Strange jobs in the world include pet food tasters, odour judges who sniff armpits to test deodorant, train pushers in Tokyo, canal bike fishers in Amsterdam and India’s own Irula snake catchers, who collect venom for antivenom. Each one exists because a specific industry or tradition needed one very specific task done. A few, like tea tasting and perfumery, are proper careers you can train for in India. Others are short gigs or contests that won’t pay your rent.
What makes a job strange, and why do these unusual jobs exist?
A strange job is paid work that sounds unbelievable to outsiders but solves a precise problem for one industry or community. A deodorant maker needs someone to judge body odour, a hatchery needs chicks sorted by sex, and an oil platform needs icebergs pushed out of the way. The task looks odd only because most people never see it.
How people earn from these unusual jobs varies a lot. Lab-based roles like flavour testing are salaried, snake catching pays per animal, and many viral “dream jobs” pay a one-time stipend or prize. We don’t quote salary figures in this article unless an official source publishes them, because most rare jobs have no standard pay scale.
Which strange jobs in the world involve tasting and smelling?
The strangest jobs that pay well tend to be sensory ones. Companies need trained noses and tongues because machines still can’t fully judge flavour the way customers experience it.
| Job | Where it’s popular | Approx pay | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pet food taster | UK, US, Europe | £20,000 entry, £50,000+ experienced (2022) | Taster interview reported by The Guardian |
| Odour judge | Testing labs in US, UK, Europe | No reliable published figure | Varies by lab |
| Tea taster | India, Sri Lanka, Kenya | ₹16,479 to ₹38,058 a month (2025) | WageIndicator, food and beverage tasters, India |
| Perfumer and attar maker | Kannauj (UP), Grasse (France) | No standard published figure | Varies by distillery or brand |
| Flavourist | US, Europe, Indian food companies | US median $88,720 a year (May 2025) | US BLS, food scientists and technologists |
1. Pet food taster
Pet food companies employ tasters who check the smell, texture and flavour of dog and cat food before it goes on sale. They usually taste small amounts and spit them out, much like wine tasters. Most have a background in food science or animal nutrition.
2. Odour judge
Deodorant and soap companies hire odour judges to sniff volunteers’ underarms, feet or worn clothes and rate how well a product controls smell. It sounds like a joke, but it’s a trained sensory role in testing labs. Judges are screened for a sharp, consistent sense of smell.
3. Tea taster
Tea tasters slurp, swirl and spit hundreds of cups a day to grade tea for blending and auctions in Kolkata, Guwahati and Siliguri. Tea Board India launched NCVET-approved skill courses at its Darjeeling Tea Research and Development Centre in Kurseong, with the first batch starting on 3 August 2026. The two courses are a 60-hour Essentials of Tea Sommelier programme and a 210-hour Fundamentals of Tea Tasting programme (Tea Board India press release).
4. Perfumer and attar maker
Kannauj in Uttar Pradesh has made attar (natural perfume oil) for centuries using copper stills called deg and bhapka. Perfumers there blend flower, herb and wood oils by nose. The Fragrance and Flavour Development Centre (FFDC), an autonomous body under the Ministry of MSME, runs training in perfumery and essential oils at Kannauj.
5. Flavourist
Flavourists design the taste of chips, biscuits, soft drinks and ice cream using chemistry. They work in labs for flavour houses and food companies, and the usual entry route is a chemistry or food technology degree. If you’re a science student who enjoys cooking experiments, this is the most practical of the unusual careers on this list. Our guide to high income courses after 12th covers degree options that lead into food labs.
Which weird jobs around the world involve animals?
Animal jobs are some of the oldest unusual professions around the world. Many grew out of farming, conservation or medicine.
| Job | Where it’s popular | Approx pay | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chicken sexer | Japan, UK, Canada, Australia | CAD 62,504 a year (Canada, 2024 posting) | Government of Canada Job Bank |
| Snake catcher and venom extractor | Chennai, Kancheepuram, Thiruvallur (Tamil Nadu) | Paid per snake, by species | Irula cooperative licence system |
| Panda keeper | Sichuan, China | No reliable published figure | Varies by reserve |
| Elephant mahout | Kerala, Assam, Thailand | No standard published figure | Temple, forest department or owner |
| Worm picker | Ontario, Canada | Paid per worm picked | No standard published rate |
1. Chicken sexer
Hatcheries employ chicken sexers to separate male and female chicks within hours of hatching, often by examining tiny anatomical differences. The vent-sexing technique was developed in Japan, and skilled sexers are fast and highly accurate. It’s repetitive, precise work that takes months of supervised practice.
2. Snake catcher and venom extractor
The Irula Snake Catchers’ Industrial Cooperative Society near Chennai was set up in 1978 with herpetologist Romulus Whitaker. Its members are licensed to catch the Big Four venomous snakes: the spectacled cobra, common krait, Russell’s viper and saw-scaled viper. Venom is extracted a few times over roughly a month, the snakes are released, and the venom goes to antivenom makers.
Irula experts have even been flown to Florida to help track invasive pythons. This is a skill passed through families, not something you pick up from a course. We’d treat it as a fascinating example rather than a career plan.
3. Panda keeper
Keepers at Chinese panda reserves feed, clean and monitor giant pandas. Some keepers have worn panda costumes while handling cubs being prepared for release, so the cubs don’t get used to human faces. Most keepers are trained in zoology or veterinary science.
4. Elephant mahout
Mahouts in Kerala and Assam train, bathe and care for a single elephant, often for years. Temple and forest department elephants each have their own mahout. Most mahouts learn the work through family or apprenticeship.
5. Worm picker
In parts of Canada, worm pickers crawl across wet golf courses at night with headlamps, collecting earthworms to sell as fishing bait. Pay usually depends on how many worms you pick. It’s physically tiring and entirely seasonal.
Which unusual jobs exist because cities are crowded?
Packed cities create jobs nobody would design on purpose. These rare jobs that actually exist all solve problems caused by too many people in too little room.
| Job | Where it’s popular | Approx pay | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Train pusher (oshiya) | Tokyo, Japan | No reliable published figure | Often part-time station staff |
| Professional queue stander | London, UK | £20 an hour (2022 report) | Freelance queuer interview, The Sun |
| Canal bike fisher | Amsterdam, Netherlands | No published figure | City water authority staff |
| Sewer diver | Mexico City | No reliable published figure | City water utility |
| Chewing gum remover | London and other UK cities | No standard published figure | Council or cleaning contractor |
| Dabbawala | Mumbai | ₹15,000 to ₹25,000 a month (reported) | Mumbai Tiffin Box Suppliers Association |
| Street ear cleaner | Delhi, Mumbai | Paid per customer, informal | No published figure |
- Train pusher (oshiya), Tokyo. Station staff gently push passengers into packed trains during rush hour so the doors can close.
2. Professional queue stander, London. People are paid by the hour to wait in line for tickets, phone launches or government offices on someone else’s behalf.
3. Canal bike fisher, Amsterdam. Crews from the city’s water authority use a boat-mounted grabber crane to pull dumped bicycles out of the canals.
4. Sewer diver, Mexico City. Divers in sealed suits enter sewage tunnels to clear blockages that machines can’t reach.
5. Chewing gum remover. Councils in cities like London pay crews to steam stuck gum off pavements.
6. Dabbawala, Mumbai. Dabbawalas have delivered home-cooked lunch tiffins to offices for more than a century, using a coding system of colours and numbers painted on each box.
7. Street ear cleaner, Delhi and Mumbai. Ear cleaners in red turbans still work near busy markets, though ENT doctors advise against letting anyone put tools in your ears.
The dabbawala system is the one most worth studying here. It runs on teamwork and memory with very little technology, which is why management schools still discuss it. If you like jobs that don’t need a degree, our list of career options after 12th without a college degree covers more practical choices.
Which strange jobs grow out of tradition and emotion?
Some funny jobs in the world look odd only from outside the culture they belong to.
In parts of Rajasthan, families once hired professional mourners (rudaalis) (18) to weep and sing at funerals of upper-caste households; the practice has mostly faded. In Ghana, dancing pallbearers (19) carry coffins while performing choreographed steps, because many families want a funeral that celebrates the person’s life. Their videos went viral worldwide in 2020.
Japan has agencies that rent out actors to play family members or friends (20) at weddings, office events or lonely dinners. Meanwhile, fortune cookie writers (21) in the US write the short sayings tucked inside cookies served at Chinese restaurants. It’s a small, quirky niche for people who write tight one-liners.
Which bizarre jobs pay people to test everyday things?
The weird jobs people get paid for most often in headlines are product testing roles. Read the fine print, because many are marketing contests rather than permanent jobs.
1. Professional sleeper: Bengaluru-based Wakefit runs a Sleep Internship where selected interns sleep on a Wakefit mattress, wear a sleep tracker and share their data. Its Season 5 page (2025) advertised earnings of up to ₹10 lakh, and the programme runs for about two months (Wakefit Sleep Internship terms). Wakefit’s co-founder has said the internship is open to people over 23, so most college students can’t apply yet.
Take a 19-year-old B.Com student in Lucknow who sees a “get paid to sleep” reel and plans to skip her semester exams for it. She’d be ineligible on age alone, and even winners get a one-time payout, not a career. Treat this kind of offer as a fun application, never a plan.
2. Water slide tester: Resorts and water park chains hire testers to ride slides and report on speed, safety and how much fun the ride is. These roles are rare and usually short contracts.
3. Golf ball diver: Golf ball divers retrieve thousands of lost balls from golf course ponds, then clean and resell them. The job needs a scuba certification and comfort in cold, murky water. Many divers are self-employed and paid per ball recovered.
4. Iceberg wrangler: Off the coast of Newfoundland in Canada, ice management crews tow icebergs away from offshore oil platforms using ropes, nets and water cannons. It’s marine engineering work done on support vessels in rough seas. If you want remote or flexible work instead, look at work from home jobs that suit students.
Which strange jobs can you actually train for from India?
Tea tasting is the strange job you can most realistically train for from India in 2026, thanks to Tea Board India’s NCVET-approved courses at Kurseong. Perfumery at FFDC Kannauj and flavour work through a food technology degree are the next best routes. These three have formal training, real employers and work that lasts beyond a viral season.
| Course Name | Approx Fee Range | Duration | Best For/Career Role |
|---|---|---|---|
| Essentials of Tea Sommelier (Tea Board) | Check Tea Board notice | 60 hours | Tea sommelier, café tea menus |
| Fundamentals of Tea Tasting (Tea Board) | Check Tea Board notice | 210 hours | Factory and auction tea taster |
| Perfumery training at FFDC Kannauj | Varies by programme | Short courses, varies | Attar and perfume blending |
| B.Sc or B.Tech Food Technology | Varies by college | 3 to 4 years | Flavourist, sensory panel member |
| Scuba diving certification | Varies by dive school | A few days | Golf ball diver, underwater salvage |
Fees for these programmes change with each batch. Verify current figures at the Tea Board India website and with FFDC Kannauj before acting.
Before chasing any unusual job offer you see online, run these checks:
- Find the offer on the company’s own website, not just on social media.
- Read the terms for duration, age limit and whether pay is a stipend or prize.
- Search the company name with “fraud” or “complaint” before sharing any documents.
- Refuse any offer that asks you to pay a registration or kit fee.
- Ask past participants on LinkedIn what the work actually involved each day.
If you’d rather build a skill in a few months first, see our guide to short term courses after 12th.
The Bottom Line
Pick the one job from this list that made you curious instead of just laughing. Then spend one evening finding out what qualification real people in that job hold, using official course pages and LinkedIn profiles rather than viral reels. If the answer is a short course you can afford, like the Tea Board programme, note the next batch date. If it’s a degree, check whether your 12th subjects fit. When you want help matching an unusual interest to a realistic course, our guide on how to choose a career path after 12th is a good next read.
FAQs
Odour judging is often called the strangest job in the world. Odour judges sniff volunteers’ underarms and feet to rate how well deodorants and soaps work. It’s a trained sensory role in product testing labs, not a prank.
Some do and many don’t. Skilled sensory roles like flavourist or tea taster can grow into steady careers. Viral jobs such as professional sleeper usually pay a one-time stipend or prize, so check the terms on the company’s official page.
Yes. Tea Board India runs NCVET-approved tea tasting courses at its Kurseong centre in Darjeeling district. The first batch began in August 2026, with a 60-hour sommelier course and a 210-hour tea tasting course.
Students can start with short courses tied to unusual careers, such as tea tasting at Kurseong or perfumery training at FFDC Kannauj. A food technology degree is the longer route into flavour and sensory testing work.
