Top 10 Most Unusual and Interesting Career Options
Jobs can be interesting, challenging, exciting, boring, or simply weird. Here are the top 10 most unusual career options you can choose:
1.Odor Tester
The funniest pictures doing rounds on Internet is of an odor tester with her nose buried in armpits of a number of men who are lined up. How much you wrinkle up your nose in disgust but it is a real career. Apart from testing the efficacy of perfumes and deodorants, odor testers find employment in a wide range of other industries where they evaluate smells of a soft drink, room deodorants, and may be even frozen dinners.
To save face in front of your friends, you might say that you are into the Quality Analysis or Quality Checking team of a certain product. And yes, you need to study to be an odor tester - a degree in Chemistry is often a requirement.
2.Food or Wine Taster
Another of the Quality Checking and Analysis jobs but much nicer than the one mentioned above, cake taster, ice cream taster, wine taster, candy taster, tea taster and other kind of tasting jobs seem to be just ideal for the gastronomes. Wine tasters have a formal term professionally - sommeliers and wine tasting classes are on offer by various hospitality schools and institutions.
Apart from the food industry, these food and wine connoisseurs also find employment with lifestyle magazines and roam to remotest corners of the world, sampling the wines and their area of food item expertise and then reporting about them to others. By the way, did I mention that there are dog food testers too!
3.Amusement Park Ride Operator
Theme parks, water parks, and amusement parks rides and slides may seem safe to the guests who go there for fun but it is the well-trained personnel and ride operators who deserve the credit for keeping them safe and sound while they enjoy. Training programs for theme park employees include operations and maintenance of ride systems, admissions, handling emergencies, helping guests with disabilities and yes, testing out the rides and slides from time to time to check their sturdiness, ensure their proper functioning, and rating their safety level. Not a job for the faint hearted!
4.3D Mural Painter
Fine arts, especially painting, may seem boring to those who are artistically and aesthetically challenged. But simply no one can look away from a brilliantly executed 3D mural painting, whether it is done on a roof, ceiling, or pavement. 3D Mural Painters use 3D elements to fool the eyes into seeing 2D-paintings as three dimensional photorealistic images. The optical illusions are amazing; the reaction of the audience is even more exhilarating. Google for 3D mural paintings and you will know what I mean!
5.Fashion Writer
So, here's the deal folks - You will have to travel to fashion cities like Delhi and Mumbai and may be to international destinations like Paris, Tokyo, Milan and New York to attend fashion and runaway shows at our cost, meet celebrities and interview your fashion idols and crème of the society, cover latest fashion and beauty trends, review designer products and even get some for keeps, and have the best fashion designers and Greek Gods and Goddesses of the ramp eating out of your hands - all at the cost of the books, newspapers, or magazines for which you write. Does that sound interesting to you?
Well, the totally outrageously fabulous Lady Gaga is trying her hands at it too, if that's any motivation for you.
If you have the creative flair and natural talent, good grasp on English writing and speaking skills, familiar with the fashion lingo, have a degree in Journalism or English Literature and have impeccable English skills, you are all set to launch yourself as a fashion writer. A fashion background, having a good network of friends in the industry, and living in the glamour hubs can help you get noticed quickly in the fashion world.
6.Ticket Checker
If you have been besotted by the power of the black coat that strikes fear in the hearts of those who travel without ticket in Indian Railways, you can apply for the post of Ticket Checker in Railway Recruitment Board, which comes under Central Government. Besides a decent salary package, you get to enjoy all the benefits of being in a railway job such as free travel pass for you and your family.
Ticket checkers also collect fines from passengers who are traveling without ticket and those who are on the platform without the platform tickets. With a little imagination at play, this job is incredibly interesting as you come across a variety of people and thousands of scenarios every day. In fact, it would be interesting to read a ticket checker's blog! If you have done your 10th and have scored 50% or more in it and fall within the age bracket of 18 to 30 years, you are eligible to apply for the job.
7.Private Detective
Private detectives are the heroes of many-a-thriller and suspense novels, movies, and short stories - with Sherlock Holmes and James Bond being the most famous ones perhaps. Investigations undertaken by private detectives may range from working for attorneys in civil cases to investigating suspicious insurance claims, finding out about pre-marital or ex-marital affairs of their clients' spouses or love interests, digging through the muck for checking background information of prospective candidates for corporate firms, and searching for absconding debtors, lost pets or even engagement rings!
Physical fitness, mental alertness, and the ability to take spontaneous decisions are of course a requirement for the role and it seems that most private detectives or investigators have a police or army background. Private detective agencies may also specialize in specific fields such as technical surveillance, protection of intellectual property, copyright infringement investigations, computer forensics and anti-piracy.
8.Street Performer
For those of you who love oldies, Mithun Chakraborty's number ‘I am a street dancer' was perhaps the birth of new-era street performances in India. Often associated with nomadic tribes, street performances in India are quickly gaining a lot of interest and attention worldwide. From puppetry to juggling to card tricks and magic to street musicians and roadside acrobats and gymnasts, street performers not only make money by entertaining the crowd these days but also find it a good point to launch themselves as born entertainers to enliven the parties and shows at national and international level.
Restaurants, cafes, event management companies, theme parks and pubs also employ street performers these days to provide value-added recreation to their guests. Different types of performance arts you can learn include animal tricks, caricatures, stand-up comedies, fortune-telling, mime, balloon twisting, clowning, contortions and escapes, fire eating and fire breathing, street theatre, sword swallowing or storytelling. Discover your talent and start at almost no cost!
9.Snake Charmer
Snake charming is one of the most ancient practices in India and its neighboring countries. But with the growing popularity of M.S. Balasubramaniam or Snake Shyam from Mysore, it is now being perceived as a full-blown career. A naturalist-on-wheels, Snake Shyam has been featured in ‘Croc Chronicles: Snakes, Karma, Action' special by National Geographic. You can give an educated twist to the profession by studying Herpetology, where you study about amphibians and reptiles.
Herpetologists are instrumental in creating ant-coagulants and other medicines from snake venom that can help save stroke and heart attack victims. Besides, you can always get involved with field research, breeding, and curating.
10.Voice-over Artists
Voice artistes can make a career in dubbing, giving voice-overs to narrator scripts or cartoon movies, become a radio jockey or anchor or host shows. If you have a good voice quality and talent to act out your voice, you can consider this as a career. Directors, producers, and sound engineers are always on a lookout for different voice textures to suit their scripts. Fluency in the language, command over the spoken word, understanding of the script and voice delivery or modulation are some of the important aspects in which voice-over artists need to get trained.
Read ‘Study Options after 12th: The Pied Piper Effect' to know how to choose a career for yourself. Visit Shiksha forums to discuss best career for you with your peers and education experts.
Source: Ruchi Shrimali (Shiksha Team)
Date: 31st May, 2011
