MOST of us would do everything in our power to avoid smelling another person's BO.

But for some people, smelling armpits is all in a day's work.

More and more people are signing up to be professional armpit smellers –  employed by fragrance and cosmetics companies to test the effectiveness of perfumes and deodorants.

But, unbelievably, it's not the the most bizarre job on the planet.

Last year a university in California put a call out for anyone who wanted to earn money by eating avocados for three months to see if it aided weight loss.

They were inundated with applications and 250 people managed to snag a place on the three-month trial.

It's far from the only odd job out there though.

From cuddling people for money to mourning the deaths of strangers on a day-to-day basis, there's a whole glut of unusual and downright wacky jobs if you're looking for a career change.

Even better, most of them don't even require prior training or experience.

So if you're desperate to get out of the office for good, here's a look at some of the strangest jobs that you could be doing – and how to apply for them.

Job: Professional armpit smeller

Employer: The International Fragrance Association

Salary: £39,000

How to apply: Apply via their website

We've all had days where we've got to work and been forced to spend the day sat next to a colleague who's got a particularly pungent odour emanating from their pits.

But you could put an end to that by making sure lacklustre deodorants don't make it to the market.

Armpit smellers are employed by companies to help test out the latest products that combat sweat and body odour – and all you have to do is give a big whiff to someone who's just been working out on a treadmill for an hour.

The average income tallies up to £39,000 a year, so it's not so bad.

Businesses may call on nose judges to determine the effectiveness of cat litter or shoe insoles at controlling unpleasant smells too.

There's a job out there for anyone with a well-trained nose.

Job: Professional sleeper

Employer: NASA

Salary: £12,000 for 70 days

How to apply: Apply via their website

Most of us can't get enough of it no matter how hard we try – but NASA hires professional sleepers who are, you guessed it, given the arduous task of having to sleep for days on end.

Why? It's all in the name of science.

Volunteers get paid up to £12,000 to sleep for a whopping 70 days in a row so scientists can study the effect of different air pressures on the human body.

Bed rest studies offer scientists ways to see how the body adapts to weightlessness. Participants must live, eat, and even shower in the same position.

This causes their bodies – and cardiovascular systems – to adapt as if they were in space and they are continuously monitored to understand how their bodies change.

Results allow countermeasures to be devised that will help astronauts on space missions, as well as bed-ridden people on Earth.

So you get to sleep through seven Mondays and you get to help the future of the human race in the process – could there be a better job?

If space isn't your thing, then you can try the same thing a little closer to home in Finland.

Helsinki's Hotel Finn hires full-time sleepers to test the comfort of their beds in order to help them improve their guest experience. 

Job: Professional dog food taster

Salary: £20K- £50

How to apply: Contact your pooch’s favourite pet food brand with a CV, or check their website for vacancies.

We'd always thought that it was humans that tested on animals – not the other way around.

A pet food taster has the rather disgusting job of being sent the latest pet food flavours and giving them a try.

While dogs and cats have different tastes to us, it's a tasters job to make sure each ingredient is "balanced in the right way".

Phillip Wells, a former taster for Lily's Kitchen pet food, told Sun Online that the job has even helped him improve his own cooking skills.

“Trying the food is also a good way to pick up on the nuances of the cooking; this works especially well on the dry kibbles,” he says.

Impressively, the salary can range from anywhere between £20,000 and £50,000 depending on how long you've been doing the job and just how refined your tastebuds are.

Job: Professional cuddler

Employer: Cuddle Party

Salary: £60 an hour

How to apply: sign up for a 10-week virtual training course

In a world where we meet everyone through apps, sometimes the intimacy of face-to-face contact is missing from people's lives.

That's where professional cuddlers are here to help.

They're cashing in up to £60p/h for non-sexual hugging, and experts claim that the rise in their popularity is down to an unlikely factor – Donald Trump.

Marcia Baczynski, co-founder of Cuddle Party, said that the state of the world is driving people to look for comfort in the unlikeliest of places.

Professional cuddler Ian Carmen, who's been doing the job for a couple of years now, insisted that it's not as sexual as people may think.

He told Sun Online: "When I'm with someone there's sometimes a sexual moment but you learn to deal with and acknowledge it but you don't encourage it and it eventually passes".

Job: Professional Queuer

Employer: Same Ole Lines Dudes

Salary: £20 an hour

How to apply: Find positions through their website

We know a thing or two about queuing here in the UK, but did you know that some people actually get paid to stand in a line?

One man based in NYC, Robert Samuel, got so much business that he’s since started up his own company in the US.

Surprisingly, not all of his clients are just super rich: “It’s all everyday people too.

“Sometimes I get a customer who can’t get out of work on time to wait for a movie premiere, or somebody on the Upper East Side who really wants a new Xbox but doesn’t want to stand in the cold for seven hours before it goes on sale. It’s a whole medley.”

It’s not just people that will employ you to queue. Sometimes brands will pay money for you to stand outside their stores in a bid to make them look more popular, and therefore attract more potential customers.

It’s win win. You can usually earn around 20p/h on the job, which requires absolutely no skill apart from an ability to stand around doing nothing.

Job: Professional water slide tester

Employer: First Choice

Salary: £26K

How to apply: Contact First Choice directly

If you loved water parks as a kid then this may just be the perfect job for you – but there's a catch – only one person gets to do it so competition is seriously tough.

Water slide maker First Choice selected Seb Smith to be their water slide tester in 2013.

He beat out over 2000 other applicants for the role, and since then has got to travel around the world for six months every year testing out the latest rides and rating their fun-factor.

“It can be tough when it’s chilly and you have to strip off, but otherwise it’s great,” say previous employee Tommy Lynch.

“Getting to check out the flumes is by far the best bit. But there is a serious side and it carries a lot of responsibility.”

The job pays £26,000 over the six month period every year, so you're basically free to just chill for the other six months.

First Choice only hire one expert, so you’ll have to wait until Seb’s ready to quit unfortunately!

Job: Professional pusher

Employer: Tokyo travel authority

Salary: DOE

How to apply: At the local station

If you think your commute is bad, then spare a thought for those in Japan who literally find themselves being shoved onto a train so the doors can stay shut.

Tokyo is home to one of the busiest and most efficient rail services in the world, but it doesn't happen without help during peak hours.

During rush hour, the trains become so overcrowded that subway pushers – or Oshiya – are hired to cram as many people inside as possible.

Sometimes people are wedged in so tightly by pushers that their feet aren't even touching the ground. Suddenly London seems like bliss in comparison.

Unfortunately this one is only available in Japan. You could try it in the UK, but we doubt commuters would be particularly grateful.

Source: Read Full Article