With summer quickly approaching, all of us unemployed students need to get out there and start looking for a job. Thankfully, I’ve gone and to the far away regions of the Internet to compile a list of off-beat jobs for the ultimate unique summer experience. Don’t settle for a lacklustre office job or for soul-sucking minimum-wage food sector hell. I’ve prioritized several key factors for ultimate summer job satisfaction: mostly outdoors and good for a story. Come September, with these jobs, you’ll have the best “interesting fact” to share around the tutorial table.
Professional Sleeper
This job is perfect for those of you who hate to get out of bed in the morning. Both scientific studies held at the university and living arts productions are often looking for volunteers willing to act as stand-in sleepers. The pay varies depending on the legitimacy of your employer, but plenty of researchers at our very own U of T are always looking for students to take part in their studies. I would recommend using University websites instead of Craigslist or Kijiji just to be safe. Who wouldn’t want to earn some money catching up on all that sleep they lost during the school year?
Order Picker
If you consider yourself a beer connoisseur, then Labatt Breweries has the job for you. They are looking for summer students, over the age of 19, to test out their beers, recommend them to different restaurants, and box the beer for shipping. The job involves a bit of heavy lifting and some drinking, so hopefully you aren’t too much of a lightweight. Its located in Mississauga so not much travel necessary — just be sure not to drive to this job.
Heritage Interpreter
History buffs will love this listing: Parks Canada is looking for students to re-enact historically significant events as well as military parades and demonstrations in uniform. Some examples provided are panning for gold, canon fire, or high tea celebrations. No experience required, just days full of dress-up and impersonations that are sure to make your summer a little more fun.
Pond Diver
Apparently you can get paid quite a bit of money if you are able to score this job. Golf courses are always looking for brave individuals to go diving into their course ponds to retrieve all the golf balls that many not-so-talented golfers lost when trying to reach the fairway. This job isn’t the easiest to get but contact your local golf course because somebody has to do it.
Undercover Animal Investigator
Green Work Canada, a website that lists environmentally friendly jobs, has some work for animal lovers who are willing to go undercover. This job requires you to travel to farms to look for potential animal cruelty. It isn’t the most light-hearted employment, but its for a good cause and requires no formal education.
Stand-in Bridesmaid
The final job is for all you ladies out there with an entrepreneurial spirit. There is a high demand for stand-in bridesmaids for all those brides out there that either don’t have enough friends or have uneven numbers in their bridal party. The best way to go about this one is to create your own website and advertisements, so it takes a little bit of extra work. The upside to all this is that you get to enjoy free dancing, free drinks, free food, and still get paid! The only requirements are to be charismatic, sociable, and a good actress, because some brides may ask you to play the part of a friend or family member to shield the fact that she hired you.
