Job Shadowing

Perfect jobs?  Is there such a thing?  I mean if your not working at work, what would you call it?  Here are some “jobs” which might not seem so tough.

Paradise Island Caretaker

Ben Southall, 34, of Petersfield, beat out nearly 35,000 applicants from around the world for the dream assignment to swim, explore and relax on Hamilton Island in the Great Barrier Reef, while writing a blog to promote the area. He was selected for the $111,000 gig – a six-month contract to serve as caretaker of a tropical Australian island. He now has to live rent-free in a three-bedroom villa, complete with pool.

Professional Beer Taster

Believe it or not, some people have paid jobs as professional beer tasters for brewing companies. Funny as it may sound, breweries do need tasters to test out the saleability and distinctive traits of each beer so that the product can be properly sold to restaurants and retail. Here’s the criteria for becoming a professional beer taster.

Google Bicycle

Google (GOOGLE) has hired two lucky young men to ride around France on dopey looking tricycles snapping up photos of historical sites that are inaccessible by car. This three-wheeler is a sight with its long pole holding nine cameras, a GPS, a computer and a generator. But the contraption tooling around the French capital needs all that gear to do its job – adding three-dimensional images to Google’s Street View Maps.

Greeting Card Writer

If you’re toiling away in the public relations department of your company, you can put those composition skills to work as a greeting card writer. These professionals average $60 a card, but as much as $100 to $150 per card for experienced writers in large card companies. This could make a great freelance opportunity for a writer who wants to show her creative side.

Flavorist

Have a chemistry background, but not impressed with the pharmaceutical, environmental or energy industries’ offerings of chemical research positions? Maybe you should look to the food industry. Flavorists, or flavor chemists, blend chemicals to create tastes and smells for various foods and can earn $55,000 and up annually.