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General Category => Off the Record => Topic started by: jimmy olsen on March 04, 2015, 07:07:56 PM

Title: Chick Sexer: The $60K a Year Job Nobody Wants
Post by: jimmy olsen on March 04, 2015, 07:07:56 PM
Where's the Brain when you need him?  :hmm:

http://www.nbcnews.com/business/careers/chick-sexer-60k-year-job-nobody-wants-n317481
Quote
Chick Sexer: The $60K a Year Job Nobody Wants

From Netflix's "binge-watching" tagger, to Tetley tea's "tea-taster" and Ben and Jerry's ice cream "flavor developer"; there's some fascinating and attractive jobs out there.

However, the British public is turning its nose up at a job that pays up to £40,000 ($61,300) a year that involves spending all day with fluffy baby animals. In recent years, the U.K. poultry farming sector has seen a shortage in the role of a "chick sexer"; a job that requires individuals to identify the gender of a newborn chick.

Once seen as a popular job in places like Japan, fewer people are showing an interest, with the U.K. only having a current total of 100 to 150 "chick sexers." The lack of trained workers is resulting in a shortage in chick exports, which could result in the UK losing valuable business. So why is there a lack of interest? There are two common techniques used to determine the gender of a day-old chick: "vent sexing" and "feather sexing."

Vent sexing requires inspecting the inside of a chick's (rear end), to identify the gender. "Feather sexing" however, is less intrusive and distinguishes whether a chick is a hen or rooster by the shape and length of its wings. Vent sexing requires a minimum of three years' training, so workers can develop a minimum speed of checking 700 chicks every hour (average), with a 98 percent accuracy rate.

In a job advertisement published on Gov.uk, a U.K. government website, employees would be paid £3 ($4.60) for every 100 chicks, and with an examination total of up to 1.5 million chicks per year.

Title: Re: Chick Sexer: The $60K a Year Job Nobody Wants
Post by: Valmy on March 04, 2015, 07:16:29 PM
Where do I apply?  Does it require any certifications?
Title: Re: Chick Sexer: The $60K a Year Job Nobody Wants
Post by: jimmy olsen on March 04, 2015, 07:17:31 PM
Quote from: Valmy on March 04, 2015, 07:16:29 PM
Where do I apply?  Does it require any certifications?
It requires a minimum of 3 years training to become a professional chick sexer.
Title: Re: Chick Sexer: The $60K a Year Job Nobody Wants
Post by: Valmy on March 04, 2015, 07:18:59 PM
Quote from: jimmy olsen on March 04, 2015, 07:17:31 PM
Quote from: Valmy on March 04, 2015, 07:16:29 PM
Where do I apply?  Does it require any certifications?
It requires a minimum of 3 years training to become a professional chick sexer.

Eh by the time I finish my training all the Chick Sexer positions will be filled.  That is how it always goes.
Title: Re: Chick Sexer: The $60K a Year Job Nobody Wants
Post by: Ed Anger on March 04, 2015, 07:20:37 PM
Hey baby. Nice boots.wanna fuck?
Title: Re: Chick Sexer: The $60K a Year Job Nobody Wants
Post by: Ed Anger on March 04, 2015, 07:21:01 PM
Oh, wrong chicks. Okay.
Title: Re: Chick Sexer: The $60K a Year Job Nobody Wants
Post by: The Larch on March 04, 2015, 07:29:33 PM
They don't say that the job also involves sending all the male chicks to a gory death.
Title: Re: Chick Sexer: The $60K a Year Job Nobody Wants
Post by: Monoriu on March 04, 2015, 08:13:32 PM
If it really is that important and not enough people are turning up, maybe they should raise the salary.
Title: Re: Chick Sexer: The $60K a Year Job Nobody Wants
Post by: Ideologue on March 04, 2015, 09:14:05 PM
Quote from: jimmy olsen on March 04, 2015, 07:17:31 PM
It requires a minimum of 3 years training to become a professional chick sexer.

See, the great thing about the 21st century is that I don't even know for sure if you're joking.
Title: Re: Chick Sexer: The $60K a Year Job Nobody Wants
Post by: jimmy olsen on March 04, 2015, 09:15:44 PM
Quote from: Ideologue on March 04, 2015, 09:14:05 PM
Quote from: jimmy olsen on March 04, 2015, 07:17:31 PM
It requires a minimum of 3 years training to become a professional chick sexer.

See, the great thing about the 21st century is that I don't even know for sure if you're joking.
How about you read the article and you'll find out!  :)
Title: Re: Chick Sexer: The $60K a Year Job Nobody Wants
Post by: Ideologue on March 04, 2015, 09:18:07 PM
Sorry, I missed that line. :lol:

Maybe they meant "three minutes."

Anyway, I feel like the speed/numbers they're asking for is unrealistic.  Maybe if a machine presents them to you in batches of twenty-five or something.
Title: Re: Chick Sexer: The $60K a Year Job Nobody Wants
Post by: Admiral Yi on March 04, 2015, 09:19:53 PM
Like a chick rape rack?
Title: Re: Chick Sexer: The $60K a Year Job Nobody Wants
Post by: Ideologue on March 04, 2015, 09:23:04 PM
Anyway, I'd much rather have a job as a sorter of human beings, deciding whether they get to live in cages or just get turned into food.  Surely that pays $60k?
Title: Re: Chick Sexer: The $60K a Year Job Nobody Wants
Post by: Grey Fox on March 04, 2015, 09:24:51 PM
700 chicks a day at 3£ each?

Fuck that shit, do I look like a mexican strawberry picker?
Title: Re: Chick Sexer: The $60K a Year Job Nobody Wants
Post by: Admiral Yi on March 04, 2015, 09:25:54 PM
700 chicks an hour.
Title: Re: Chick Sexer: The $60K a Year Job Nobody Wants
Post by: Grey Fox on March 04, 2015, 09:28:11 PM
:lol:
Title: Re: Chick Sexer: The $60K a Year Job Nobody Wants
Post by: Razgovory on March 04, 2015, 09:41:13 PM
Quote from: Admiral Yi on March 04, 2015, 09:25:54 PM
700 chicks an hour.

I don't think that Wilt Chamberlain did that well.
Title: Re: Chick Sexer: The $60K a Year Job Nobody Wants
Post by: CountDeMoney on March 04, 2015, 09:52:21 PM
Look at Raz, driving to the hoop.
Title: Re: Chick Sexer: The $60K a Year Job Nobody Wants
Post by: jimmy olsen on March 04, 2015, 09:55:36 PM
Quote from: Admiral Yi on March 04, 2015, 09:25:54 PM
700 chicks an hour.
3£ for every 100 chicks.

So, 21£ an hour ($32.13)
Title: Re: Chick Sexer: The $60K a Year Job Nobody Wants
Post by: Grey Fox on March 04, 2015, 10:28:37 PM
It's way too much work.
Title: Re: Chick Sexer: The $60K a Year Job Nobody Wants
Post by: Monoriu on March 04, 2015, 11:24:31 PM
I don't understand.  Why are roosters not wanted?  Hens lay eggs and don't need roosters to do so.  Presumably that's the reason why hens are preferred.  But chicken meat is still valuable?  Is the meat from roosters so bad that they are not edible?
Title: Re: Chick Sexer: The $60K a Year Job Nobody Wants
Post by: Syt on March 05, 2015, 12:37:35 AM
Quote from: Ideologue on March 04, 2015, 09:18:07 PM
Sorry, I missed that line. :lol:

Maybe they meant "three minutes."

Anyway, I feel like the speed/numbers they're asking for is unrealistic.  Maybe if a machine presents them to you in batches of twenty-five or something.

They've shown this job on TV once (Dirty Jobs, maybe?), and the speed they were working at were indeed crazy.
Title: Re: Chick Sexer: The $60K a Year Job Nobody Wants
Post by: Maximus on March 05, 2015, 12:39:11 AM
Quote from: Monoriu on March 04, 2015, 11:24:31 PM
I don't understand.  Why are roosters not wanted?  Hens lay eggs and don't need roosters to do so.  Presumably that's the reason why hens are preferred.  But chicken meat is still valuable?  Is the meat from roosters so bad that they are not edible?
Meat chickens and egg chickens are very different breeds. No one wants to spend the money to raise a rooster that is genetically optimized for laying eggs.
Title: Re: Chick Sexer: The $60K a Year Job Nobody Wants
Post by: jimmy olsen on March 05, 2015, 12:40:10 AM
Quote from: Maximus on March 05, 2015, 12:39:11 AM
Quote from: Monoriu on March 04, 2015, 11:24:31 PM
I don't understand.  Why are roosters not wanted?  Hens lay eggs and don't need roosters to do so.  Presumably that's the reason why hens are preferred.  But chicken meat is still valuable?  Is the meat from roosters so bad that they are not edible?
Meat chickens and egg chickens are very different breeds. No one wants to spend the money to raise a rooster that is genetically optimized for laying eggs.
They can sell the chicken feet to Korea and China
Title: Re: Chick Sexer: The $60K a Year Job Nobody Wants
Post by: Maximus on March 05, 2015, 12:41:43 AM
You can do that with the hens when they're done laying.
Title: Re: Chick Sexer: The $60K a Year Job Nobody Wants
Post by: Agelastus on March 05, 2015, 01:21:41 AM
Quote from: Ideologue on March 04, 2015, 09:18:07 PM
Sorry, I missed that line. :lol:

Maybe they meant "three minutes."

Anyway, I feel like the speed/numbers they're asking for is unrealistic.  Maybe if a machine presents them to you in batches of twenty-five or something.

World record speed is apparently something like 3 seconds a chick (according to an article about the decline of Japanese chicken sexers.) When this came up on QI it was said that the technique only requires one hand so most sexers will be testing two chicks at once; do the math.
Title: Re: Chick Sexer: The $60K a Year Job Nobody Wants
Post by: The Brain on March 05, 2015, 01:30:09 AM
Check your sex! :o
Title: Re: Chick Sexer: The $60K a Year Job Nobody Wants
Post by: Maladict on March 05, 2015, 04:27:39 AM
Quote from: Syt on March 05, 2015, 12:37:35 AM

They've shown this job on TV once (Dirty Jobs, maybe?), and the speed they were working at were indeed crazy.

I miss that show  :(
Title: Re: Chick Sexer: The $60K a Year Job Nobody Wants
Post by: derspiess on March 05, 2015, 11:49:55 AM
Quote from: Admiral Yi on March 04, 2015, 09:25:54 PM
700 chicks an hour.

I miss college :(
Title: Re: Chick Sexer: The $60K a Year Job Nobody Wants
Post by: Legbiter on March 05, 2015, 01:47:21 PM
Quote from: Ideologue on March 04, 2015, 09:23:04 PM
Anyway, I'd much rather have a job as a sorter of human beings, deciding whether they get to live in cages or just get turned into food.  Surely that pays $60k?

:yes:

You should have been a New Dealer in the MacArthur shogunate. Alas, born in the wrong era.
Title: Re: Chick Sexer: The $60K a Year Job Nobody Wants
Post by: Malthus on March 05, 2015, 01:56:44 PM
Reminds me of the Joe R. Lansdale novel in which his protagonist is on a CdM-like job hunt and is looking for a security guard position in a chicken processing plant - only, the recruiter tries to get him to work as, basically, a rooster mastrubator.  :P He turns the job down.