Some jobs might not be particularly glamorous (or safe), but they sure can pay well. These nine jobs are some of the very worst in the world, but with salaries that can top £100,000 a year applicants aren’t that hard to come by.
The worst jobs with the best pay
- Sewer Flusher – £45,000/$54,000
- Private Security Contractor (Iraq) – £90,000+/$110,000+
- Crop Dusting Pilot – £65,000/$80,000
- Gastroenterologist or Proctologist – £125,000+/$150,000+
- Fruit Machine Engineer – £40,000/$50,000
- IT Support Executive – £35,000+/$45,000+
- Podiatrist – £75,000+/$90,000+
- Crime Scene Cleaner – £45,000/$55,000
- Oil Rig Worker – £60,000+/$75,000+
1. Sewer Flusher – £45,000/$54,000
In June of 2010, the sewers underneath Leicester Square in London were clogged with 1,0000 tonnes of putrid fat. That’s about enough fat to fill 9 double decker buses according to the Daily Mail who covered the story. Sewer Flushers (or Sewer Monkeys as they are sometimes called) are contracted to Britain’s water companies and these contracts can be extremely lucrative. Thames Water spends £12 million a year clearing around 55,000 sewer blockages across London and the Thames Valley, so if you fancy rolling your sleeves up and making some serious cash, this could be the job for you.
2. Private Security Contractor (Iraq) – £90,000+/$110,000+
This job isn’t as hairy as it was at the height of the conflict, but it’s still pretty darn dangerous. Over 300 private contractors have been killed in Iraq in the last 6 years with one particularly gruesome attack in 2004 where four employees of security subcontractor Blackwater were ambushed, mutilated, and hung from a bridge in Fallujah. So why on earth are people so willing to do these jobs? Money. The average bodyguard or security escort in Iraq makes £8,000 per month with the “top guns” making up to £15,000 per month (that’s about 15x the rate of pay of a private in the British Army)
3. Crop Dusting Pilot – £65,000/$80,000
Widely regarded as one of the most dangerous jobs in aviation due to low level flying (i was amazed by the number of stories i read about pilots flying into power lines, water towers and simply crashing into fields when researching this article). In addition to clipping a wing on an electricity pylon, long term exposure to nasty, toxic chemicals also makes this job a bit of a drag. While crop dusters don’t get paid as much as a British Airways 747 captain (£100k+), decent crop dusters with a number of contracts can earn up to £65,000 per year.
4. Gastroenterologist or Proctologist – £125,000+/$150,000+
Without question one of the least-sexy medical specialties in Britain (and widely considered to be one of the most mundane – lots and lots of monotonous, rubber glove based, “are my hands cold?” procedures). Still, the nasty stuff gets the big bucks and these specialists can expect to be some of the highest paid in medicine. In 2009, the average Gastroenterologist salary in Britain was £92,000 with many private clinicians earning close to £200,000!
5. Fruit Machine Engineer – £40,000/$50,000
Fix the fruity and then have a swift half pint before the next job? What’s wrong with that? Well, Roger Eaststaff of Coventry has the coal face experience. He says: “An average day was spent in horrible urine-scented dive pubs. Aside from finding used condoms and syringes in pool tables and cleaning vomit off payphones, there was the constant threat of having a pool cue wrapped round your head by a local thug.” Hmmm…. not so glamorous then! But with all that being said, independent fruit machine and quiz machine engineers can expect to earn up to £50 per hour, so it’s not all bad!
6. IT Support Executive – £35,000+/$45,000+
“Have you tried turning it off and then on again?”
In a poll by Businessweek in 2009, Four out of five IT professionals said they felt stressed even before they got into the office. The poll also discovered that 25% of people surveyed claimed IT support made them unhappy and a 12% were thinking of leaving the industry for good.
But with IT being one of the most lucrative industries in the UK, the average support executive eclipses opposite numbers in other industries such as hospitality and can expect to make between £30-50,000 per annum.
7. Podiatrist – £75,000+/$90,000+
Ingrown toenails, foot ulcers, “toe cheese”, bunions…. yup, Podiatrists get to deal with all of this good stuff. In addition, Podiatrist are often lumped into the “you’re not a real doctor” category by MD’s (they are Doctors of Podiatric Medicine). But, if you don’t all of the nastiness of being a foot doctor, you can expect to (easily) earn up to £75,000 per year (with some top private podiatrists clearning £100k per year).
8. Crime Scene Cleaner – £45,000/$55,000
This isn’t CSI folks and there is a massive difference between a “Crime Scene Investigator” and a “Crime Scene Cleaner”. If it was just mopping up a little bit of blood, then i suppose it wouldn’t be too bad. Unfortunately thee guys are exposed to all sorts of horrible things. I won’t go into too much detail, but perhaps just think about the film Seven with Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman and imagine having to clean up all the mess John Malkovich leaves behing. Yeah…. not nice.
9. Oil Rig Worker – £60,000+/$75,000+
Long hours, incredibly dangerous, tempestuous weather, loneliness, exposure to nasty chemicals are just a few of the reasons why “roughknecking” is considered one of the hardest jobs in the world. But, the cash-rich oil industry is strapped for good workers, so they’ll pay up £60-80k for specialized or supervisory positions on most North Sea rigs.