Hundreds apply for Swedish 'beach bum' job

A Swedish lifestyle magazine is looking to hire someone skilled at receiving full-body massages, drinking wine at local taverns, and reading books for a not-too demanding temporary assignment.

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On Thursday, women's lifestyle magasine Amelia posted an advertisement seeking a "beach tester" (strandtestare) with the Swedish National Public Employment Service (Arbetsförmedlingen).

According to the advert, candidates will be expected to spend four weeks testing beaches in four different locations around the globe.

"Included in the job assignment is going on outings, lying on beach chairs, drinking wine in local taverns, and other ordinary assignments found in a commercial beach and tourist environment," reads the ad.

"In certain areas, receiving a full-body massage, testing drinks, snorkeling, and book reading may be required."

Candidates must be able to swim, be willing to work late nights ("testing drinks can under certain circumstances require working overtime"), as well as "have the capacity to rest/do nothing for long periods of time".

"The response has been huge," Amelia's editor-in-chief, Åsa Lundegård, told The Local.

"The announcement went up a few hours ago and we've already received hundreds of applications."

The job ad is only running for a few days, and its publication the day before April 1st led many to suspect it was an April Fool's joke, said Lundegård.

"But it's not. It's a totally real job," she said.

She added, however, that the wording of the ad was deliberately provocative.

"We wanted people to think it was too good to be true," said Lundegård.

Lundegård said the idea for the "beach tester" job came as a way to address the many requests the magasine receives from various tourist destinations asking to be profiled in Amelia.

"We rarely say yes because we don't really have reporters to send out in the field," she said.

"But since our readers are so important to us, we thought we could instead create a fantastic job, not only for freelancers, but which is open to everyone."

The successful candidate will be invited to travel to four different destinations: the Mediterranean island of Corsica; areas around Cape Town, South Africa; and two locations in Asia.

In addition to grueling days on the beach and top flight accommodations, Amelia's "beach tester" will also be expected to blog about their experience.

"We want the person to share their impressions with our readers—how accessible the beach is, whether it's easy to meet people, and other criteria," said Lundegård.

"They are going to be great trips."