Shoes, Ships, and Sealing Wax

South Pacific

At work today a friend of mine was surfing Monster (well that's not a good sign!) and found this job posting:

We are currently seeking 20 applicants for our new Web Development company. There's only one small issue that our applicants are asked to deal with... Our new web firm is located on an 'all-inclusive' South Pacific Island Resort, and we ask that all applicants come to the Island and live in their own fully furnished home, less than 40 feet from the beach. ...

We are currently seeking multiple positions in the fields of IT (including Flash,
HTML Development, Project Managers, and Database professionals) and Sales and Marketing. Applicants have the opportunity to live, work and play on an all-inclusive Island resort full-time. Here's what you receive with your completed application:

• One laptop connected to the Internet at 1 Mbps
  
• Airfare to the Island for you and your family
  
• Visa fees paid and visas completed
  
• Fully furnished home
  
• Food (3 meals per day)
  
• Utilities, laundry and cleaning service
  
• $30 bar credit per adult per month
  
• Scuba lessons
  
• Free membership in the Nuku'alofa golf course
  
• Use of all marine vessels, scuba/snorkeling gear
  
• Use of all Sport Fishing equipment
  
• Use of uninhabited islands for day/overnight stays
  

It's from the Tonga Concept (the link wasn't working when we tried, which added to the sketchiness of the proposal).

But...holy cow! What's not to like...except maybe the part about getting to the island to find out it's ruled by some psychotic despot who makes everybody join a cult, then the web developers start disappearing one by one...

Of course this is real life, not Scooby Doo. We checked Tonga out on the CIA and State Department
websites, and it looks darn friendly. Tonga's government even has a web site (which looks a little like it was designed by a kid on Anglefire, but maybe the guys at Tonga Concept can work on that).

When have you ever seen a job with a monthly bar tab included? And $30 doesn't sound like much...that wouldn't cover a single happy hour for me here...but in looking at the government's page I noticed that the salaries for the economists the kingdom is looking to hire start at $8799. I'm guessing your dollar goes farther in Tonga.

And I bet you can wear a sarong and open-toed sandals to work. Maybe...maybe you can even work barefoot.

Posted by Nic at July 17, 2003 05:18 PM