
Audio By Carbonatix
A 26-year-old Anna Cherdantseva, from the city of Ufa, in Russia’s Bashkortostan Republic is a full-time sofa tester, spending up to 10 hours every day trying out new sofas for comfort and safety.
Last month, Russian furniture giant MZ5 Group announced that it was taking application for a new position – full-time sofa tester. Although all new products are tested in a specialized laboratory, management decided that in order to better meet the needs of consumers it needed some feedback on real-life use of its sofas. In just a few days, MZ5 received over 5,000 job applications from people eager to spend most of their time sitting and lying on sofas.
“We were selected candidates in several stages,” MZ5 Group spokesperson Anastasia Russkih said. “Initially we checked their CVS, and then we let them tell us why they wanted the job.” Eventually, the furniture company shortlisted just 7 candidates, out of which Anna Cherdantseva, a 26-year-old marketing expert, proved to be the most suitable for the job.

“I felt extreme competition, it was a real fight for my dream job,” Anna said after getting selected. “I have a lot of ideas for improving the sofas, but I would prefer not to talk about them for now. I believe it will all work out between me and the sofas.
Despite describing herself as an active person, Cherdantseva says that spending about 10 hours a day sitting on sofas doesn’t sound bad at all. “Of course I will spend a lot of time on new sofas, the more time I spend on them the better it will be for my work,” she told reporters.

Anna Cherdantseva is currently on a three-month probation at MZ5, but the company claims that as long as she proves to be up to the task, they plan on offering her a permanent position as sofa tester. The young woman will receive a monthly salary of 56,000 rubles ($1,000) for the first three months. It’s not so bad for literally sitting on the job.
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