Another hard thing to come up with for your characters are jobs. The written world is full of doctors, lawyers, and teachers. Janitors, plumbers, and builders are always the one to offer words of wisdom. Authors tend to enjoy writing about authors. And don't even mention retail work or food service. It's all been seen and done a million times, but there've got to be more options.
Problem is, it's hard to find them. But don't worry, I've gone ahead and done that for you. Below are 45 jobs you might not think of or may have never heard of, but I assure you, they're real. Whether they pay well or not, well, that's a question for another day.
Do you know of a weird, unusual, or wacky job? Leave it in the comments!
| Job | Job Description |
| Acupuncturist | Inserts needles into everything but veins |
| Airline Gate Agent | Last call for boarding [your flight and you're halfway across the airport sucks to be you, pal] |
| Arcade Machine Repair | Plus side, you get to play it when you're done fixing it. To "Test it." |
| Art Selector | Picks out art for walls at places like hospitals. |
| Auction Buyer | Goes to auctions in the name of big-name buyers so others won't be tipped off to items of value |
| Backstage Support | Helps stage actors with quick costume changes, prepares props, etc |
| Bailiff | All rise |
| Bird of Prey Trainer | Falcons, owls, hawks, eagles: these are your coworkers |
| City Councilman | Like a congressman, but at city level |
| Clinical Research Coordinator | Coordinates, organizes for, and recruits for medical research |
| Coffin Handle Installer | There's a job just for installing coffin handles. Who knew? |
| Convention/Concert Organizer | Someone has to arrange the shows, schedules, panels, etc. This is them. |
| Court Reporter | Records all statements during court |
| Cover Artist | Designs book covers |
| Docent | Guides at museums, zoos, etc |
| Dog Food Taster | Yes, this is a job for humans. |
| Ethical Hacker | Try to hack into systems that shouldn't be hacked or broken |
| Fortune Cookie Writer | You will be paid to write one-sentence blurbs. |
| Golf Ball Diver | Someone has to go into the water traps. Those balls cost money. |
| Google Streetview Driver | We see 'em rollin', we |
| Herbalist | Why use Advil when you could have St John's Wart? |
| Hospice Caregiver | Whether at thier home or a facility, these people make their patients' last days comfortable. |
| Jelly Bean Flavor Maker | Someone had to figure out how to make those grass jellybeans taste that way. |
| Jingle Writer | That song during that commercial you hate? Someone wrote that. |
| Karaoke Cab Driver | It's a cab, with karaoke, and you're behind the wheel. |
| Landscape Architect | Makes your yard worthy of a magazine, if you can afford it. |
| Museum Curator | Manages and oversees the collections of a museum |
| Mystery Shopper | Determine how well a business's employees are performing, secretly. |
| Celebrity Obituary Writer | Newspapers have obituaries ready for more people than you'd suspect. |
| Orthoepist | Studies the correct pronunciation of words |
| Party Costumer | Dresses up like cartoon characters or movie characters for children's birthdays |
| Patent Lawyer | Determines legality of patents |
| Pet Psychologist | What's eating Fluffy? |
| Phlebotomist | Inserts needles into what the Acupuncturist doesn't |
| Physical Penetration Tester | Try to steal things from places that shouldn't have things stolen from (hospitals, labs, etc) |
| Political Cartoonist | Making fun of the news, one politician at a time. |
| Professional [Thing] Tester | Think of an object. There's someone to test it. Mattresses, toys, water slides, anything. |
| Professional Cosplayer / Booth Babe | Cosplays for a living, either personally or for a specific company |
| Professional Queuer | Don't want to wait in line for the new big thing? Pay someone else to do it. |
| Prop Purchaser/Builder | Buys/Builds props for TV shows & movies |
| Radio Phone Operator | "101.5 ROCK. You're caller 7. Try again." (also handles guest callers during downtime) |
| Search Engine Optimizer | Determines how accurate search engine results are |
| Snake Milker | Collect venom for the creation of antivenom |
| Social Media Manager | Handles famous person's social media accounts or presense |
| Stunt Actor | Taking the hits so the pretty faces don't have to. |