I found a weird job opportunity recently.
Searching for a job is a job in itself, so any method that makes the process easier is a welcome choice for me. I opted for an app called Job Today. Although it had not worked in the past for me, I decided to give it another try because I had more work experience than when I last used it. I applied for an admin position which surprisingly enough, did not require previous experience. I just had to be a native English speaker and be able to work from home.
Look, I know it sounded too good to be true but I decided to take a chance. I really want to get into full-time work and get my career on track. I believed some admin work could only help my situation, so I hit apply.
The following day, I received a direct message in the app from the recruiter. They asked me to email the company for more details about the position, so I did this as soon as possible because I’m eager to get back into a work routine. I receive a response a few minutes later. I opened the email with anticipation to see what sort of duties the job would have and what my day may look like. The beginning of the email was quite standard. All was well until the following line came up:
“It is very important to be imaginative in order to have multiple conversations with multiple users so the conversations are not repetitive.”
This sentence gave me pause. Why was important for me to be imaginative for online customer service? Don’t customers need a polite and accurate answer from a customer service agent? Shouldn’t the owner of the company expect the customer service agent to stick to the script as often as possible to avoid over-promising? Well, each to their own. The next line was a little bit shocking:
“As an adult contact site, sexual topics appear frequently and you will need to be unphased by this as you will have to deal with these types of conversations easily in a way that is natural and authentic.”
My jaw dropped, my heart sank and I felt a pit in my stomach. Why on earth would I need to be concerned about sexual topics? What type of job was this?
There was a test below to complete so the recruiter could decide if I was the right candidate for the position. OK, this may not be the worst job in the world and I would still be answering queries for customers and they just want me to work through some scenarios. I can do this! But then… the final nail in the coffin:
“When responding as “a”, you will play the role of a 20-year-old, single girl, who wants to make new friends, with no strings I.e is open to casual relationships.”
Wow.
This is one of those weird chats you find if you visit a naughty website, isn’t it?
Long story short, I laughed like a maniac and so did some of my colleagues at the job search session I was attending while I read this. After reading over the questions in the test which confirmed my theory, I quickly sent an email back to stop my application at this point. I think I was polite and professional about it, but you tell me:
I definitely learnt to be a bit more cautious when using apps where absolutely anyone could post a job with as little information as they want. I’m glad the correspondence itself wasn’t inappropriate and this was just someone trying to find suitable candidates for a job. The content of the job was not revealed until this email, that’s why I felt so blindsided by the type of work it involved. I don’t think there is an easy way to recruit for such a position without being completely explicit from the get-go or making it sound vague until you think you have a suitable candidate. I commend the recruiter for working hard to fill the position, especially because this is not a role for everyone.
It did not once cross my mind during my job search that positions like this existed. You can learn about the different types of industries available when searching for a new position, especially when you have a variety of ideas about what career you want to pursue. This is one of the industries that I didn’t expect to come up at all. Personally, I would not think about taking a job like this, but other people are definitely welcome to do so. The adult entertainment industry can be very lucrative and diverse, but I did not feel like this job fit the type of person that I am and I wasn’t prepared to send messages of that nature to strangers online.
I hope this story was an entertaining read, please feel free to share it with other people. Follow me on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook using the links in the navigation bar. I do have a YouTube channel but I have yet to upload any content. Hopefully, that will soon change. I am working on my other blog but due to the way I’ve set it up, posts on there will be less frequent but involve more content for you to sink your teeth into. Watch this space!
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