Tanner

Are you that special person we are looking for? Is your idea of a great day at work one that involves standing all day in a barn full of rotting flesh, dog poo and chicken dung? Then tanning – turning cattle and sheep hides into leather – is just the career for you.

You'll literally be getting your hands dirty from your very first moment at work, de-fleshing and de-hairing cowhides from dawn till dusk. The unique smell of rotting animal tissue will soon become a comforting backdrop to your working day, enlivened at times by the fascinating aroma of old, warmed-up dog and chicken faeces, which will be stored in a fetid pool to delime the hides. If you're really lucky, the foul pool won't be changed for months, just to get that lovely bacteria-infused mixture going.

Strangely, the rest of the population doesn't seem to have the same affection for this environment, so you'll be forced to work some distance from them. You’ll also get very few invitations to dinner parties.

Tasks & duties

• Soaking animal skins to clean and soften them.
• Removing remaining flesh and fat from skins.
• Removing hair fibres from skins.
• Kneading animal dung and urine into the skins to make leather.

Personal requirements

• Ability to adapt quickly to unpleasant surroundings.
• An interest in scientific processes.
• Good practical skills.