Whatever Works : Employment: Career counselors and agencies are matching applicants with non-traditional jobs, as well as the usual choices.
Ever consider a career as a whippet walker or dead-fish plucker? How about a stint as a dancing cupcake or pineapple stripper?
With traditional jobs in short supply, employment agencies, colleges and career counselors are offering alternatives to the usual job choices for high school and college graduates. Many of these options might be fun as well as lucrative. The trick is knowing where to look.
One place might be the Job Factory, a fixture in Westwood for 23 years, which calls itself “the home of non-traditional employment.” The Job Factory lists temporary and permanent jobs in locations ranging from Orange County to the San Fernando Valley.
After a free initial consultation, $50 buys a job-seeker three months of access to the Job Factory hot line, which is updated every weekday. The countdown stops whenever an applicant lands a job through the Job Factory, so the membership can stretch out considerably longer than three months.
“We guarantee employment as long as they pursue us on a daily basis,” said co-owner Michael Weiss, a self-proclaimed unrepentant hippie.
Weiss, who used to consider himself “hard-core unemployable,” parked his Jeep in front of the Job Factory in 1979, daring owner Nancy Marks to find him work. His first job was as a slicer and dicer for a caterer in Malibu, and by 1988, Weiss--who is now on the “sunny side of 40”--was running the business with Marks.
“The only qualification is that you be ready, willing and able to work,” Weiss said. Describing most of the job offerings, he said: “This ain’t brain surgery. If you have a willingness to do the job, most of these situations are trainable.”
Past and present “situations” include:
* Celebrity assistant: Duties can include picking up a sick dog from the vet, delivering dry cleaning, rehearsing lines, balancing the checkbook or enlisting a caterer for a party. Salaries vary but can be quite hefty, depending on the generosity of the star.
* Traveling tutor, nanny or chef.
* Personal driver: Chauffeuring the rich and/or famous. $8 per hour.
* European tour guide: Preference given to those who speak another language and have some familiarity with Europe. Qualifications also include dealing well with middle-aged tourists. Salary is $800 to $1,200 a week, plus expenses.
* Professional storyteller: Encyclopaedia Britannica regularly hires people to read to children in shopping malls. Average salary, $12 per hour.
* Asian Santas and elves for merchants in Little Tokyo during the Christmas season. $12 per hour.
* Dead-fish plucker: A hearty soul must wade into a commercial fish tank at a tropical fish wholesaler and pluck out those tropical fish that did not survive the trip from Central or South America. (The fish are not dangerous; they only eat each other.) $150 per day, Sundays only.
* Herb grinder/capsule stuffer: Grinding ginseng into powder and stuffing it into gel caps for an herbalist in Venice. $6 to $7 per hour.
* Female blackjack dealers to work at private parties. Nightly, including tips, $75 to $150.
* Glo-lite seller: Sell the glowing rods to revelers at July 4 celebrations, fairs, picnics and parades. Work on commission, about $50 to $150 per gig.
* On-call Ninja Turtle, Little Mermaid, Batman or Dancing Cupcake for kids’ parties. Qualifications: ability to fit into costume and get along well with children. $50 to $75 for attending a party for 45 minutes to 1 hour.
* Whippet walker: walking, cleaning up after, providing bottled water and feeding organic dog food to whippets while housesitting a beach house in Malibu. $10 per hour.
* Pineapple stripper: Operate machines that strip pineapples from their husks and cores for the Naked Juice Co. in the Valley. $8 per hour.
* X-rated fortune cookie stuffer: Must be nimble. Stuff baked cookies with tweezers for caterer. $8 per hour.
* Professional barbecue griller: Attend luau to roast a pig. $10 to $12 an hour.
* Sperm donor for genetic research project: $35 per “deposit,” can make up to four deposits weekly.
* Bubble gum machine assembler. $9 per hour.
“We accept any legitimate job offer, but we verify it to protect our members,” Weiss said.
There are, of course, more traditional paths to employment. Graduates should visit their college or university--alumni are often permitted to review job listings. Some colleges and universities also allow non-students to look at their listings, although it may be for a fee.
“Use your campus resources,” said Ken Ramberg, a partner in Jobtrack, a nationwide job network based in Westwood. “In today’s job market, more and more people are going back on campus.”
Jobs from the more than 53,000 companies listed with Jobtrack are automatically transferred to every college an employer selects. Every two- and four-year college and university in the Los Angeles region is listed with Jobtrack.
Listings include traditional jobs for teachers and file clerks, as well as positions for assistant real estate appraisers, anatomy tutors, forest rangers in Washington, cable TV installers, blood-donor screeners and lifeguards. Salaries range from $6 to $8 per hour for part-time work and from $18,000 to $35,000 a year for full-time jobs.
Many unusual and enjoyable jobs require little or no specialized training. A job as an education specialist for the Orange County Museum of Natural History, for example, consists of visiting elementary schools throughout Orange County and delivering presentations on science topics. The only requirement is some science or educational background (which can mean a degree or classes or experience in either field) and the ability to work well with children. It pays $10 to $15 per hour.
No matter what kind of job a person is looking for, Weiss of the Job Factory says it is important to go through a reputable service. He advises caution in responding to unusual published job listings.
“In this wacky day and age . . . you don’t know who’s out there,” Weiss said.
