no one else wanted the job. She's determined to be the best cheer captain ever but is well aware that no one takes her or her ambition for the squad seriously, and that the Tigers are widely considered to be the worst cheer squad in the area. Riley is far from the least competent on the team, but the Tigers are such a mess of infighting, drug abuse, insecurity, and sabotage that it reflects poorly on her abilities as a leader.
Riley: There's only one more year in your hands
Show them you're not captain
Just 'cause no one else ran
No, you'll make things happen
Trust you've got a game plan
So we're not the worst team ever
Video Games
- I Was a Teenage Exocolonist: This is a recurring reason for which some events don't happen unless Sol initiates them. For instance, they are explicitly the only applicant of the entire week when the Supply Depot offers the delivery job. Because of this, Seeq accepts to hire them as long as they meet the stat requirements despite being a Child Hater.
- In Mass Effect 2, Jacob is the only squadmate who volunteers to crawl through the thermal vents during the first stage of the Suicide Mission. However, despite his enthusiasm, he is not qualified for this assignment — something that Miranda immediately points out — and will get another squadmate killed if chosen.
Web Originals
- Downplayed in Hellsing Ultimate Abridged, Alucard is unimpressed by the fact that the Wild Geese are French. Sir Integra was forced to post the mortality rates for the position and they were the only mercenary group who would apply. Despite this they're at least as good as the people they were replacing and manage to successfully repel an attack until Zorin attacks.
Western Animation
- DuckTales (2017): During a mission for F.O.W.L., the Phantom Blot is annoyed to find out that he's been assigned the annoyingly chipper Pepper as his partner. He later learns the reason he got stuck with her is because no one else wanted to partner up with him.
- Kamp Koral: In "Kitchen Sponge", Plankton needs help in his kitchen. The way Krabs announces it ("Hey, kids, I need an unpaid, very extra free, volunteer!") has everyone running away, except SpongeBob, who ends up being Plankton's cook.
- King of the Hill: In the episode "Square Peg," Peggy is chosen to be the sex-ed teacher at Bobby's school because the previous teacher was scared away by some "harmless lunatic," according to Hank, who knew it was Dale (sex-ed is a very controversial topic in the U.S., particularly in more conservative states like Texas, where the show takes place). The day of the lesson, Hank pulls Bobby out of school, but comes to his senses and takes Bobby back to school so he can learn about "Human Relations." When Peggy asks the class for the permission slips to take the class, every other kid is sent to the library until the class is over, except Bobby who gets to hear Peggy's lesson.
- Regular Show: Mordecai and Rigby frequently get in trouble with their boss Benson for not doing their work or causing trouble and he repeatedly threatens to fire them. In Replaced, he opens up two spaces for new employee applicants, obviously intending to replace the duo, and by the end, he almost succeeds in hiring a more competent pair while firing Mordecai and Rigby... except the applicants reject it because the shenanigans they endured throughout the episode isn't worth the pay and they sarcastically wish Benson good luck in finding anyone who's up for it.
- My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic: Mr. and Mrs. Cake are searching for a babysitter for their kids on short notice. Pinkie Pie is more than eager to take up the task, but the Cakes ask all of the main six ponies first and only ask Pinkie after all the rest say no.
- South Park: In the South ParQ Vaccination Special, Mr. Garrison returns to town and applies for his old job as fourth grade teacher. PC Principal doesn't want to rehire him because of everything he did as US President over the previous seasons. Unfortunately, because no one else wants to be a teacher unless they get the COVID-19 vaccine first, he ultimately has no choice but to give Garrison the job.
Real Life
- During the 2020 National Football League season, the Denver Broncos ended up with a situation where they had no quarterbacks available for their game against the New Orleans Saints — one of them had tested positive for COVID, and the other three they had under contract were deemed ineligible because they had been in a meeting with him and consequently had to quarantine. With no time to sign a replacement, the Broncos turned to a wide receiver who had played quarterback as a freshman in college and had not even practiced as a quarterback in two years. Predictably, he threw two interceptions on the nine pass attempts he made and they were steamrolled 31-3.
- Some elections (and not in a People's Republic of Tyranny) only have one candidate. In many rural parts of the US, there's often only one person who bothers to run for small positions like "Regional Water Usage Regulator, District Three." Possibly because they're the only person who actually knows what that position even is.
