Stuck for your next job role, take a look at our list of unusual careers. From the weird to the wonderful, if you’ve thought it, chances are there’s someone doing it.
Line Stander
Although, for most it is a way to make extra money on the side, there are a few out there who have turned line standing into a professional career. Also known as ‘queue stander’, ‘queue professional’ or ‘line sitter’ the terms refer to someone you pay to hold your place in a queue. The job is most commonly used these days for waiting in line for the release of games consoles, movies, or shoes. However, the role was first recorded in 1980s Poland during severe shortages of consumer goods.
Water Slide Tester
Possibly one of the more enviable jobs is a professional water slide tester. Often employed by hotel chains or large travel companies travelling between different venues, your task is to safe test new water slides and rating their fun factor. After taking multiple trips down the slide(s), you’ll report on any safety hazards, how quickly you travelled and overall how fun it is.
Golf Ball Diver
Almost a billion golf balls are produced every year, and a staggering 10% of those are lost in golf course water features. This is where a golf ball diver comes in, diving deep into the water features in golf courses to find the misdirected and sunken golf balls. They retrieve them for cleaning, and the balls are then recycled for reselling purposes.
Dog Food Taster
Even the most avid pet lover might struggle to find this role appealing. However, it’s not all as the name might suggest, although dog food tasters do indeed taste dog food, it’s not the only thing they do in their role. Most tasters also spit it out, after testing the taste, smell and texture. Most days, they’re writing reports and thinking up new ideas on how to put a nutritional spin on a new line of food. Taste is important, but nutrition is the key to healthy pets.
Professional Netflix Watcher
For most of us being paid to sit around watching Netflix all day sounds like a dream, but for some it’s become reality. Although usually part-time, Netflix hires watchers also referred to as ‘Taggers’ to watch upcoming content and then create relevant tags to help the algorithm filter it into relevant categories.
Professional Sleeper
What if we told you, you could sleep for a living? Professional sleepers are hired to test out new mattresses, pillows, toppers etc. To be in with a chance, you’ll need to be able to sleep anywhere and for extended periods of time… with wires attached to you and people watching. You will also need to be able to write detailed reports on comfort, room lighting, feelings and noise disruption.
Ethical Hacker
Although hackers are usually associated with someone hidden away in a dark room trying to break into a server or website, ethical hackers do the same thing but for good. Also known as ‘white hats’, these security experts are hired by companies to hack the same companies network to test out their existing security methods and provide recommendations to improve them.
