Australians work in some of the strangest jobs. And a lot of these are to do with animals. Which makes sense, as our fauna are some of the most interesting (and scary) in the world.
But some of us get away with enjoying our cool and unusual careers more than others - and this is what we’re on about today.
Come with us as we look at some of the weirdest jobs you may not knew existed in Australia.
1. Pet Food Taster
Yes, you read that right. Pet food is one of those sectors where it pays to be a little weird because everyone else applying for a job there will be just as strange as you are.
You will get paid to taste test pet food as a pet food taster. Better than being paid to eat cookies all day long?
Maybe not, but hey- if you’re into dogs or cats or fish or any other kind of animal, why not give it a shot? If nothing else, your resume will stand out from all those cookie-eating applicants!
2. Odour Judge
Everything smells, even when we can’t smell it ourselves. The role of an odour judge is to determine whether or not something smells nice or stinks by sniffing a sample until they get a feel for how good/bad it is.
A great deal of practice goes into honing one’s smell-o-meter skills; judges must learn to ignore their own biases and concentrate on picking up subtle nuances in a scent.
They also need to tell if something is ‘too strong’ or ‘not strong enough,’ which can be a real challenge when considering that different people have different thresholds for what they consider offensive.
The best odour judges often can sniff out subtle differences between similar scents and those who appreciate the artistry.
3. Roadkill Collector
Ever wonder what happens to the poor little animals who were hit, on the side of the road? Roadkill collectors are often found in the more remote areas of our country and they sometimes work for councils or as Park Rangers too. If you can handle picking up roadkill, sorting it out, and disposing of it properly, this job is for you.
Sometimes police officers are assigned to remove deceased animals from roadways, but they don’t have time to pick through each carcass to get back parts that aren’t damaged.
4. Koala Catcher
Koala's face threats, in particular from disease and habitat loss. Koala Catchers check the health of the koala, take some genetic material for analysis, or put a tracking collar on them before they are released again. Researchers can use this information to understand more about koalas, including their home range size, preference for different trees they use for food or shelter, and their disease status.
If you have a passion for wildlife and enjoy working outdoors, consider becoming a professional koala catcher.
5. Worm Picker
It's a dirty job, but someone has to do it. Worm pickers are specially trained to work in worm farms removing red wiggler worms from boxes.
You’d be surprised at how much worm pickers can earn for such seemingly straight forward work. And the demand is great, there’s loads of farm stays with options to stay on site and save on living costs. If you love a sweet little slimy worm, get yourself down to your local farm and make some money.
6. Shark Tagger
As a Shark Tagger, you’ll swim alongside sharks as part of environmental preservation and research programs. Sharks need to be tagged so we can keep track of their migratory patterns, breeding, eating habits, and migration routes.
Because sharks are apex predators, it’s essential that we study them to understand marine ecosystems better and monitor shark populations around Australia.
It’s an important (and sometimes dangerous) job that requires bravery and patience. The position is great for anyone who loves swimming and these majestic sea creatures..
7. Dog Whisperer
To put it simply, a dog whisperer is someone who trains dogs to respond to simple commands. It covers a wide range of topics, such as good manners, recall training, and behaviour modification.
A dog whisperer helps dog owners who are having issues with their dogs' behaviour in various ways.
It’s a somewhat quirky job title that many people who have owned dogs before might say makes perfect sense. If you have experience training animals (or if you just like dogs), you might want to work as a dog whisperer. A great side business idea if you’re an animal lover.
8. Beer Taster
If you’re a beer lover, think about becoming a beer taster. It’s just like wine tasting, but for beer! You get to sample different brews, some of which aren’t even on sale yet—umm where do we sign up?
This job doesn’t necessarily involve getting drunk, you need to keep your head clear and sample and analyse many beers. Often breweries provide free samples and a salary in exchange for your service.
9. Bed Tester
We all know that one of life’s great luxuries is sleeping, so who better judge other people’s beds than someone employed to sleep on them for a living?
The job of a bed tester is simple. You get paid to lie down on various mattresses, assess them, and write a report detailing how comfortable they are.
This unique job is fun but isn’t an easy gig.
The hours can be long, you have to stay out of sight while testing each mattress (so as not to give away its secrets), and you have to make sure you don’t fall asleep during your shifts. But if you like lying around all day, it could be just your new career move.
10. Professional Cuddler
For Aussies who want to get close but aren’t romantically inclined, professional cuddling is a service that provides non-sexual contact with a friendly stranger.
Some cuddlers will also play other roles for their clients, like security, or provide extras like massages, advice, or role-playing.
Ever wanted to be a professional cuddler? It’s becoming more and more popular as we understand the mental health benefits.
Various organisations employ professional cuddlers from hospitals to residential care facilities. A lingering hug releases the bonding hormone oxytocin, which can lower your blood pressure, slow your heart rate and improve your mood. Winner winner!
11. Crocodile Egg Collector
Someone needs to wade through Northern Territory swamps collecting crocodile eggs, and that someone gets paid for it. Crocodile egg collectors work for conservation programs and commercial farms, carefully removing eggs from wild nests before they hatch.
The unusual job requires nerves of steel because protective mother crocs don’t appreciate strangers stealing their babies and we think that's totally fair. Collectors use long poles and quick reflexes to grab eggs whilst avoiding becoming lunch. If successful, the eggs either go to research facilities studying crocodile populations or to farms raising crocs for leather and meat. It’s usually a seasonal job that pays well for the risk of becoming a crocodile snack.
12. Snake Milker
Snake milkers extract venom from Australia’s many venomous snakes, like taipans, brown snakes and death adders. This venom can be used to produce life-saving antivenom, so it’s an extremely important job that someone’s gotta do.
To “milk” a snake, you have to get it to bite through a membrane stretched over a collection cup. One wrong move means a trip to the hospital, so this is one of those weird jobs where you have to be very careful and have fast reflexes. Zoos, research facilities and antivenom manufacturers employ snake milkers.
13. Golf Ball Diver
Thousands of golf balls sit at the bottom of ponds and lakes in Australia’s golf courses from regular play. Golf divers go and retrieve them for resale. Armed with scuba gear and collection bags, they dive into murky ponds searching for golf balls left behind.
Divers clean and sort the balls by quality, then sell them back to golf courses or directly to golfers at discounted prices. Some divers collect thousands of balls per session, making decent money from other people’s bad shots.
14. Palm Tree Climber
Coastal Australian cities are full of palm trees that need regular maintenance, and palm tree climbers scale them without fancy equipment. Using climbing spikes, ropes, and chainsaws, they trim dead fronds and coconuts threatening to hit unsuspecting pedestrians below.
Palm tree climbers have to do their work high above ground in windy conditions while operating a chainsaw. One slip means serious injury or worse, so climbers need excellent physical fitness and zero fear of heights. If that doesn’t sound terrifying to you, then it might be time to fill out an application.
15. Fruit Bat Relocator
When fruit bat colonies decide to move into suburban backyards, residents can call Fruit Bat Relocator to move them somewhere where they're less likely to be disturbed. These specialists can safely trap and transport bats to designated wildlife areas away from homes and schools.
The bats carry diseases and produce impressive amounts of droppings, so finding them a new home is time-sensitive. Relocators usually work at night when bats are active, to trap them without harming them. It’s sweaty, smelly work that requires wildlife handling permits and vaccinations against bat-borne diseases. But someone needs to mediate between urban sprawl and native wildlife habitats.
16. Sand Artist
Beaches along the Australian coast attract tourists from all over the world who pay to watch artists create temporary sculptures from sand. Sand artists can build detailed castles or life-sized animals using sand, water, hand tools, and lots of creativity.
Artists have to work quickly before the next high tide destroys their work, so they need to be as fast as they are precise. Councils and tourism operators hire sand artists for festivals and events, but most sand artists just walk around the beach on busy days looking for customers.
17. White Line Painter
Every road marking and car park line in Australia needs to be painted by someone, and white line painters do exactly that. Using specialised machines and stencils, they paint fresh lines on roads, highways and parking lots across the country.
Perhaps unexpectedly, they have to do most of their work at night when traffic is lighter. That means working in the dark, with irregular sleep schedules, while still maintaining perfectly straight lines that drivers will depend on for years.
This is one of the most stable jobs on this list, as road crews and line-marking companies employ white line painters year-round. The job pays decent wages for work that most people never think of until the lines on the road fade and they start looking for someone to blame.
18. Mystery Shopper
Getting paid to shop sounds fake, but mystery shoppers evaluate retail stores and restaurants by pretending to be regular customers. They assess staff friendliness, cleanliness, product knowledge and whether employees follow company policies correctly.
After each visit, mystery shoppers submit detailed reports noting things like greeting times and bathroom cleanliness. The job requires excellent observation skills and the ability to remember specific details without taking obvious notes. This is a great job for stay-at-home mums, as they only need to visit the store or restaurant for an hour or two and can do the rest from their living room.
19. Commercial Diver for Sewerage
Let’s get it out of the way: this is disgusting but essential work. Commercial divers inspect pipes, clear blockages and repair underwater sewage systems in conditions that would make most people quit (or pass out) immediately.
The water is pitch black and full of things nobody wants to think about. Divers work blind, relying on touch whilst breathing filtered air and praying their equipment doesn’t fail. Water authorities pay premium rates for sewage divers because finding people willing to do this job is extremely difficult. The money is excellent, but you’ll never look at a toilet the same way again.
20. Wind Turbine Climber
Australia’s wind farms need to be maintained regularly, and wind turbine climbers go 100 meters above ground to perform inspections and repairs. Using safety harnesses and climbing gear, they climb through internal ladders to reach the turbine machinery at the top.
Renewable energy companies hire wind turbine climbers for well-paid technical roles. This strange profession requires excellent fitness, zero fear of heights and the ability to work in small spaces high above ground. Oh, and let’s not forget about the extremely windy conditions because that’s literally the point of turbines. Good luck not getting blown away by a gust of wind!3
21. Pearl Farm Diver
Pearl farms need divers who can work for hours underwater, implanting tiny nuclei into oysters so they can grow a pearl. The process is delicate and repetitive, with divers carefully opening each oyster, inserting the nucleus that will eventually become a pearl and then returning the oyster to growing cages.
Water conditions vary from crystal clear to murky, and marine life like jellyfish and sea snakes sometimes interrupts the workday. Divers need steady hands and plenty of patience because rushing through the job can damage these valuable oysters.
22. Chicken Sexer
Day-old chicks need to be sorted by sex, and chicken sexers determine whether each fluffy yellow chick is male or female by looking at their tiny vents. This is a lot harder than it seems because the differences are microscopic at this age and poultry farms need to know whether that chick will one day lay an egg or not.
Experienced sexers can process over 1,000 chicks per hour with 98% accuracy, working in temperature-controlled hatcheries surrounded by constant chirping. It’s monotonous work that pays surprisingly well because few people can master this surprisingly difficult technique.
23. Meteorite Hunter
Australia’s massive outback has countless meteorites that fell thousands of years ago, and meteorite hunters spend weeks in remote desert regions searching for space rocks worth a ton of money. Using metal detectors, GPS coordinates and knowledge of impact sites, they spend days scanning through kilometres of red dirt looking for dark rocks that don’t belong.
Most searches turn up nothing, but a single rare meteorite can sell for thousands of dollars per gram to collectors and research institutions. This is potentially an excellent job for introverts, as you’ll spend most of your days alone searching for rocks in the desert.
24. Possum Handler
Possums love Australian roofs, so possum relocators move them legally without harming these protected marsupials. You’ll need wildlife handling permits to do this job because possums need to be handled carefully and with skill and can bite when cornered.
Relocators work at night because that’s when possums are awake and causing chaos, meaning weird hours and possibly lots of irritable homeowners who just want to sleep.
25. Lightning Rod Tester
Tall buildings across Australia need their lightning protection systems checked regularly, and that means climbing skyscrapers to test whether the rods will actually work when a storm hits. Lightning rod testers measure the electrical resistance of the rod to verify that the system will safely discharge strikes into the ground.
Working on building exteriors at extreme heights sounds very scary, but testers use specialised equipment whilst clipped to safety lines to protect their safety. Insurance policies require these regular inspectors, so any building with a lightning rod will need someone to test it.
Is it time to change careers to one of the strangest jobs in Australia?
If you’re up for a change and one of the above jobs catches your eye, you’re in luck.
There are more jobs on offer than ever before in Australia. COVID-19 is responsible for the largest impact on the Australian labour market and workplaces employment across the country.
Short story, now is not a bad time to branch out and look for something different (or strange. Odour Judge?).
Better career choices
Exploring the weirdest and strangest jobs in Australia might spark a laugh, but if you're looking for something more common that can be exciting and rewarding, we've also got you covered. If you’re considering a career change check out Monarch institute’s qualifications and short courses.
Whilst catching koalas is not something we offer to teach, you may find something else that gives your resume a boost and allows you to get a foot in the door. Improve your leadership skills with a Diploma of Leadership and Management or follow your passion in social media with a Diploma of Social Media Management.
You can study at your own pace and start anytime. Get in touch with a Course Consultant today and discuss your options.