Photo by MART PRODUCTION

When you ask kids what they want when they grow up, they may answer - I would like to be an engineer, teacher, doctor, and lawyer. But there are people who go for jobs that are uncommon because of the low number of people vying for such work. These jobs could be in the Philippines and other countries but they are less common compared to teachers, lawyers, call centre agents, web developers and other jobs supplied by graduates of common courses. Here are the jobs found here and abroad.

1.  Bouncers (Doormen)
 

Photo by Hans-Petter Fjeld and licensed under creative commons

You might have already visited a nightclub wherein before you enter an entrance you have to be frisked or questioned by tall and burly men. What do these guys do? Those plainclothes or suit-wearing men are bouncers or security personnel tasked to secure night clubs and maintain peace and order lest bad guys spoil the night with broken bottles, bare knuckles, and cleavers. Famous bouncers and former bouncers include Vin Diesel, Dolph Lundgren, Mr.T and Pope Francis of the Roman Catholic Church before he entered the seminary in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Aside from using brute force against troublemakers (if maximum tolerance is exhausted), bouncers are tasked to check drinking and legal age. They also may refuse entry to the intoxicated.

2.  Paranormal Investigators

Dubbed as ghost hunters, paranormal investigators (PIs) check and explore structures and places that are notoriously haunted places such as hospitals, schools, hotels, cemeteries, churches, alleys, roads, and prisons. Some houses could be haunted because it could be standing on a former graveyard, and stigmatized place. How does PI get their living? Here, you may be called by a homeowner to check their residences after he/she complained of spoons and chairs moving by themselves or apparitions appearing at the staircase or you’ll be assigned to a paranormal investigation team with a mission to check haunted castles and mansions. Real estate agents/developers may need your help to make sure that their properties are ghost-free otherwise, they’ll receive reports of homeowners and tenants running from doppelgangers, poltergeist and demons or tenants enduring sleepless nights after hearing disembodied voices and seeing shadowy figures.

You may use gadgets to detect ghosts or signs of hunting - thermal cameras, EMF (Electromagnetic Field) meters, EVP (electronic voice phenomenon) recorders and Point of view cam. If you have seen the movie, Ghostbusters, you can see how they do their job expelling otherworldly creatures lurking in the library or in an attic.

3. Petroleum Engineers 
 

If you’re interested in the energy industry and analyzing 3D models of oil reservoirs or visiting oil rigs and wells, then this career is for you. Your work may vary from a clean office to a dirty site akin to a civil engineer’s construction site. You may wear a hardhat and use tools such as laptops and professional sophisticated equipment (downhole recorders, pressure recorders, external casing packers, and coiled tubing tools). 

You may join a team that explores for black gold (oil), designs pipelines, tanks, and pressure vessels. At the office, you’ll be in the comfort of an airconditioned room and doing a computer job using software for analysis. Outdoors, you may scout a team to look for sites possibly rich in natural gas and oil trapped hundreds of meters below the earth’s surface either at land or ocean.

To be an expert in oil and gas exploration, you’ll need a bachelor’s degree, and knowledge of thermodynamics, geology, and principles of engineering and certification. Other engineering specializations such as mining, civil, and mechanical may meet the employer’s requirements. Aside from their prestigious titles, petroleum engineers are the highest paid types of engineers - more than nuclear, civil, chemical and computer science. You’ll work in companies of petroleum exploration and production.

4.  Hyperbaric Welder (Underwater Welder)
 

Photo by Dr.E Lee Spence and Licensed under Creative Commons

Hyperbaric means a welding process in an elevated pressure environment (usually underwater) although hyperbaric welding is also applicable inside a sealed chamber with gas. This job is similar to welders you see in a car repair shop or construction sites except - they weld underwater. Hyperbaric welders use a set of diving and welding gear such as electrodes, diving helmet, power supply, diving knife, backup gas, stinger (electrode holder) and diving suit. These marine welders work in bridge construction, mining, ship maintenance, dams, locks, offshore drilling rigs, nuclear power facilities, and docking facilities. 

Hyperbaric welders are one of the most dangerous occupations in the world. They face dangers of depth pressure (called Delta P hazards) which can lead to drowning. Improvements in robotics, underwater ships and welding can make welding underwater safer. This job pays well in a short amount of time.

5.  Air Traffic Controller
 

Courtesy of Petar Marjanovic and Licensed under creative commons

They occupy that iconic tower near the runway and watch blips on radar screens and high tech LCD screens showing inbound and outbound flights and flight data. In this profession, you’ll issue plan and flight clearances, provide instructions for orderly and safe landing and takeoff of the aircraft, direct the flow of planes, report any air traffic hazards/mishaps and assist pilots in the airspace. You may advise pilots and other ATCs of the weather situation. 

To become one, you’ll need to finish a bachelor’s degree in air traffic control, understand the weather forecast, radar readings, and some knowledge of aviation. Like engineers and pilots, ATCs are also in the well-paid category. Their salary ranges over 30, 000 to 108, 000 per month depending on the position and experience.

6.  Beer Brewer/Technical Brewer
 

You may love drinking beer at parties or even alone when you relax from work or bask under the sun. This job will bring the joys of brewing until the beer is perfected. To become one, you have to finish one of these courses - chemistry, chemical engineering, microbiology, food technology, and food science. As a brewer, you may work in beer factories or breweries.

 You’ll tackle tons of barley grains, use sophisticated equipment (vats, tanks, mixers), sample a raw mix inside the filtration tank, add hops and some spices for flavouring, operate a computer that handles data control systems of the brewing system. Then, you’ll work in equipment that adds yeast to start fermentation, and again in the filtration system that removes substances that cause a cloudy beer. If the beer passes your quality check, then those perfected liquid is now ready for bottling by a machine that can produce 1,000 beer bottles per minute.
 

7.  Crematorium Technician

If you’re not squeamish and you’re brave to witness the reality of resting in the peace that humanity has never defeated, this job is for you. As a crematorium technician, you’re tasked to open the crematorium and its office, prepare the paperwork and preheat the oven. You may sign papers regarding the preparatory steps, legal paperwork (medical exam, certificates), and attach an identifying tag (a heat resistant metal) to the body before incineration to avoid mixing one’s ashes to other people (otherwise legal cases will follow). You’ll then prepare the body for burning by activating the conveyor machine to place the body into the crematory chamber. 

After 2 to 3 hours, depending on the body’s size and sex (men yield more ashes than women), it will turn into bone fragments which you’ll have to collect using an array of tools - retort brush, clean-out tool, retrieval pan and transfer pan. You’ll retrieve a heat resistant tag to identify the person’s identity and avoid it mixing with other cremated remains. Then, using a multi-lift hand magnet, you’ll make sure that there are no pieces of iron and steel in the ash before placing it for grinding in the cremulator. Finally, you’ll then pour the fine ashes into an urn ready to be given to the family of the deceased.

Interested in joining the people who operate such ovens like burners, you’ll need a degree in mortuary science and working knowledge of cremation.

8.  Food Taster
 

Photo by Pikrepo and licensed under creative commons

Perhaps, this is one of the most exciting jobs since here you’ll do testing of manufactured foods such as ice cream, crackers, condiments, snack foods, candies, and chocolates. Some or most companies require applicants for this position to get a degree in food technology or sensory science. 

This job has been featured on the internet as a highly sought one since food taster is thought here as munching on chocolate bars and eating gallons of ice cream but in reality, tasting is just one of the tasks of this job. In tasting, you’ll test the food’s flavour, colour, pungency, oil content and moisture.  

You’re more likely to carry out food tasting sessions, record the food’s flavour, appearance, taste and smell, observe food samples using a microscope, refer to tables of viscosity, salt content, pH scale, moisture and solubility. You’ll use professional devices such as balance scales, pH meter, spectrometer, and distillation devices. In the end, you’ll observe test results and produce analysis reports. In the end, you’ll contribute to the food production by improving its taste, texture and appearance.

 

9.  Perfumer
 

Perfumers make perfumes, blend spices, and make sure that the perfect scent conforms to the company’s and people’s standard. In the end, they help companies produce scented cosmetics, shampoos and perfumes.  Perfumers use substances that are expensive such as rose oil, ambergris (whale vomit), iris-root butter, and agarwood and turn them into Eau de parfum, Eau de toilettes, colognes, conditioners and fabric softeners.

A day in the life as a perfumer, you’ll likely perform physical and chemical tests, make an analysis of the product, make sure that the manufacturing process conforms to the quality standards and use gas chromatography to understand additives used in fragrances. As a senior perfumer, you may supervise staff to make sure of a safe manufacture process before sending to distillation. 

To enter the club of perfume experts, perfume and cosmetic companies may require you to finish a degree in chemistry or chemical engineering and understand gas chromatography which is a method of quantifying and analyzing volatile compounds and using a gas chromatograph - a professional and expensive equipment costing $34,500.

 

10.  Sommelier
 

Sommelier is a wine expert. Here, you will work in fine dining restaurants, hotels and resorts known for luxurious food and drinks. You must know different kinds of wine, wine storage, food to wine pairings, and wine tastes. According to vice news, training for a sommelier is difficult as it involves the wine theory and history, serving wines, blind tasting and smelling. A few only pass the stringent exam.

The most difficult part is identifying the name or wine type. Sommelier is a prestigious position that only less than 300 are master sommeliers in the world. Like other professions, to be a sommelier you have to pass an exam and certification. While passing this wine expertise exam can be difficult, the return of investment is high, as you can work in a high paying job in hotels, resorts, restaurants, and bars. In the Philippines, several training schools offer sommelier courses as part of the hotel and restaurant management degree or as an independent study offered by some colleges and hospitality schools.